Tips for Writing Good Dialogue

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan

I cut my writerly teeth on dialogue as a script writer for stage plays and sermon-starters. I didn’t add directions or interpretation. I left that up to the director. Of course at that time, I was the director, but that’s neither here nor there. 

In the beginning when I gave the script to the actors, what they said was different from how I’d written it. Not in content but in delivery. Since I liked what I heard, I noted the changes in my scripts. Because of those actors, I learned very quickly to write realistic dialogue, which served me well when I started writing novels.

I love dialogue because it:

• 1. Allows the reader to get to know the characters on a personal level. Their word choice (character voice) SHOWS personality.
• 2. Dialogue SHOWS rather than telling information in narrative. 
• 3. Breaks up passages of narrative with dynamic information: again it SHOWS.
• 4. Writers can imply subtext through the character’s actions and tone.

But it’s not always easy to write succinct speech that:

• 1. Rings true and doesn’t feel forced or stilted. 
• 2. Is relevant to what’s going on in the story.
• 3. Suits the character. 

How to define who is speaking:

A dialogue tag is most often used by newer writers. It defines who is speaking. The most commonly used tag is “said.” New writers, please be warned: you cannot reminisce, laugh, or sigh words. You can only SAY words. 

Besides, those words tell instead of show. BUT, and there’s that big but again, you can use those as an action beat to show who is speaking:

Ellen sighed. “I guess so.”

or

Jane wiped away her tears. “You always make me feel better.”

or 

Dave picked up the photo album. “Do you remember when we first met?” Memories consumed him.

You can also use internal monologue or thoughts:

Marleigh appeared in a dress that left her shoulders bare and took Gabe’s breath away. “You look stunning.”

or

Sam opened the restaurant’s back door and smoke billowed out, engulfing him. “Where’s the fire?” 

Be sure you vary where you place the tag or action beat in the sentence. In my first draft, I usually place them all before the dialogue to identify who is speaking. Then in the second draft, I move them to the middle and after dialogue, so a pattern doesn’t become apparent.

Three things in dialogue have an impact:

• Concise: Less is better to move a plot forward. Keep the dialogue focused on the point you need to communicate. 

• Authentic: It shows who the characters are, why they’re there, and how they feel about the situation and other characters. While dialogue is the perfect place to let a character’s personality and speech patterns shine through, it’s not an excuse for them to ramble like we do during real conversations.

Natural sounding dialogue in a book doesn’t exactly replicate the way we speak. I listened to my actors to change my written dialogue to sound realistic. In a book we want to make dialogue sound realistic while getting our point across succinctly. 

• Purposeful: It needs to be there to communicate important information, like planting clues or revealing backstory, not merely to give characters something to do. In a book we want to make dialogue sound realistic while getting our point across succinctly.

When including an accent, foreign language or colloquialisms in dialogue, the general rule of thumb is to be sparing, giving the impression of it through the way words are put together, rather than writing each word that way. Less is more; the odd word goes a long way to giving the impression of a language idiosyncrasy.

Example: A character is an Irish immigrant. Show that in the way he patterns his speech. As his wife leaves the house, instead of asking “Are you” he would say, “And would you be goin’ to the store?” Only use a few words like “aye” for “yes” and “me” for “my” and then not all the time. Once the reader has seen bits of a dialect, they will automatically think in the dialect.

Edit out repetitions. When I do second and third drafts, I sometimes find in my last edit, I’ve changed something and now have repetition. I have to choose the best place for that information to be given and delete the other instance. 

CAVEAT: As with all rules and guidelines, there are times when you will break them. However, be sure it is done for a reason and makes an impact.

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Tips for Writing Good Dialogue from author @AneMulligan on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Ane Mulligan lives life from a director’s chair, both in theatre and at her desk, creating novels. Entranced with story by age three, at five, she saw PETER PAN onstage and was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. One day, her passions collided, and an award-winning, bestselling novelist immerged. She believes chocolate and coffee are two of the four major food groups and lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.