Post by chromeknickers on Aug 3, 2014 17:09:11 GMT -5
Speech is what gives life to a story. It’s what breaks up the monotony of long paragraphs of descriptions, increases the tension and conflict, reveals characters’ relationships to one another, moves the story forward and, most importantly, humanises the characters.
Specifically, dialogue is about demonstrating character(s) through conflict, either internal or external. Yet writing dialogue can be incredibly difficult. How do you make a character sound authentic while trying to relate him/her to the plot you are conceiving?
First thing you need to know about dialogue is what NOT to write:
Now we’re onto the what TO DO when it comes to writing dialogue. Sadly, there is no sure-fire way to write perfect dialogue, but there are a few tricks to achieving dialogue that feels and sounds right:
In summary, dialogue should:
Questions:
*Remember, this isn’t just a sharing forum. If you have genuine questions about dialogue, please do not hesitate to ask here. The above what to do and what not to do’s are basic examples and by no means THE WORD on the topic of dialogue.
Resources:
Specifically, dialogue is about demonstrating character(s) through conflict, either internal or external. Yet writing dialogue can be incredibly difficult. How do you make a character sound authentic while trying to relate him/her to the plot you are conceiving?
First thing you need to know about dialogue is what NOT to write:
- Don’t make the dialogue too life-like.
Sounds like a contradiction against everything you’ve been told, isn’t it? The thing is, you do want your characters to sound authentic and life-like and you don’t want them to sound wooden or robotic. However, you also don’t want them sounding too much like the conversations you hear every day because, well, that can be a little boring and even hard to follow or understand at times.
Most people lose their train of thought while speaking. Most people go on tangents or forget what they were trying to say. Most people pause a lot. It can be confusing and boring to hear. It can be equally boring to read, if not more so. You want to keep your readers interested, so keep the dialogue authentic but interesting. Also remember that what the characters say relates to the characters’ conflict(s). - Avoid wooden dialogue.
Speech that is wooden means it’s lacking in ease and flexibility. It’s awkwardly stiff or robotic. Monotonous. It comes off as a volley of words that no one wants to read. Relax. Avoid the predictability and be flexible. Don’t write a conversation like you would write two acquaintances discussing the weather or a police interrogation. - Avoid phonetic spelling.
Dialect is fine. We love characters with quirks. But reading words spelled phonetically can be headache-inducing. Instead, remove certain letters. Less is definitely more, as long as the reader can still read and understand your dialogue.“What do you want?”
“Lots of things, like ta end world hunger an’ social injustice, destroy all boy bands from this earth an’ actually find a pair of trousers that fit decently. Stylish ones with deep pockets.” He raised an index finger. “An’ also the freedom ta carry a purse without judgement. I mean, c’mon, men ’ave more things ta carry around than just a wallet an’ a mobile phone. Am I right?” — We Were Human, chromeknickers - Avoid goofy tags (dialogue attributives).
You know what I’m talking about. The gasped, blustered, hissed, sighed, spat, etc. I’m guilty of using a few myself. Once in a while some of those tags are okay, like muttered or mumbled or whispered. As long as they're not too goofy or busy. Most of the time they are unnecessary. Stick to the ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ or neither. Your dialogue, if you’ve been true to it, will speak for itself. So use dialogue tags wisely and sparingly. - Don’t do a Buffy or a Shakespeare. Buffy and Shakespeare are both awesome, but they really only work for them. Not many people monologue anymore and it certainly doesn’t work in a dialogue between two or more people. And even Joss Whedon admitted that Buffy had way too many speeches. Chances are that your character won’t be saving the world every other chapter and, if even s/he is, you want his/her speech to be unique. We all want to live in Whedon-verse, but not all of us can. :/
- Avoid ‘talking heads’. Have characters do something while they speak. Not all the time and not for each character, but if you just have a wall of dialogue, break it up with some action. Use discretion.
Now we’re onto the what TO DO when it comes to writing dialogue. Sadly, there is no sure-fire way to write perfect dialogue, but there are a few tricks to achieving dialogue that feels and sounds right:
- Keep speeches short. Unless your character is giving a dissertation (and s/he shouldn’t!), his/her speech should only run for a few sentences. If more, break it up with action, description, narration or another character’s dialogue.
- Know what your characters want. What is the point of the characters engaging? What do they want for themselves and from each other? How do their desires conflict?
- Keep interchanges oblique, not direct. Your characters should not speak like their engaging in a game of tennis. Volley? Volley!
- Ensure that characters speak in their own voice. You can overdo this, of course, but try to make sure that your characters don’t all sound the same.
- Spice it up. Humour is good. Slang. Banter. Even a bit of swearing (not too much). Who doesn’t indulge in the occasional F-bomb from time to time?
Maybe not Kim. - Interruption. So too are characters pursuing their own thought processes and not quite engaging with the other. They interrupt. Often annoyingly. It’s life-like, yo!
- Keep to the conflict. If there is no conflict for the two characters in a piece of dialogue, then the dialogue has no place in your story. The conflict can be internal (one of them is lying or being dishonest with him/herself) or external (outside forces/conflict disrupt them or they are working against a common enemy or towards a common goal), but it has to be there. Dialogue illuminates character faster than any amount of exposition, but only if you give your characters something interesting to talk about, and something that moves your story forward. And that means conflict.
- Remember that people breathe while speaking. Read your dialogue aloud, in your normal, conversational tone of voice. If you run out of air part of the way through a sentence, rework it. Add punctuation, break it up, rip out the flowery stuff. Also, you can remove anything awkward-sounding this way. Read characters how you’d want them to be read.
In summary, dialogue should:
- Be authentic but not too life-like (aka boring).
- Engage the reader and not patronise them.
- Reveal characters’ intentions and relationships to one another.
- Move the story forward.
- Increase tension.
Questions:
- Do you have a technique for writing dialogue? Can you share any tips?
- What do you think you need improvement in when it comes to dialogue? Why do you think you can’t pass this hurdle? And if you think you don’t need improvement, please tell us how to be flawless like you. ;P
- Do you have any pet peeves regarding dialogue, in both fanfiction and original fiction? Notice a current trend lately?
- Is there such a thing as too much dialogue? How do you think we can find the balance between narration, introspection and dialogue?
- Can you give some fanfiction examples of good dialogue? Why do you consider it good? (Feel free to cite your own fanfiction.)
- Anything you want to add about dialogue? Observations, discoveries, rants?
*Remember, this isn’t just a sharing forum. If you have genuine questions about dialogue, please do not hesitate to ask here. The above what to do and what not to do’s are basic examples and by no means THE WORD on the topic of dialogue.
Resources: