: Re: What is the correct way to write dialogue? When writing dialogue I usually just make one character say whatever I want them to say and then write "said" at the end, but I feel like I'm doing

@Sarah872

Vote Up Vote Down

John Doe's answer does an excellent job of explaining what to do about the word "said" and other dialogue tags. But there's another half to this question which is currently being neglected. Specifically, the words inside the quotes.

I usually just make the character say whatever I want them to say

Ideally, the character should be saying what the character wants to say, regardless of what you, the author, want them to say. Unfortunately, the difference can be really subtle and hard to pick up on. Here are some specific things to watch for in a character's dialogue:

Tone - How does the speaker feel about the subject? Positively, negatively, somewhere in between? Are they happy, sad, angry, something else? How does the phrasing of their statement reflect these emotions?
Diction (word choice) - What is the speaker's background? Which words are they more likely to use? Compare a scientist with a layperson. Also consider colloquialisms, slang, jargon, etc., but don't use anything too obscure or impenetrable to your target audience.
Sentence structure and cohesion - How practiced is the speaker at speaking?
Do they use short simple sentences, or long rambling word salads? How well do their sentences flow into one another? Compare a politician reading from a speech to that same politician speaking extemporaneously.
Certitude - How strongly does the speaker believe that they are right, and how assertive are they about it? Is the speaker confident in their statements, or tentative? Compare and contrast a salesperson and an engineer.
Politeness - How does the speaker see themself in relation to their audience? Is the character asking or demanding? Do they say "please" and "thank you," address people as sir or ma'am, etc.?
Goals - What does the speaker want, if anything? How does their dialogue directly help (or hinder) them? Obviously relevant to persuasive speech, but even simple, factual discussions will be colored by a character's biases and personal opinions.
Sincerity - You can get a lot of mileage out of contrasting a character's literal words (their dialogue, reflecting all of the above factors) with their demeanor (described outside of quoted speech). For example, an evil character might speak very politely, but in a cold voice or with unfriendly body language. This serves to emphasize their insincerity and untrustworthiness, and can be far more effective than making them talk like a jerk.

And a few riskier strategies:

Phrasing, grammar, and mechanics - Use with care, as overly irregular grammar will interfere with the reader's immersion and possibly their understanding. But the really nitpicky stuff, like who/whom, less/fewer, P-stranding, etc. can show a character's attention to detail. It can also make the character sound like an English teacher or pedant.
Phonetic spelling of an accent - Use with extreme care. Pick a small number of easily-recognized alternate spellings of individual words. Otherwise, your readers will have difficulty following the dialogue. Emily Brontë can get away with that, but you probably can't.

Notice in particular that "How does this dialogue advance the plot?" is not on the list. Dialogue isn't about advancing the plot. It is about advancing each character's personal agenda, in their own personal way. If the dialogue is totally pointless, you can skip it with an "and then Alice told Bob about the MacGuffin" without going into further detail. But you should never twist a character's literal words in order to serve the plot, except to the extent that serving the plot is also serving that character's interests.

With enough practice, you should be able to visualize the character, put them into a given scenario, and just listen to them talk about it. Write down what they say, and you have your dialogue. This requires a very intimate and detailed knowledge of your character's voice, but the resulting dialogue can sound quite natural with extraordinarily little editing.

(0)

Login to post a comment!