| "The creation of character voice--writing dialogue that lets your characters sound like who they really are--is one of the most creative and challenging acts you can commit as an author." (Renni Browne and Dave King in Self-Editing for Fiction Writers) The above book is full of good advice for fiction writers. The ideas for this article are mainly taken from the chapter called "See How it Sounds" on writing dialogue; the examples, however, are mine. Dialogue does not mimic real speech, but sounds as if it were real speech. How it this done? |
"The creation of character voice ... is one of the most creative and challenging acts you can commit as an author." |
| Contractions | Use contractions. Forget the rules of formal English. You don't speak that way, and neither should your characters. Note however, that if you have an old-fashioned character, you can deliberately have her speak without contractions, to help show her character. Observe the differences in the following two examples:
"I do not believe you have the right to speak so, young man." "Don't you talk to me like that, you young hoodlum!" |
| Use sentence fragments. These give immediacy to the dialogue, and make it sound more like real speech. You can also use run-on sentences, much as people tend to do in actual speech
Wayne: "What's the word?" Wayne: "I brought the stuff, it's going in the suitcase." |
Sentence fragments |
| Don't overload dialogue | Don't cram information into dialogue that doesn't belong there.
"Harry, I know that all those years you spent I prison for a crime you didn't commit has hardened you, and I know you now have a special grudge against Lt. Peterson, but you mustn't let it affect your relations with Sandy, even though she did once date him." Work the explication in some other way! |
| Make sure your character has a reason for saying what he says. As with everything in the novel, dialogue should be there to serve a purpose. If it is not advancing the story or providing character development, it should not be there.
Weed out polysyllabic words, unless your character uses them for some reason. In English writing, Anglo-Saxon words almost always give a piece more immediacy. Which of the following sounds more realistic? "When you have finished consuming your repast, kindly dispose of the leftover materials in the container provided for your convenience." "You done? Toss the garbage and let's go!" |
"Logic in dialogue, and short, action words" |
| Misunderstanding | Have characters misunderstand each other, and talk at cross-purposes, or even lie.
Paul: Is everything ready? |
| Now that you have worked on your dialogue, bring your ear into play. The absolute best way to test dialogue is to read it aloud. As Browne and King state, pay special attention to where you stumble or make slight changes as you read. Those are the areas that need work.
Pay attention to which character you are reading. Does it sound right for him or her? By the time you are ready to edit your novel, you should recognize your character's voices as easily as you recognize your friends' voices. Can you tell without having names attached who is speaking? If you want your reader to be able to keep up, you need to make each voice distinctive. Also, to keep from distracting your reader, it is better to use the rhythm of a character's speech, rather than depending on dialectical spellings to mark our her foreign origins. |
"Bring your ear into play" |
| Practice | Ready for some practice? The following dialogue is from The Arrival by Fred Saberhagen. One character in this science fiction novel is telling another about the final stages of an unexpected ride in an alien spacecraft. If you like, try editing it on your own. My suggestions follow afterwards.
Jubal's gaze returned to his son. "Not exactly, Johnny. That's not quite what I said, is it?" "What do you mean?" "We returned to San Simeon, all right. But I don't think the spaceship brought us." "You're losing me." "One minute Esther and I were in the control cabin, like I told you. Next thing I knew, we were both sitting in the fountain, getting soaking wet--" "You were right back in the pool by the statues, where it all started." "That's what I'm saying." Don't read any further if you want to edit it yourself first! |
| Here is my suggestion for editing this snippet. There could certainly be others.
Jubal met his son's eyes again. "Not quite. We didn't return here on the spaceship." "Didn't... Then how?" "One minute Esther and I were in the control cabin, and the next we were smack dab in the middle of the pool--right back where it all started." The revised version cuts out sentences that add nothing to the dialogue. There is also a sentence fragment, which better expresses "Johnny's" shock at yet another revelation in a story he already has trouble believing. |
Revised dialogue |
| Well done dialogue equals a more realistic story | Creating realistic dialogue goes a long way towards making your novel sound like something that is happening, and keeps the focus on the characters rather than the author. Try applying these simple suggestions, and you should have a story that sounds more realistic. |
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