Any Tips For Writing Dialogue?

[FatDave 11]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through my first novel, just thought sod it one day and started writing in the hopes of learning as I go. The one aspect of my writing which doesn't seem to be improving is my dialogue, it always seems clunky and script-like in structure, with actions forced.

I might have one character speak, then another, then the first again, and so I'll try to think about what the characters are doing as they talk, then I'll end up throwing a "He flopped back into his chair" or a "He rolled his eyes in frustration" and then dive straight back into the dialogue.

It just looks a bit forced is all, and I'll end up with dozens of lines of talking, with a line of action stuck in between.

 

Does anybody have any tips?

[Hopman 46]

Have you tried reading your dialogue out loud?

[FatDave 11]

Have you tried reading your dialogue out loud?

 

It's not the actual dialogue that I'm having difficulty with, just the structure of areas where the characters are speaking.

[Hare 10]

Hi there,

Have you thought about pressuring the emotional content of the sentences? As in, 'he looked through her, seeing what he thought was obvious to everyone, "You are aren't you, it doesn't matter what anyone tells you now, you're going your own way and the rest be damned!" Letting her pass him with a flourish of her form, her skin glowing with the hatred she felt for him and his kind.'

 

We have the dialogue, but the emotional content isn't in the words, it's the description of the situation that's the key to it I feel. When I write dialogue it's generally to put across the actions already described by the scene whether that's by emotions or situations.

 

If you have two opposing points of view you can get away with the 'he said', 'she said' for a while but you need to break it up for the reader to understand what the subtext is and where the conversation is going and what will be resolved because of it.

 

I'll try to give you an example....

"Look at it this way," he moved the object closer so they could both look into the swirling fog of it's interior. "You never know what might come up."

"Like last weeks old socks you mean?" He pushed himself away from both of them his mouth already sneering in contempt, "You actually believe in this ****? It's rubbish! You're just like the rest of them, hiding in fantasy, hoping the worst isn't going to happen when it's already going on behind you! When are you going to realise there's nothing left to do but fight!"

"Yes, that may be the case...but we have to try. Don't you see? There's more at stake than us, there's a whole world to consider, a whole civilization to defend and we're trying to do that no matter what happens. You on the other hand..."

"Me? What about me?!" He moved closer to the glowing ball, hands itching as if he wanted to tear the thing away and smash it into a shower of crystal shards yet he knew if he did he was destroying another piece of hope, another chance.

"If you'd only allow yourself to think for a moment, you might see a way through all of this, that is if you can open your mind wide enough."

The silence between them grew swiftly, the temperature dropping ahead of the stormy arguements that would soon colour the air around them,but for now a small truce had been made.

"Okay then, show me how this damn thing works then."

 

Hope that was some use for you.

[De Batz 10]

Good question, this.

 

My approach to what I'm writing at the moment is to try to carry all the weight in the dialogue, rather than to offer the reader anything for free. It makes it harder for the reader, I suspect, because there are no clues or cues for her to use other than in what the characters say.

At the other end of the scale, some writers will have a line of speech and a paragraph of internal information about the character who said it or who heard it. This works - in some situations - where that information is actually more important than what's carried by the dialogue.

I'm trying to write in a punchy way, but I did make a conscious decision to avoid giving the reader anything for free, which might be bloody-minded and does push the writing towards film-scripting. What I've found is that as the characters have their conversation in my head, I notice them do things and I try to describe them. Have a look at my thread somewhere down the board - A Matter of Faith - for an initial attempt. It's the opposite of what Hare is describing. Neither is better than the other, just different ways of doing the same thing.

 

Andy

[Mantaspook 14]

Hi Dave,

 

I think we had a look at this a few years ago, have a look at post #3 in the previous monthly themes thread which is all about writing dialogue.