I love writing dialogue. Absolutely love it. As a young reader, it was my favorite thing to read, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. A page filled with mostly white space is much more attractive than long paragraphs of boring description.
So this week, I’d like to share some rules to help you create the best dialogue you can.
Rule #1: Learn the grammar.
You’ve got to figure out where the quotation marks go before you can work on what’s inside them. That’s all I’ll say.
Rule #2: No small talk.
Each conversation needs to advance the story in some way, whether by revealing important information or helping the characters come to a decision that will influence their action. You can also use dialogue to break up long action sequences.
I can hear you whispering, “But what about character development?” Good character development generally happens as part of the plot. Here’s an example of dialogue that should be cut:
“It’s supposed to rain tomorrow,” said Jane.
John groaned. “I hate rain.”
“Just kidding!” said Jane with a laugh. “Tricked you again. It’s supposed to be sunny.”
“I hate the sun, too!” John growled.
Sure, this characterizes John as a grouch and Jane as a cheerful jokester, but their conversation does absolutely nothing to move the plot along. It’s boring. Here’s a better example that both develops character and advances the plot:
“It’s supposed to rain tomorrow,” said Jane. She crouched to lace up her running shoes.
John groaned. “I hate rain. I’m not coming to your race if it’s raining.”
“Just kidding!” said Jane with a laugh. “Tricked you again. It’s supposed to be sunny.”
“Even worse,” John growled. “It’ll reflect off the bleachers. The aliens might take it as a signal. A signal to attack.”
Using both hints within the dialogue itself and the action between, this makes for a more successful conversation. It builds the characters, provides foreshadowing, and moves the plot forward because they’re not talking about nothing.
Rule #3: Read it out loud.
Your first step to writing natural dialogue is to forget that you’re writing it.
If you were to write a transcript of everything you say in a day, it wouldn’t look like a perfect college composition essay. You don’t always speak in complete sentences. You use slang. You stumble, you hesitate, you forget words.
Dialogue should sound like a slightly more polished version of this everyday speech.
Instead of:
“I went to the grocery store to purchase a carton of eggs, milk, and a large bag of chips.”
Try:
“Yeah, I went to the store. I just got some eggs and milk. Oh, and a family-size bag of honey-barbeque chips. I can get through a whole bag in one night if the TV’s loud enough.”
Read your dialogue out loud. See if you can hear your character in your words. If not, keep trying until it doesn’t even sound like you’re reading.
I hope these tips are useful, and stay tuned for another part of this series in two weeks! What do you think is the hardest thing about writing dialogue? Comment below.