How to Write Good Dialogue

Dialogue is talk in a story and should be an event in itself. As your characters talk, your reader will be able to understand and connect with them better. Good dialogue moves the plot forward, and will be a "show, not tell" part of the story. After all these years of writing, one thing I'm fairly good at is dialogue. Everyone in my critique groups say so, and when I teach fiction writing workshops I focus a lot on dialogue. Now you can take advantage of my experience. Follow my easy tips and you, too, can develop a good sense for dialogue.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• journal
• A work in progress
• Or a new work
• Paper, pens or pencils
• A computer
• An ability to listen

1. 
   Listen to Dialogue Around You

   Keep your journal handy. When you're out and about you'll hear snippets of dialogue you can jot down. Never again will you complain about the annoying couple in the next restaurant booth. Whip out that journal and start to write bits of their talk so you get the sense of what they're saying and how they're saying it. Collecting dialogue is the first step to analyzing it. If you overhear a dialect or slang, record that, too. Good dialogue resembles real talk, but it is not real talk. It is carefully crafted and filled with subtext and innuendo and irony. You'll notice that people say the same words over and over. They talk gibberish and jabber and have very irritating speech patterns. They say "uh-huh" a lot or "hmmm" or "okay, you guys, listen up" or "well, you know" and who needs that kind of stuff cluttering up good writing? Not you and not me. So the first step to writing good dialogue is listening. That's not as easy as you think. You must tune in, but you must also tune out. Listen to yourself and how you talk. Listen to your husband, your kids, your neighbors. Jot down interesting dialogue. Just snippets of conversation. Now and then you'll hear a great line and it will be pure gold. Most of the time, it will be just notes, bits and pieces of conversation, so that you have a sense of how the old speak, the way the young chatter, and the rhythm of talk.

2. 
   Everyone Talks Differently

   Let's get a few things clear. Every time a character talks in your story, that dialogue should be contained in a separate paragraph. Rarely is it acceptable for more than one character to have dialogue in the same paragraph. Another thing you should understand is that each character in your story should have his or own way of talking. People don't sound alike when they talk, and your characters shouldn't sound alike either. People speak using contractions and fragments. They hardly ever speak in a complete and perfect sentence. If you really know your characters then you will know how they sound when they talk. If you can't hear them in your head, you don't know them well enough yet. Exercises: Practice writing dialogue between a really bratty kid and his mom. Try a conversation between two women who despise one another. Jot down an imagined discussion between two guys at a bar who are after the same woman. If you write the conversation well enough, you don't need to put in the "tags" (he said, she said) because we'll know who's talking by the talk.

3. 
   Get Your Characters to Speak

   Dialogue in a story should be there for a reason. Don't use dialogue to explain something to the reader that the characters already know. Don't use dialogue to fill up empty space and get a bigger word count. Dialogue should move the plot forward or create tension or imply something. Perhaps two characters are discussing one thing, like meatloaf, but are really talking about something else, like sex. By getting into the heads of your characters and knowing how they will react in different situations and how they speak, you make them come alive. Exercises: Practice writing some dialogue with a hidden meaning. Maybe it's a conversation between two eighth grade girls. One is in the popular clique and the other is an outsider. The outsider asks why she hasn't been invited to a beach party and the popular girl tries to sidestep the issue. Or make up as conversation between an elderly man who is in a rest home with a very poor memory and his overworked, very stressed daughter who never felt loved by him. Create your own conversations from pictures you see in magazines and try to get some subtext into the dialogue.

4. 
   Put Words in Their Mouths

   Look over any work you have in progress. Read a scene with dialogue out loud. If it's dull or dead, delete it. Does it sound natural? Do the characters have different voices? Is there some sort of rhythm? Exercises: Try writing with two different hands. Put a fat crayon in one hand and a pen in the other. The hand holding the crayon writes what the child says. The hand holding the pen writes what the adult says. Not easy to write with a fat crayon using the non dominant hand, but it will force you to get into the head of the child. Here's another idea: Read a scene of dialogue like a script. Get a friend to help. Does the conversation ring true? Is there some sort of tension? Conflict? Is there some subtext? Does this conversation move the story forward? Is it needed? If so, why? You are the author. It's your story. They are your characters. Make them talk and use dialogue that really counts. Below you'll find more tips as well as easy ideas on creating good dialogue.

Tips & Warnings

• Limit dialogue tags to "he said" or "she said." Avoid such tags as "he pronounced" or "she trumpeted." A shout once in awhile is okay, but all those words like chortled, expounded, bleated, uttered, hooted, harped, etc. are really distracting.
• Notice good dialogue in movies and in television dramas.
• Be careful with dialect. You can put in a "gotta" now and then and a "reckon" and "ain't" and "sho nuff" and a few words to imply how the character speaks but don't overdo it.
• The way people speak defines who they are. A girl from Costa Rica who has just learned English enough to get by isn't going to sound like a college English professor. An elderly aunt isn't going to cuss like a marine unless that's her character. It might be. Maybe one aunt does talk like that. Then again, maybe she crochets shawls all day and goes to Bible study and has never uttered a swear word in her life. Know your characters.
• Try creating dialogue between your characters off story. Put them in a scene not in your current work and let them talk as you record. Edit, revise and see what you come up with.
• Why not rewrite a conversation you had recently with your girlfriend or distant cousin and put in all the things you wished you said and have them respond differently than the way they responded in the actual conversation?
• Can you figure out some dialogue between someone from the present day who suddenly finds himself in the past - maybe a century ago - in downtown San Francisco or Los Angeles or New York?
• Have some fun with dialogue. When you get stuck on your writing, dashing off some dialogue for practice is definitely not a waste of time.

[sakena]

on 9/17/2009 do you all proof read essays