"I really like you," Delia said.
Was there any mental stimulation whatsoever in that conversation? No. It was boring, tedious, repetitive, and pretty card-board.
Dialogue is one of the hardest things to write well, because you're having to imitate something that comes naturally to you, while at the same time creating something new.
First, let's look at the verbs used. Said, said, asked, asked. Writing should not be repetitive. There are a million and one different ways for a character to emit a sound. Said, asked, questioned, inquired, suggested, added, continued, smiled, laughed, pressed, forced out, emitted, cried, squealed, shrieked, yelled, screamed, begged, and on, and on, and on. There's no reason in the world you should be using the same action verb every single time. Now, understand that people won't always notice it, so you don't always have to be perfect on using different verbs. While reading Pearl S. Buck's Dragon Seed, I didn't realize until the very end that the only dialogue verb Buck ever uses is said. But, to give your writing variety, and to better enhance the words, you should try and use different verbs.
The action you use should be directly in proportion to what is being said, where, and why. You aren't going to whisper something at a rock concert, just like you probably shouldn't shriek something during a church service. The action sets the mood for the dialogue. If you laugh when you tell somebody you love them, you're either amused or kidding. If you whisper, you're incredibly emotional, embarrassed, or unsure. If you scream it, you're obviously trying to prove a point. So keep that in mind.
Conversation itself is tricky. I'm going to use an American television show as an example: The Gilmore Girls. I've watched that show quite a few times, and I don’t dislike, but the conversation drives me insane! Whoever writes the dialogue should be shot! It's extremely cardboard, and either too hesitant or too quick. Either the writers can't write or the actors can't act. Watch Star Wars Episode II for another example, when Anakin and Obi Wan are taking an elevator up to meet Padme. I was cringing through the entire scene.
Remember that the flow of dialogue should be natural. Your character doesn't know what the other person is going to say next, therefor they don't know what they'll say in response, so it's totally on the spot. Depending on their response, it can be automatic and quick, slow and hesitant, or carefully thought out, but it has to be consistent with what's being said (what the conversation is about; for instance, if the characters are angry, responses are going to fly a lot quicker than if they’re trying to decide where to eat and neither of them really care) and the personality of the character. Delia is very bubbly and often speaks before she thinks, so it wouldn't be uncharacteristic for her to just spit a response out, then maybe think, "Oops!" Matt, on the other hand, is a little slower, and has to think about his responses. His blurting something out wouldn't fit; it should take a second for him to respond.
Remember that because it takes you longer to write something than for somebody to read it (in most cases) the conversations will go much faster to reader than when you wrote it. To help with timing, read the conversation out loud, and in character, so you can see how long it takes for something to be said. If Delia and Matt are speaking while they dance to a song, there's a set time-frame there that the dialogue has to fill up. It's okay for there to be moments of silence where they think or look around, but you can't have them speaking for fifteen minutes and it's still the same song. Several good punctuation tools for timing are “...” (ellipses) and “–“ (hyphens). If someone trails off, maybe to think or because they don’t know what to say next, use “I think so...”. If some cuts themself off, it would look like, “Well, actually it’s probably –Oh no!” And if someone interrupts another person, you would use, “No, I just don’t understa–“ ”Oh, shut up already.”
Remember, too, that grammar in dialogue isn't always going to be correct. Once you get different dialects going, you're going to have clipped words, fragmented sentences, and words pronounced unlike they sound. That's okay. It's better to have your dialogue grammatically wrong but accurate to what the speaker is saying, so that the reader can understand what’s going on (although you're English teacher may not agree, so be careful when using it on school assignments.)
The best way to practice getting the flow of conversation correct (such as timing, interruptions, pitch, volume, etc.) is to buy a cheap little tape recorder, go to a public place and record conversations (actually, it’s probably best if you record your family or friends, or else don’t get caught; some people might not appreciate your observations) Later, you can listen and match your conversations to the recorded example.
Carrying a little notepad to a public place is a good idea, too, and writing down things you hear. People, particularly females, have a tendency to jump sporatically from one topic to the next in their conversations. You'll start off talking about your latest date and end up talking about a class you failed in high school. You want to catch that in your writing, but not so it looks rehearsed and phony.
Here's an exercise for helping with sporadic dialogue: Write a word down. Next, write the first thing that pops into your head when you think of that first word. Now write the first word that pops into your head about the second word, and so on. Here's an example:
Now we come to another exciting topic: foreign languages. Depending on what story you're writing, you may need to include a foreign language conversation. Don't worry, this is possible.
When writing in a foreign language, there are several steps you can take to make sure your reader knows what you're saying. In Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, all French conversations are written in English, and you're just expected to understand they're in French. In some Lord of the Rings fanfiction, there are translations at the bottom of the page. In one of my stories that's heavily in French, I have a pop-up translation dictionary.
If you fluently speak the foreign language, there's no problem, but you must be careful when writing in a language you don't speak, because somebody somewhere does. (I talk about this in several other essays). Finding a reliable online translator is the best idea, and I've included the ones I've found in the Online Resources section.
I’m sure this essay is going to get expanded, because dialogue seems to be a painfully bad area in many writers, especially of the fanfiction variety. :x So expect this to get expanded as I find more areas I need to touch on.
Questions? Comments? Feel free to e-mail me.
Everything, unless otherwise stated, copyright Shiloh, 2003
"I really like you, too," Matt said.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Delia asked.
"Wanna go make out?" Matt asked.
boys, girls, dresses, parties, cake, calories, exercise, gyms, etc.