Most of the time, the dialogue should be a part of the story's action, so we have some idea of what the characters are doing while they are talking. When we talk, we are usually doing something physical. It may be something simple like pointing a finger, patting our hair, waving an arm, putting a hand in a pocket, leaning against something, etc.

 

Also, if you want to avoid too many "saids" or substitutes, use bits of action to show who is speaking.

 

A dialogue combined with action might go something like this:

 

Mike watched Kathy’s hips sway as she walked towards him and he smiled as he quipped, “You got any fries to go with that shake?

 

She gave him a playful slap on the cheek. “Don’t be fresh.”

 

Remember to keep the action moving as the dialogue continues.

 

Most professional writers know it’s best to use plain old “said” as a dialogue tag. Readers are used to seeing the word “said” and will often skim right past it without even realizing it’s there. However, there may be times when you want to use a different tag for variety or to help show how something is spoken. Just be careful not to overuse them or they may draw the reader’s attention away from the words themselves. After all, the dialogue itself is much more important than the tag.

 

It's fine to write dialogue without any tag as long as the reader can tell who is speaking. Don't have long stretches of dialog without an occasional tag, or without using a character's name.

 

One way to make speech sound natural is to forget sentence structure and rules of grammar. People do not always speak in complete sentences nor do they use proper grammar. The hard part about writing dialogue is making it sound like real people are talking, because it actually has to be better than real dialogue.

 

10 Uses For Dialogue

 

1. Dialogue can show character.

A. Through what a persons says.

B. Through how he says it.

2. Dialogue furthers the action of the story.

3. Dialogue conveys needed information.

4. Dialogue can show the emotional state of the speaker.

5. Dialogue can show conflict.

6. Dialogue can build suspense.

7. Dialogue can foreshadow things to come.

8. Dialogue can characterize someone through the speaker's viewpoint.

9. To establish setting.

10. To break up long passages of text.

 

To learn to write more effective dialogue, you need to develop your listening skills. Try to shut off your other senses and just listen to what people say, not just what they say, but how they say it. What emotions are behind the actual words? How are the words being said? Listen for speech patterns and pet phrases.

 

Common Dialogue Mistakes

 

1. Boring: Making all characters sound the same

2. Tedious: Having the protagonist sound the same no matter what the circumstances.

3. Exposition: Dialogue where the character explains the plot or repeats information for the benefit of the audience by rambling on and on.

4. Dialect: Don't write dialect. Tell the reader where the character is from. It's too distracting to read dialect written out. Show by their speech patterns and habits that they have a distinctive way of talking. In some cases, a little dialect sprinkled here and there is acceptable, but don't over do it.

5. Stilted Dialogue: Dialogue that does not sound like natural speech.

6. Naming: Having one character use another character’s name to establish identity. People almost never say the other person’s name when speaking to them.

7. Overuse of Modifiers: Too many dialogue modifiers such as shouted, whimpered, exclaimed, cried, whispered, stammered, sighed, insinuated, bellowed, hedged and so on. Modifiers can sometimes be useful, but can also be annoying and used as a crutch to support poorly written dialogue.

 

Most dialogue pitfalls can be solved through patience, editing, and practice.

 

Writing Dialogue

 

New Speaker: Give each speaker a new paragraph.

 

Double Quotes: Use double quotations marks with punctuation inside the quotation marks.

 

Dialogue/Traits: Give your characters physical or verbal traits that will allow the reader to know without a tag who is speaking or acting. Having a character repeat certain words or phrases is a good way to indicate who is speaking.

 

Dialogue/Implied: Subtext: a lot of what is important in a dialogue is what the character does not say, or what the dialogue implies. Think of a situation people would have a hard time talking openly about, like telling your parents you eloped or a parent telling a child they were moving. Practice by writing a line for a character and then write below it what the character was actually thinking when he/she said it.

 

Indirect Dialogue: Indirect dialogue should not be used a great deal. It has its place, however, and can be used to show what a character is thinking when they want to:

a) summarize a conversation that has already taken place

b) supply information that is necessary but is not significant enough to warrant a whole dialogue scene

c) break a long dialogue sequence

d) compress trivial dialogue

 

Use dialogue that is appropriate to the age and social stature of your characters.