What I've learnt about dialogue 2

What I’ve learnt about dialogue 2

Ok, so now that the formatting hurdles are out of the way, I wanted to share some lessons I’ve learnt about using dialogue in fiction.

One of the first big lessons I learnt was that dialogue is not speech. It is not a transcript of what we say. If you’ve ever read a transcript, you know what I mean. It is mind-numbingly boring to see how many times we use words like ‘uhm,’ ‘yeah,’ ‘like.’ And how little we actually say!

Another common mistake is using dialogue to dump all the backstory we burn to share with the reader. Or repeating what both the characters already know. (You know a writer has a problem if they write, ‘As you know, Leslie, I arrived three days ago.’) And dialogue should never be used to explain.

In fiction, dialogue has quite a different function. As J.H. Lawson says, it is ‘compression and extension of action.’ It is action, not conversation. We use dialogue not by accident or only because two or three characters are talking to each other. That can be done by indirect speech or best in a summary. Dialogue functions to evoke character, advance the plot or provide exposition. Ideally, it combines at least two of those.

Here are some dialogue tips I’ve learnt over the years:

  1. Before writing dialogue, consider: Is direct, indirect or summary best?

  2. Short exchanges are better than monologues. Anything is better than a monologue!

  3. Is dialogue doing more than one thing: revealing character, setting the mood, moving the action, etc?

  4. Dialogue must be speakable. Read out loud!

  5. Let dialogue express what the speaker wants and what the story is about.

  6. Dialogue is more interesting when characters say ‘no’ to each other.

  7. Never use it for exposition.

  8. Let your characters occasionally avoid or conceal saying what they mean / want (or let them be incapable of saying it)

  9. Let your characters contradict themselves (give them room to change or reveal surprising turns of emotion)

  10. Read your dialogue aloud, make sure it’s comfortable to the mouth, breath and the ear.

  11. Eavesdrop (again, you don’t want to transcribe but listen for that turn of phrase that one of your characters uses all the time or an interesting expression that perfectly fits one of your characters!)

 

Good exercises and explanations are available in the following books:

J. Hynes: Writing great fiction

M. McCowan: Effective editing

J. Burroway: Writing fiction

D. Maas: The emotional craft of fiction

 

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