Wattpad India Awards 2021

Learn: Dialogue

Let's talk about dialogue.

The previous 'show, don't tell' rule really carries over here. Not a lot of people just say their feelings or state things like "that makes me angry!" This is typically why you have exchanges with friends or significant others that go like this:

"Hey, are you feeling okay?"

"Fine, why?"

"You just look kind of down."

"Well like I said, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Because when I said we were going to go the pizza place, you just... like you gave me a look? I could see it."

"So?"

"So it makes me think you're not actually okay with it."

"Well it wasn't my favorite moment but it's whatever."

"Actual whatever or this is where we stop whatever?"

"This is where we stop."

"Okay. Fine."

<<>>

Even if someone eventually did admit to being upset, there's more to it than jumping straight in. It feels kind of awkward and strange in this way:

"Hey, are you feeling okay?"

"No, I'm angry over you picking the pizza place. It made me sad that you did it and didn't consider my feelings."

<<>>

It is possible you've read or seen dialogue that looked like that though. There's a lot of strange dialogue quirks in the world of fiction that are just not true in how we talk. A big offender is people expressing themselves stiffly or flatly.

The question for you, as a writer, is if this sounds like a character talking to another character or if this is you as an author trying to say something to the audience.

When characters are speaking, they should be telling something to another character (and showing something to the audience). When you write a description, you are telling and showing the audience something. You generally shouldn't be mixing the two and have characters speak description.

This is also what causes situations where characters say things that the other character already knows. The common "let's go over the plan again."

So when you're going for dialogue, remember that the characters are talking to each other, not the audience. You can show a lot about a character through how they talk in the same way you can make judgments about someone based on how they talked when you first meet them.

Your evaluation of a piece of dialogue will be:

Does this help give an understanding of the current scene?

This is most of your dialogue. People have to talk about the things that move the plot forward or interact with those who will. The detective has to talk to the suspect. The lovers have to talk on their date.

Does this give meaningful insight into the character?

This is your other dialogue, little bits and pieces that show you who they are or tell you something about how the conversation is making them feel. It might not move the scene forward, but it gives the reader information to help better connect with the character or to see a character arc forming.

Then remember, human speech is messy. We talk over each other, we stumble with words, we mix things up. You can't have characters talk over each other in books because of the nature of words, but you can certainly mix in little pieces of real speech in the form of flow.