Creative writing - dialogue

Tell Me a Story - Dialogue.

AJ, can you help me? My dialogue never seems ‘real’. Have you any tips you can share?

Hi, Pauline. You're right to pay attention to it because dialogue is VERY important. Your novel needs to contain around 50% - 60% dialogue to keep it moving along.

I know it sounds trite, but try listening to the way people talk. Study the selection of words, and the tempo used. People don’t speak in long sentences, so make sure you write your dialogue in short, sharp sentences.

As you listen, decide which of those spoken words are actually suitable for your writing. In real life, when we meet someone, we greet each other with worn-out phrases, asking how they are, etc. This is monotonous stuff.
Readers are intelligent and understand that small talk occurs – they simply aren’t interested. They want to get to the substance of the conversation without everyday fluff. Remove the minutiae; give the readers what they want.

You also need to append dialogue with body language. Without body language, readers can’t always appreciate the value of words. Readers need to see the protagonists in their mind's eye as they talk - do they grimace, smile, frown? Body language can completely alter the meaning of words.

Adding body language can also alter the pacing of the work. There are times when brisk dialogue is necessary, and times when we want to slow it down. Describing body language can slow it quite subtly without altering the substance.

One thing I must point out. Be VERY careful if your character has a dialect. Writing in heavy dialect can become distracting and time-consuming, and most readers tire of it quickly - one of the rare times when you should TELL, not SHOW.

Hope this helps a little, Pauline – and good luck.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story.
• Romantic Suspense

Ten essential points of dialogue in a novel

Tell Me a Story - writing tips

Dialogue is essential to your novel. Dialogue keeps a story dynamic, it can help dentify characters, it is a way of 'showing' instead of 'telling', and it shifts the tale forward.... Without good dialogue your story will die.

Okay, so I know everyone likes lists. To summarize my previous articles on dialogue I've made a list. Hope it helps a little.


Essential points.

1. It could be that up to fifty percent of your novel is made of dialogue – half your book, so make it good, make it realistic.
2. Characters should NOT indulge in chitchat. Every bit of dialogue should move the story onward. If it doesn't contribute in some way, scrub it out.
3. Dialogue should NOT be true to life – people speak in garbled ways - it should just read as if it’s true to life.
4. An easy way to check whether your dialogue is okay, is to record it. When you play it back, you’ll hear the shaky bits.
5. Every central character should have their own unique ‘voice’ that the reader begins to recognize - their own overused words - but not TOO overused. Be discrete, don't make them sound like morons by too much repetition.
6. The better you know your characters, the better the dialogue will be.
7. To a certain extent, you can impart age and character with dialogue without having to explain things to the readers. Young people speak in a different way to older people.... but beware of using the latest 'in' words. Your novel might soon become outdated.
8. Quality dialogue helps readers to become immersed in the novel.
9. Keep your dialogue to short bursts. If a piece of dialogue entails more than one paragraph, it turns into verbal diarrhoea.
10. Stay away from substitute words for ‘said’. Words like ‘affirmed’ ‘articulated’ and 'vowed', highlight themselves rather than how it's spoken. ‘Said’ is a small word that disappears and allows readers to concentrate on the story.

Make the most of your dialogue. Don't waste the opportunity to enhance your story and you won't go far wrong.

• Next post on 'Tell Me a Story', Bookworld.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Looking for your next read? Try:

SHORT MOMENTS - a collection of short stories that will jerk tears
PAST SINS - a contemporary women's novel

Dialogue, make it plain, make it obvious

Tell Me A Story

Caught up in dialogue

High-quality dialogue can help readers identify with characters. If your characters hold what appears to be a natural conversation, readers will be caught up with their story. They will feel they are part of what’s going on.

Dialogue has many uses. It can shed light on complex conditions. It can put us in the picture about the past, explain the present, and give suggestions about the future, but whatever way it’s used, it should always be obvious - make it plain.

Mistake

Your reader must at all times grasp what your protagonists are on about, don't make your dialogue hazy. It’s a mistake to make oblique references to events from dozens of pages earlier. The only time you can get away with that is if the incident was so amazing that the reader is bound to remember.

Unbearable dialogue

Be careful of what you allow your characters to say. The area where people come from, often affects the way they speak. This doesn’t mean you should try to write your dialogue in dialect or regional accent. The occasional use of a local expression can be enchanting, but a whole dialogue in dialect is almost unbearable to read.

Make dialogue plain and make it obvious.

• Next post on 'Tell Me A Story', Stolen book.

Dialogue, characters, and stock words

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Links on Tell Me a Story

• How To Describe - Mastering Descriptive Writing
• To Write A Story - 20 Ways To Write A Story Better
• Story Characters - 7 Cool Ways To Jump-Start Your Writing

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Stock words in Dialogue

Sometimes it’s a good idea to give your central characters a phrase or a few stock words of dialogue, which are theirs and theirs alone. It can help identify and it sets characters apart. It happens in real life so why not in your story. We all know people who have this habit – in fact, we probably all do it to a greater or less extent - take a listen to your own dialogue sometime.

Let your character(s) repeat the words on odd occasions so the reader gradually identifies them, BUT don’t do it too often, or you could make them sound slightly crazy. If your heroine is bouncy and thinks life is “terrific”, you shouldn’t make it her stock answer to every situation, better to use the term intermittently, so readers increasingly recognize the tendency.

Identifying the speaker by dialogue

Carefully consider the words and phrases before you ‘tag’ a protagonist with them. Make sure it’s in keeping with character and social class. Remember, don’t over-do it, but do bear in mind this really is an uncomplicated way to identify the character.

**** Dialogue ****Dialogue **** Dialogue ****

• Next post on 'Tell Me A Story', Oprah Winfrey.

Dialogue, characters, and the novel

Tell Me a Story - writing advice

Principal element

I’ve said in earlier posts that characters are the principal element of any novel.

Part and parcel of any character development, and of the novel in general, is the manner in which people speak - their dialogue.

• Dialogue can impart an enormous amount of information in a seamless way
• Dialogue offers clues to a character’s personality and social class
• Dialogue offer clues to a characters frame of mind.

As part of characterization creation, dialogue is crucial.

Fifty percent of your novel

• Up to 50% of your novel will probably be dialogue - it needs to be. Dialogue keeps your story dynamic.
• Modern books steer clear of long pieces of narrative, modern readers want things to move - narrative slows things down.
• Modern readers are brought up on a diet of TV and films - loads of dialogue - little narrative. They expect their literature to be the same. Confirm this in popular published books. Study in particularly, those in your genre.
• Acceptance or rejection of your novel can hang on the balance and quality of your dialogue.
• If dialogue is going to compose half the novel, it better be good.
  
  
  
  At it’s best; dialogue advances the story and depicts characters far more plainly than descriptive writing. Let’s face it, plain old narrative can be quite boring. Who wants their character or story to be thought of as boring?

Toss that descriptive narrative aside and concentrate on dialogue. That descriptive narrative might be your pride and joy - it might be full of wonderful flowing passages - but it can also weary the pants off people.

Show don't tell

Instead of saying someone was angry, let that character yell and scream. Show what's happening by the tone of words, the staccato remarks, or conversely the gentle exchanges of love.

Vary the tempo

• Use a verbal exchange of ideas and repartee to infuse buoyancy into a heavy scene
• Use dialogue to separate long passages of descriptive work
• Use speech to vary the tempo of your writing.

Don’t assume though, that you can merely pop up with a smattering of any-old dialogue to perk up a dreary section. Speech should fulfil an objective. If it doesn’t, if it’s only chitchat, scrub it out, find something else for your character to do. Every word in your novel should count, whether it be dialogue or narrative there is no excess baggage allowed.

Every word, every piece of dialogue, every character in your novel should fulfil an exact purpose. There should be no hangers on in this game.

• Next post on 'Tell Me A Story', Writing Scholarship.
• Related post, Stock words.

End of post - Dialogue, characters, and the novel

550 Alternative words for 'said'.

Sorry for the inconvenience but this was originally a small blogpost. It has been expanded into a major article to include 550 substitute or modifying words for 'said', and moved to 550 OTHER WORDS FOR SAID Please click on it and give it a look and let me know if it has been of help.

• Next post on Tell Me a Story - Best Seller.
• My other blog - Bedlam.
• Related posts - Dialogue.

End of the post - Alternative words for said