Eight Point for Writing Good Dialogue by Sandy Steen

1. Listen to people Pay attention to their phrasing and speech patterns. Look at their facial expressions. Often the expression conveys the opposite of their words. Remember that your characters talk differently to different people. For Example: If a 4 year old asks where babies come from your character can answer “From the hospital”. If a fourteen year-old asks that same question the answer is much more involved and seriously different words are used. 1. Avoid the adverb fallback Don’t explain the tone or emotion of a character’s dialogue. Avoid phrases like, she said sweetly, or he told her angrily. 1. Dialogue should advance your story Good dialogue enhances your characters. Bad dialogue jerks the reader out of the story and tears that invisible “creditability curtain” and we run risk of them putting the book down. 4. Break Up Dialogue with Action People don’t stand in one place and talk. They move, gesture. For Example: He paced the floor and raked a hand through his hair. “Tony, take it easy. As long as you keep your mouth shut everything will be fine.” 4. Don’t overdo the information You don’t want to overload the reader with information through dialogue the same way you don’t want to dump all your story information in one spot. Give it to the reader in bits and pieces. 4. Don’t overdo the tags While he said and she said are perfectly acceptable tags, don’t overuse them. They can become habit- forming and you end up hitting the reader over the head with them. 4. Avoid Clichés A quote from Stephen King says it all. “He ran like a madman, she was as pretty as a summer day, he fought like a tiger. . . don’t waste my time (or anyone’s) with such chestnuts. It makes you look either lazy or ignorant.” “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” Anton Chekhov. 4. Using Accents and Dialects A little goes a long way. Use it to flavor your dialogue but don’t let it overpower. Writing good dialogue may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. What you need to remember is creditability in all things.

The Secrets of Good Dialogue by Jim Donovan

(From Sol Stein’s Stein on Writing) Actual dialogue—everyday speech—is repetitive, full of rambling, incomplete, or run-on sentences, and usually contains a lot of unnecessary words. In other words, boring speech patterns. Most answers contain echoes of the question. Our speech is full of such echoes. Written dialogue cannot be a recording of actual speech: it is a semblance of speech, an invented language of exchanges that build in tempo or content toward climaxes. In life, speakers answer each other’s questions—they are direct. (“How are you?” How am I? Oh, I’m fine. How are you?” Boring.) Written dialogue should be indirect, or oblique. (“How are you?” “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” Interesting, because he did not answer the question.) Avoid this kind of exchange: HE: “You are the most beautiful woman in the world.” SHE: “Why, thank you.” That’s boring. This is better because it’s intriguing—something is happening: HE: “You are the most beautiful woman in the world.” SHE: “I’d like you to meet my husband.” Good dialogue should either move the story along or reveal character. What counts in great dialogue is not what is said, but the effect of what is meant. Every character should speak differently. Use speech “markers” to ensure this: differences in vocabulary, rhythm, sarcasm, good or poor grammar, jargon, etc. Four questions to ask about your dialogue: 1) What is the purpose of this exchange? Does it begin or heighten an existing conflict? 1) Does it stimulate the reader’s curiosity? 2) Does the exchange create tension? 3) Does the dialogue build to a climax or a turn of events in the story, or a change in relationship of the speakers? 1) Finally: Are the lines spoken by each character consistent with that character’s background? Are their speech patterns different?