I just
read a book three days back, it was a MG book about a small boy who finds a
monster underneath his bed. The book was dialogue heavy. Infact, I could say
that the entire book was like a conversation between the boy and his monster.
Many people have told me that they prefer a book that has pages filled with
dialogues.
I will
share nuggets about dialogues which I have gathered from several sources,
including my own insights from the books I have read and liked and also
from the assignments of my students: why I liked some dialogues more than the
others.
1.
Dialogues should be as natural as possible. For this we have to be good
listeners. We should listen to how people talk. Stilted and forced dialogues
hampers a great scene.
2.
Long Dialogues are boring. Just like long descriptions can put readers to
sleep so can long dialogues.
3.
Dialogues with too much information can grate on the nerves. It becomes
obvious that the author has made the dialogue a dumping ground for information
overload. Add the information little by little.
4.
Overdoing of dialogue tags detracts from the actual dialogues. Sometimes
“ she said, he replied, ” are better than fancy dialogues tags
which distracts the readers’ attention from the actual dialogues.
5.
Whenever there is a dialogue between two people, dialogue tags can be
done away with. The reader is intelligent and is capable of understanding which
character is saying what.
6.
Dialogues should always be authentic and real. We should do our research
to check for the authenticity of dialogues: will a doctor talk like that, would
a policeman say this, will a teacher speak in this way, will a teenager use
that word?
7.
Dialogues should always be broken with action. This way our
readers will remember that our characters are real people engaging in some
action.
8. Racial stereotypes and slang must be avoided, unless its the character's trait that he/she speaks slang.
9.
Dialogues should and must contribute to the plot.
10.
The purpose of the dialogue is to advance the story, flesh out the character
and ofcourse provide the reader a welcome break from long descriptive
paragraphs. And the dialogue should do all that.
11.
Dialogues should suit the occasion and the scene. You can’t have people
cracking jokes with a dead body lying around, unless they are the murderers.
12.
Dialogues can identify characters. It would be fun to make certain
characters speak in a certain way. I like the way Hagrid spoke in
the Potter books.
Dialogues are the fun part of my manuscripts. One
of my dialogue sins is overdoing on dialogue tags (I hate to repeat a dialogue
tag, I prefer to add variety). I also have a tendency to write long dialogues.
What about you all? How do you all tackle dialogues? Any dialogue guilts
that you would like to admit?
Agree with you, Rachna that diagloues must be crisp and be associated with character easily! They provide the momentum to the story:)
ReplyDeleteSo agree with you Rachna. I've had to work on having too much dialogue with no action in my story. It's taken many revisions to get it hopefully right.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. It's chit chat that gets on my nerves most. Usually it's done to make the scene feel more real but it's very annoying.
ReplyDeletemood
Moody Writing
I've learned to break up long dialogue, especially when it comes to guys. They tend to say less than females do.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Rachna.
All good tips! I've learned to use just simple tags.
ReplyDeleteThese are excellent points. I aim to follow them when writing dialogue. :) Number 4 is probably my pet peeve - or rather, long tag lines are. Overall I think long tag lines distract and detract from the conversation.
ReplyDeleteGood post! Have a great weekend! :)
I agree with almost all of them, but not #8. Slang, abuses, and stereotypes are allowed in dialogue. It's part of the character's persona, how she talks, her value system, her beliefs. It's a way of making one character sound different from another.
ReplyDeleteRe #6 and #8: How can dialogue be authentic if you avoid slang? I've just spent several days adding in colloquial and idiomatic expressions into a couple of stories to make them more realistic. As soon as I read them aloud it was obvious that this was not the way these characters would talk.
ReplyDeleteVery nice and helpful tips. Thanks for sharing, ma'am. :)
ReplyDeleteGood tips. I particularly noticed #5. I think if your characters' voices are clear enough, you don't always need tags, because it's easy to tell who is saying what. It all comes down to voice. And I agree that "said", "asked", and "replied" are often less intrusive than fancier, more dramatic tags.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Richard and Jim, though, about the use of slang, etc. In kid novels you wouldn't want swearing, but in a contemporary setting for MG or YA, you'd need slang or it wouldn't sound real. Again, it all goes back to your character having an authentic voice.
@ Richard and Jim, abuses and slang are okay when its a part of a character's persona, but racial slurs and stereotypes must be shied away from.
ReplyDeleteInfact, to bring to life and realistically portray a pirate, murderer and a criminal,slang and abuses will work in a writer's favour. It will make the character more authentic.
Some really great tips on dialogue writing. Thanks Rachna.
ReplyDeleteWell said! It took me a while to learn all this stuff. I still have to work at it. :)
ReplyDeleteNice tips... :)
ReplyDeleteVisit my blog--> A Happier Life
Total agreement on all you say. The difficulty with dialogues, I find, is that of pacing them.
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT tips to keep in mind while writing dialogue!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great collection of dialogue advice! Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteAngela
Excellent post Rachna. Some great points. One reason why I disliked the novel Never Let me Go was because of your point 3.
ReplyDeleteI think reading a book with mostly dialogue would be exhausting and as you say dull.I love good description and would miss it.
Nick Hornby is great at writing just how people speak.
I like the tips you give. They're always helpful.
ReplyDeleteMighty fine advice. I prefer dialogue over l-o-n-g blocks of narrative, but I get bored easily by too much dialogue. A balanced approach, as with so many things, is best.
ReplyDeleteHello! Great post.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to write said after a question mark... But have been told to do so by several editors. Also.... I tend to write a lot of dialogue without any tags or beats... Then I have to go back and add in. Hehe
I love dialogue too, but I think I manage to keep the amount of it under control.
ReplyDeleteMy dialogue sin tends to be tags, but I find the he/she said becomes stale when there are five characters in a scene.
Great tips. I like to break up my dialogue. Too much of anything is, well, too much ;)
ReplyDeleteI tend to write too much dialogue most of the time - it comes more easily to me than description.
ReplyDeleteThese were great tips, Rachna. I've bookmarked this.
ReplyDelete