How to Write a Novel

Chapter Twenty - 10 Tips for Writing Proper Dialogue

A lot can be said about dialogue, so this is by no means an exhaustive list. These are just ten tips that come to mind when I write dialogue.

Tip 1

Nothing frustrates me more as a reader than reading pointless dialogue, and I'll say pointless scenes as well. If there's a scene in your book where two people are talking and it doesn't

a.) develop the character in some meaningful way;

b.) reveal some information relevant to the plot

I strongly suggest revising it, or omitting it altogether.

Authors often use dialogue as filler because it takes up a lot of page space and it's relatively easier to write. Please avoid this temptation in your stories.

Tip 2

An important lesson about writing dialogue is that it is a bit different than how people actually speak. In normal speech, people stumble over their words, we say uh and um, we misspeak, we go off on tangents. However, in writing, this doesn't really work. Unless it's integral to the plot or the character such as a stutter when someone is lying, nervous, or guilty. I would strongly encourage you not to overdo these common speaking mannerisms in everyday speech.

Tip 3

In normal speech, we also greet people with hello, how are you doing, I'm fine thanks, and you? However, in writing, you can omit these. The reader will assume they greeted each other, or you can just write, "After exchanging pleasantries, Bill said, ..." and then just get to the relevant part of the conversation.

This is also true for outros as well. In writing, you can just end dialogue abruptly and the reader will assume they gave each other a proper goodbye.

Tip 4

I've said this in another one of my writing tips, but I'll include it here as again. Use Ctrl H to find any dialogue that starts with 'Well', and replace at least 90% of them. I see this a lot, even in my own writing. For whatever reason, it's tempting to start a piece of dialogue with the word 'Well'. I'm not even aware of how many times I do this until I use the find and replace function.

Tip 5

You want your dialogue to sound natural, right? When you write an email or an essay, you generally write every out long form such as: "Yes, there will be plenty of people at the party so feel free to join us. You are more than welcome to bring a guest. It is my last day in town."

However, if we were speaking, we'd likely say something like, "Yeah, of course I want you to come to my party. It's my last day in town so you should definitely come. And feel free to bring someone. What's up with that girl you were seeing? Bring her."

Notice in the second example, I use slang 'Yeah' instead of 'Yes', I conjugate phrases like 'it is' to 'it's' and I make it more personal. So instead of 'bring a guest' it's 'What's up with that girl you were seeing? Bring her."

Tip 6 

Read dialogue aloud. You can either read it yourself, or have someone read it to you. I use a program called Final Draft to read me my dialogue. I'm sure other programs do it as well.

Tip 7

Embody the character. Write character profiles so you know exactly how each of your characters speak, what motivates them, what they would say and how they would respond, and so on. I like to become the character almost like an actor might try to get inside the head of a character they're playing. I do the same thing and it makes writing dialogue feel a lot more natural.

Tip 8

The next trick I use, which I've mentioned in other posts, is to use placeholder conversation. If I don't know exactly what each person will say, but I know what message I'm trying to convey, I will use placeholder text. I will write something like, "TK make plans with friend. TK friend is reluctant..." I use TK because I can then use 'Ctrl H' to come back later and write the dialogue.

Tip 9

I should say that this next piece of advice, like most of my advice on this channel, is coming from a place of someone who has been writing fiction for over ten years and reading fiction for even longer. So I'm by no means an expert, perhaps you you're your own opinions. It is my opinion, that opening a chapter, especially the first chapter, is usually not a good method. I've read in other writing tip books not to do this so I don't feel as though I'm the only one who doesn't like this. When you open a story with dialogue, it can be very difficult for the read to ground themselves.

In another video I talk about going from big to small, which is showing a series of descending establishing shots to set context such as city > building > scene. In other words, set the table before you serve the food. So when you open with dialogue, the reader is scrambling to find footing. They need to know:

What year is it?

What country are they in?

What does the world look like?

Who's talking?

What's the relevance of this dialogue?

Why should I care?

Chapters other than chapter one can open with dialogue, but I would do so sparingly. Again, that's just my opinion.

Tip 10

Lastly, I will say this about dialogue — when you close a chapter with dialogue, you often don't need the response from the other person. It can be much more powerful if you leave the statement hanging. For instance, if you have a scene where one person says to the other, "I am your father", that is a 'dun-dun-dun' moment that will be spoiled if you have the other person say, 'Oh my gosh.' Another example would be, "We'll meet back here tomorrow to rob the old lady." Just close the chapter there, you don't need the other person saying, "Okay" or "See you later."