Month: October 2016

One of the toughest things about fiction is writing dialogue that’s believable.

Dialogue is one of the cornerstones of fiction writing: it gives your characters a chance to show off who they are, and is a way for them to learn about each other and work to resolve their differences.

Good dialogue can really make characters come alive. Wooden, unrealistic dialogue, can throw a reader out of your story very quickly indeed.

To misquote Mark Twain, the difference between the good dialogue and wooden dialogue is really a large matter—’tis the difference between “Reach for the sky!” and “Hello, Miss. Please put up your hands. I am holding on to a gun in my hand here.”

Here are three simple, concrete things I try to do in my own stories, and which can improve your written conversations.

Use contractions when writing dialogue

Almost all spoken English uses contractions.

In stories, however, I often see writers who would say “I’m going to the store. Want anything?” in real life make their characters say:

This turns what would be an otherwise okay line into something that sticks out in the worst possible way.

While the occasional “I am” or “you are” can serve to make a character’s point, most people use contractions when they speak. (And, as Mark Liberman of Language Log points out, they’ve done so for quite a long time where informal speech is concerned.)

To return to our shopping character:

With this one small change, the dialogue already sounds more realistic.

Make every word matter

Brevity, as Shakespeare tells us, is the soul of wit. It’s also important to dialogue.

In fiction, every sentence should serve some purpose, whether it’s furthering the plot, advancing the action, deepening characterization, or doing any of the other things that help draw readers in.

Writing dialogue is no different. Indeed, since it’s how your characters express themselves most directly, every word carries even more weight.

In the end, it comes down to whether you want your characters to come across as interminable blowhards, or smart and snappy. There’s a place for both kinds of speech–but by and large, shorter is better.

This goes double for sections where your characters are saying something that’s crucial to resolving the plot or their conflict with another character. A reader will feel the impact of a terse “I just–I love you, okay?” more than a long, rambling discourse on the nature of romantic attraction.

Break up dialogue with action

Outside the technical aspects of writing dialogue itself, it’s important to consider what else is going on during your story.

Your protagonists are rarely likely to be in a situation where they can talk for hours, so it’s important to fit what they’re saying in with what’s happening around them.

Dialogue tags are one easy way to intersperse action and dialogue. Working in short, sentence-long paragraphs in between bits of speech can also do the trick:

There isn’t an exact formula for mixing dialogue and action, at least make sure your long, meaningful heart-to-heart isn’t happening during a time when your protagonist and her estranged brother are in the midst of fighting off an army of invading alien warriors armed with rapid-fire laser blasters.

Few things are less convincing than ten paragraphs of dialogue squeezed between dodging one attack and then returning fire.

If your story isn’t action-oriented (and even if it is!), make sure other characters nearby don’t suddenly stop existing when you’re writing dialogue between your two main characters. Either put your characters in a place where they can be alone, or work in a couple of short interruptions. Interruptions are a great way to increase tension.

Bonus Tip: Read it Aloud

If you’re still not sure about writing dialogue, try reading it out loud–either alone or with a friend.

Things that are hard to spot on the page often become obvious when spoken.