Writing Dialog

By [SleepingDragon]



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Here are some tips on writing dialog...

Writing strong dialog depends on a couple of main factors in this writer’s opinion.

Life experience
Knowing your characters
Good use of surrounding text

Life experience: Ok, you don’t have to be a geezer to have had a good deal of life experience. This simply means you need to be observant of people. Pay attention to how they talk, walk, what type of accent they have, etc. Do they use slang or jargon specific to who they are or what they like to do? Do they have particular mannerisms? Are they young, old, rich, poor, what have you? All of this plays into the second point I will make...

Know your characters: Whether you make a comprehensive set of character descriptions or simply have a good solid image in your head of who you are writing about, the point is to stay within the character when writing their dialog. Make it believable. Don’t have a 14-year-old kid talking like a 40-year-old science geek unless the said kid stars in your story as the amazing computer geek/wiz kid or something. On the flip side, don’t have a 35 year old mother of 5 talking like a 13 year old girl unless you know she’s going through a mid-life crisis and is trying to act cool for her teenage daughters.

Ask yourself:

Would this character really talk and act like this in this situation?
What life experience does the character have to indicate this?
What are they doing while they are talking?
How do they feel about the conversation?

Some of these questions go to the third point...

Good use of surrounding text: While it’s true that with solid character, dialog can contain no surrounding text at all, I recommend a more descriptive approach in most cases. In other words, don’t just say, “he said this and she said that” back and forth down the page. Let the reader know how words were spoken. Did they shout gleefully? Did they whisper hopefully? Were they bashfully fidgeting or engaged in some other type of mannerism?

Don’t simply add these things randomly. Stop and think about the character. Are they acting and speaking in ways congruent to who they are supposed to be in the story? If not, is there a good reason why, that goes to the plot? Does it all make sense with what you know about this type of person?

Examples:

Bad:

“Tommy, what is up?” asked Sally
“Not a lot. I am going to the NASCAR race on Saturday.” He said
“Cool. Are you taking anyone?”
“No, but I have this extra ticket. Would you like to come?”
“Sure. Sounds fun. Let’s call it a date.”

Good:

“Tommy, how y’all doin?” Sally greeted the young trucker as she poured him a cup of coffee. “It’s been a while. What’s new?”
“Nuthin’ much.” he said, setting aside a day old newspaper and stretching. “I’m headed over to Talledega this weekend for the race.”
“Really?” Sally asked excitedly. She loved NASCAR and was a big fan of Dale Jr. “Y’all takin’ anyone?”
“Not yet.” Tommy blushed and his hands began to sweat. He removed his hat, looking up into Sally’s brown eyes. “But I got another ticket. Y’all wanna come along?”
“Hell yea!” Sally exclaimed. “Y’all got yerself a date, Tommy Wilkins!”


In the first example, there was literally no indication of who the characters were, where they were from or what they were about. They could have been 19 or 45. Their dialog was stilted. There were no contractions or any indication of dialect whatsoever. They could have been just about anybody and were in fact big nobodies.

In the second example we immediately get the idea that they are a young couple from the southern United States (probably Florida to be more specific). We are also tipped off that Sally is a waitress, likely in a truck stop or small diner. Tommy is a local guy that passes through every now and then, but will evidently be in the area for a short while at least. He is fond of Sally, hence his bashful nervousness. He is also polite (removing his hat). Sally likes Tommy just fine, but may be more excited about the race itself than going out with him specifically.

I was able to write what I did because I have been in south Florida, even though I am from another geographical area. I’ve been to truck stops and greasy spoons. I’ve seen how waitresses and truckers act. I know how they talk in the south. I also know there are many, many women who are NASCAR fans and that a lot of fans of the said ‘sport’ like to follow one driver specifically. In other words, I have some life experience with this.

That’s a wrap for now. Hopefully this essay on dialog will prove helpful to you as you work to become better writers.

Peace out