Writing Dialogue Can Be Fun

 

Friday, I promised to continue a discussion on writing dialogue.   So,....

Dialogue is a part of writing fiction, even creative nonfiction. It gives a break from pure narrative, and it helps make your characters more realistic, more alive. Dialogue also helps get important information to the reader. Writers should learn to use dialogue effectively, not merely toss it in every few paragraphs.

A few tips when writing dialogue:

A. Don't be too formal. Write what your characters say as though you were having a conversation with a friend. If you and she tried a new flavor of coffee, you would probably not say to her, "I do not like the flavor of this coffee." Your remark would more likely be, "I don't like this coffee." When we speak, we use contractions. Use them when writing dialogue, too. Unless you're trying to convey a certain type of character who speaks very formally all the time. 

B. Make the characters sound different. You can convey character traits through the use of dialogue along with an action preceding or following the spoken words. Mary brushed her bangs aside. "I don't know why you persist in embarrassing me." Her hand moved back to her forehead, and she pushed at her bangs again. "I've about had it with you, Tom." Her action is a nervous habit. Her words let you know she's not happy with Tom. Now you can add what Tom says. Tom rubbed his thumb along his chin. "Dis ain't gonna work, Mary. We gotta split."  You can see by their dialogue that they are two different people. 

C. Watch for Info Dump. Don't use dialogue to convey a large amount of information that is not really pertinent to the story or is something you feel is needed information, but you're giving too much at one time. 

D. Do use dialogue to break up the narrative. Just as we should vary the lengths of our sentences, we should vary narrative and dialogue. It gives the reader a break and it also makes the story more interesting when the reader 'hears' the characters conversing.

E. Learn the punctuation rules. One of the most common errors writers make is punctuating dialogue. Punctuation goes inside the quote marks. Susan raised both arms to the sky. "I am crazy about days like this."  The period goes at the end of what she said but before the final quotation marks. If the sentence calls for an exclamation point or a question mark, it's the same. Inside the quotations marks. If you're using a quote within a quote, you use both single and double quote marks. Jimmy grabbed Tony's shirt. "Tom's the one who said 'I'll beat him to a pulp.' Not me."

F. Paragraph breaks in dialogue. Start a new paragraph each time a different person speaks. Even if it is a simple answer like "No." Move on to a new paragraph when the next person speaks. 

G. Tags in dialogue. When you're writing a lengthy bit of dialogue, the 'he said' 'she said' tags become boring. Use them when needed, but you can leave them off sometimes if it is obvious as to who is speaking. Don't be tempted to add an adverb like 'angrily, happily, moodily' as they are telling, not showing. The reader should be able to 'see' what the character's mood is by the action prior to the dialogue and the words they speak. 

It's fun to write dialogue, but it's also important to make it worthwhile. Make your characters sound like real people, not some wooden stick figure. 

You Are In Charge of Conversation

What's this little guy going to say? That's up to you, the writer. You are going to decide on the words he'll utter within this bubble. We might see the bubble, or cloud, in a comic strip but in a short story or novel, the dialogue is written to stand alone.

Some writers agonize over writing dialogue while others write it effortlessly. Dialogue is meant to do several things:

1.  Good dialogue will move your story along.

2.  It will aid in showing rather than narrative telling.

3.  It's a way to get information to the reader.

4.  It's part of character development.

5.  It shows relationships between characters

6.  It breaks up long spates of pure narrattion

A few things to keep in mind when writing dialogue:

Contractions:  People seldom speak in everyday conversation without using contractions. If that's the way conversation goes in real life, shouldn't your characters in a novel or short story speak in the same way? When I read a novel that has dialogue written in a formal way, in other words, no contractions, I can almost see the character standing straight as a toy soldier, arms at his sides and no expression on his face. The character begins to feel wooden, stilted, unemotional to me. One way to counteract that is to use contractions. Next time you're in a coffee shop or a waiting room where you're privy to other people's conversations, listen and learn. Do you hear formal speech in these everyday chats?

Actions within dialogue: Another way to keep from having toy soldier characters is to sprinkle actions into your dialogue. Let the character say something, follow with an action, or precede what is said with an action. It allows the reader to visualize the scene along with the conversation. It also breaks up lengthy amounts of dialogue which can bog down the person reading it.

    "Look at this, Tom. Do you know what I'm going to do with it?" Fred raised the paint-spattered hammer and waved it back and forth like a flag.

     Fred picked up the paint-spattered hammer. "Do you see this, Tom? Do you know what I'm going to do with it?"

Tags:  Lose the adverbs when writing tags in dialogue. We don't need to be told that Sally said something grumpily or nastily or hurriedly. he said or she said are quite sufficient. Use an action before or after if you want to convey an emotion in the speaker. She said, "Look at what we're doing, John." She slammed her book onto the kitchen table. Using more than he said, she said tags distracts from what is actually being said. Remember that you do not need to have a tag after every sentence in dialogue. If it's a back and forth conversation, use the tags sparingly, the reader can generally figure out who is saying what. Give them that guidance in the opening lines, then carry on without them. Maybe sprinkle the tags in if it's a particularly long section of dialogue.

Complete sentences: It's not necessary to always use complete sentences in dialogue. Don't worry, your old English teacher will not appear out of nowhere and smack your hand. Once again, in normal conversation, we often speak with phrases rather than complete sentences. Of course, you will have complete sentences for a great deal of your dialogue but toss in those phrases now and then. It will result in a more natural conversation.

There's more to writing good dialogue than these few things that I've touched on today. Google the topic or find a book about writing dialogue. Read it, digest and apply to your own writing. Have fun making your characters speak to one another. I started doing it long ago when my friends and I played with paper dolls and made up stories about them along with lengthy conversations between the paper doll each of us held. Little did I know I was a writer in training!

(This is a post from past but still pertinent today for fiction writers and creative nonfiction writers)



 

Embellished Dialogue Tags Can Be Frustrating For Editors and Readers

The guy above could be an editor who wonders why writers can't write simple dialogue without constantly embellishing the tags with them. In case anyone does not know what a dialogue tag is--it's the he said or she said that accompanies the spoken words.

One of the big mistakes some writers make is to tack on an adverb to each tag. An adverb describes a verb; it lets the reader know how the character delivered the dialogue. Examples below:

1. "Look at what you've done," Mary said heatedly.

2. "I love you more than you;ll ever know," Susan said softly.

3. "Don't ever speak to me like that again," John said angrily.

Most editors prefer that you omit those adverbs. You might add a simple phrase after the tag such as:

"Look at what you've done," Mary said. She slapped the table with a shaking hand.

Or just leave the tag as 'Mary said.' Whatever preceded the piece of dialogue should have told the reader that she was angry. Using a constant barrage of these adverbs ends up with telling instead of showing. If you're unsure, it's better to skip those adverbs altogether. If you must use them, do it sparingly. 

The main thing to remember is that the actual dialogue is the most important thing that you're writing. The tag is there but it's only meant to keep the characters sorted out as to who said what. 

Some writers are wary of using the he said/she said tag multiple times. Most editors will tell you that it's alright to use it over and over, as readers tend to register it but not pay all that much attention to it. It's just a way to allow you to know who is speaking--Marilyn, Steve, Mr. Jones, or even the oft-used he or she. A brain is a wonderful tool--it can learn to register who is speaking the piece of dialogue, yet skip right over the tag so it doesn't become irritating.

If the dialogue section is lengthy, you can omit the he said/she said off and on if it's obvious to the reader who is speaking. 

Next time you read a novel, or creative nonfiction that uses dialogue, pay attention to how the writer handled the tags. Do you like what the author did? Or did it become an aggravation? What method do you like best?