3 Ways to Improve Your Dialogue
When it comes to dialogue, let the characters do the talking and let the things they say tell us about them and the people they interact with. Read the article to learn 3 ways to improve your dialogue.
Learn How to Write Dialogue from Examples
1. Let the characters speak for themselves
These non-descript people complain about a group of boys hanging around on the street corner. What they say gives a hint about the speaker without providing details. Based on the dialogue alone, you can assume something different about each of them. Perhaps you might decipher their gender, race, social economic status or even depending on how versed you are on speaking styles, their region.
Here are five accounts of a neighborhood problem.
“They be down the street screaming they heads off all night.”
“Every day, those unruly boys stir up a fright. Come nightfall, they’re hollering like crazy.”
“At night, I just lie awake listening to those heathens.”
“Oh, the noise. If they get any louder, I swear, I’ll crawl right under my bed.”
“They was just hooting up out there like cayotes on a rabbit.”
Do you get any impression about the speaker based on a single sentence?
2. Break Up One-Sided Dialogue
If possible, don’t include one sided conversations unless it advances your story. Sometimes, one-sided dialogue gives insight into the speaker’s character or has some other intended purpose. In cases where this is not true, rewrite that dialogue. Do you like talking to people who go on and on about something? Probably not. Most people don’t.
Here’s an example of a one sided conversation.
“Yes, I agree. That’s the reason we saw him over there. He was just trying to date the young girl. She’s a nice girl, we all hope she’ll go ahead and marry him because she’s the type of girl every young man wants to get married to. Being as rich as she is don’t hurt either.”
Now, let’s improve this dialogue. Let’s add another character to interact with the first speaker.
“He had a right to go over there,” Andy said.”
“Yes, I agree.“
“Did he ask her or not?”
“That’s the reason we saw him over there. He was just trying to date the young girl.”
“I think he should just leave her alone. She’s nothing but trouble.”
“She’s a nice girl… we all hope she’ll go ahead and marry him because she’s the type of girl every young man wants to get married to.”
“I don’t think so Papa. I’m telling you, she’s trouble.”
“Being as rich as she is don’t hurt none. I’d be willing to deal with the trouble.”
Sometimes, although rare, monologues work. Most often, when your character talks on and on, it’s a problem. They are generally talking at people instead of to them. When you spot this problem, let them interact with another character.
3. Make sure it sounds natural
Remember sounding natural doesn’t means sounding like real-life. In fiction good dialogue is faster, focused and more direct. Real-life might sound like this:
“Hey Marge.”
“Oh, hey Jenna.”
“Um, I was thinking maybe we should go somewhere?”
“Yeah, like what were you thinking?”
“I don’t know. Where would you like to go?”
“I don’t care. Whatever you want to do.”
“I picked last time.”
“Well, I’m not good at picking, you should pick.”
“Let’s see, what you feel like doing?”
“It doesn’t matter, anything you want.”
It’s natural alright. But it’s tedious. Takes up too much space. When it comes down to it, this type of dialogue can hold up the story.
If you need more help, try a writer’s guide
Here is a natural sounding version:
“Hey Marge, let’s do something fun tonight.”
“What you have in mind?”
“Don’t know. You pick. I always like your choices.”
“Let’s go to that new club. Maybe we’ll run into Philip.”
This dialogue sounds natural and moves the story along. By its end, the reader is thinking— What about the new club? Who is Philip? Will they see him?
