Writing Dialogue
Last night at my writing class for teens we worked on dialogue. We talked about how it's different than conversation. The main point being that it has to take you somewhere, can't just be for the hell of it. It needs to reveal character or move plot or show conflict. Dialogue in writing needs to serve a purpose, which is pretty much true of your whole manuscript. If it isn't adding something to the story, leave it out. Dialogue is also different in that we leave out a lot of the stumbly kind of stuff, like the 'uh's' and 'like's' and those kinds of filler words.
Another important point about dialogue is that every character needs to have his/her own voice. Everyone sees the world through their own lens, which affects our whole mindset, including the way we talk. Each character needs to sound different from the others. Ideally, you should be able to read a section of dialogue without all the 'he said, she saids' and still know who's talking, which means you really need to be able to hear the voices of your characters so that you can write them.
What if you don't hear them? I always like to interview them in that situation. Just sit down with pen and paper and write out my questions and their answers. For some reason, that helps me hear their voices more clearly than if I'm just trying to write their story. Plus I end up learning a lot about them.
So those are my thoughts on dialogue for today. Hope they help some. Let me know what other writing questions you have!
Happy writing!
I've never interviewed, although I've asked other characters what they think of the one that I can't hear the voice of. I love your blog! Thank you for the inspirations!
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Good idea! And thanks so much for your comment! I really appreciate it
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