Write Better Dialogue
By Y.P. Wright
Conquering the Beast: 3 Tips to write better dialogue
By YP Wright
When you sit down to write your epic novel, you have a singular mission in mind. You want to create the greatest work of fiction known to man-obviously. You’ve lassoed the most illusive, creative creature in existence and corralled it into the holding stall of your mind. Now that it’s time to tame the beast so that it’s ready to meet the world, you feel the awesome weight of how to get that monster out of your head and onto that pristine page without ruining it with clunky, unnatural dialogue.
Great dialogue is critical to your story’s success. When submitting work for publication, editors are said to often skip ahead to sections of dialogue and make their decisions based on how good it is.
Be Mindful of What Dialogue Really is
To write better dialogue, keep 5 important things in mind:
- Dialogue includes physical gesture
- Dialogue is as much about what characters do to each other as what they say to each other.
- Silence is considered part of dialogue
- Dialogue isn’t necessarily grammatically correct.
- You can make the world part of your dialogue
Use Action Beats
See, dialogue is literally what brings your characters to life and gives them dimension. When you make them speak, you are breathing life into someone who otherwise doesn’t exist.
“Look,” he slammed his hand against the wall, “I don’t care if it happened once or if it happened twenty times, it stops today,” he paused but kept his back turned to her as she wept.
“It won’t happen again-”
“It better not,” he slammed the door behind him and went upstairs to shower.
Use action beats to enhance dialogue, especially if it’s a long exchange between characters. Action beats work to give your reader a break and add touches of detail to the scene. In the example above, I used three beats to fill in the gaps. Otherwise, it would have reads like this:
“Look, I don’t care if it happened once or if it happened twenty times, it stops today,” he said.
“It won’t happen again-,” she said.
“It better not,” he said.
The exchange between the characters are the same, but it’s flat. There’s no sense of tension on the page, so the reader isn’t experiencing the tension of the scene.
Manage Attributions & Avoid Adverbs
Another key consideration to keep in mind when it comes to dialogue, is how you manage attributions. Novice writers have a reputation for overusing attributions. Avoid using the verb said after every single line of dialogue. Writing is about maintaining the balance between just enough and too much.
Keep those speaker attributions as transparent as possible so that your writing flows smoothly. Don’t open a paragraph of dialogue with speaker attribution. Don’t use explanations or adverbs either.
Write:
“I don’t care if it only happened once, it better not happen again,” he said slamming his hand against the wall.
Instead of:
“I don’t care if it only happened once, it better not happen again,” he said angrily.
Of course, there are going to be exceptions to the rule. Adhering to these rules all of the time, is unlikely. An adverb’s biggest adversary is Stephen King-but even he uses adverbs from time to time. But sticking to good dialogue mechanics most of the time, will give your writing the touch of grace and elegance that readers love.
Originally published at https://www.ypwright.com on November 21, 2019.
