100 Things You Should Know About Writing (Part 2)

31) How to Make Dialogue Work for You

We're still taking a bit of a break from the writing craft and focusing on technique, since MarissatheMarvelous had asked about dialogue and how to make it realistic.

It's actually a pretty dang good question for me to answer. Dialogue is one of those things you tend to either be born good at or not. Which isn't to say people can't learn how to make good dialogue. It's just that the people who'll pick up on the fact that something is off with dialogue often do so because they have a natural "ear" for it.

And so, more often than not, that person can say something feels off, but they can't pinpoint what it is.

Usually, it takes someone with plenty of reading, writing and/or editing experience to point out the exact problem. And usually, that's because the problem is rather subtle. So I'm going to do a bit of show and tell to illustrate the difference.

But before we get into it, let's just pause a moment on the subject of what dialogue is there for.

The obvious answer is that dialogue shows two or more characters speaking to each other.

If you think this is its only function, it's probably part of the reason why your dialogues are coming across as bland and/or unrealistic.

Dialogue scenes, just like any other scenes you have, should add to the story. This can be done by driving the pacing (see Section 25 for a recap) to speed up. It also gives you, the writer, space to bring the character's inner landscape into the open, or to hide it further for added tension and/or interest. More on this later.

But first, show and tell:

"I hate fish."

"That's just sad."

"It is not"

"It is."

"Tastes just differ."

"Not this much."

"I hate them."

Is it me, or does this bit of dialogue just not feel right? A bit stiff, don't you think? And also, it's not all that interesting. (Which should be as important to you as writing realistic dialogue when you're writing fiction.)

Also, the dialogue is happening in a bit of a white haze. We don't know who's speaking. We don't know where they are or what they're doing. Nothing. But for now, I'm leaving out this bit because seeing the dialogue naked like this makes my point a bit more obvious.

If you've read this with a vague feeling of discomfort without knowing why, here's my first secret:

Vary your sentence lengths and structures.

Usually, if people can't pin down the problem, it's because they haven't been nitpicky enough to see that your sentences are the exact same length or are repeating the same structure again and again.

If you take another look at the above, note that every line except for one consists of three words. And that, my friend, irritates the crap out of almost everyone's subconscious. I mean, have you ever heard natural dialogue where everyone speaks exactly the same amount of words again and again?

Let me change things up a bit:

"I hate fish."

"Why? That's just sad."

"It is not"

"It is."

"Tastes just differ. You like them and I don't."