Book Reports

Dialogue means writing down the way that people speak and communicate. Dialogue does several things in writing:

• it gives the reader information
• it adds depth to the characters
• it makes the story more interesting
  

Dialogue can be tricky to write well. The best way to learn how to create believable dialogue is to be observant - listen to conversations, pay attention to how people speak, and jot down interesting remarks you overhear. Notice body language and facial expressions, too. Writers are always eavesdropping to get dialogue ideas!

My whole life, I've been a great eavesdropper! - George V. Higgins

When writing dialogue, stay away from all those synonyms for "said" - the idea is to keep the reader inside the story, and reading a lot of "he spat," "she expostulated," or "intoned the old man" just jars the reader right out and makes them aware of the mechanics behind the story instead. Also, resist the temptation to add adverbs - "he said bitingly," "she sobbed heartbrokenly," - show any emotion in the way the characters speak, not in adverbs. And just use the word "said." It's short, everyone knows what it means, and the reader can skim right over it without breaking concentration. Look at these two examples and see which one seems smoother to you:

"Well, Bob," the scientist sneered bitingly," as you know, the experiment was a success, thus rendering you completely invisible, as you requested."

"But," Bob whined in an annoying voice, "I've read all about this sort of thing. You did something wrong!" "

Nonsense," the scientist scoffed. "What am I going to do now?"

Bob queried worriedly. "You didn't tell me even I wouldn't be able to see myself!"

OR

"I don't see the need for panic, Bob," the scientist raised one eyebrow, but never looked up from his computer screen. He continued to rappidly enter data into the report. "I did explain the invisibility experiment to you quite thorougly. I'm certain we discussed this ... little problem. You didn't seem very concerned before we started, though I did mention that you might have difficulty."

"You don't understand!" Bob's footsteps tapped from one end of the lab to the other as he paced. "This never happened in any of the books I read! None of the superheroes ever had this problem!"

"I hardly think that comic books are a sound basis for scientific experimentation, Bob. You're going to have to come to grips with it, that's all."

"But what am I going to do? I was only supposed to be invisible to other people! You didn't tell me I would't be able to see myself either!"

Notice, also, that in the second example, I did not need to write "Bob said" or "the scientist said" every single time. If you note the actions of the speaker, then the "he said" is implied, and the reader can figure out who said what. Also, if the speaker calls the other character by name, it's obvious who is speaking, so you don't have to note it. You do need to note the speaker periodically - about every third line or so - in order to make certain the reader doesn't get confused. But you do not have to do it each time. In normal, back-and-forth conversation, the reader will be able to follow along most of the time without any problem.

Real conversation doesn't translate into believable dialogue. Listen to people talk, but shortcut what they've said when you write by cutting out 85 percent of the words they use. - Cynthia Riggs

Follow the rules you learned for grammar, though. Double quotation marks for dialogue, with single quotes for anything the speaker is quoting another speaker within his/her speech.

"You'll never believe it," Rachel whispered, "but Stan actually said 'Stick it' to his horrible boss the other day!"

Notice that the comma or other punctuation goes inside the quotation marks, not outside. You can add other descriptions besides the dialogue into your chapters. In fact, showing some action is a good way to indicate the character's emotion and personality.

Each character needs to have an individual way of speaking, too. This is where your observations come in handy. Does your character use big words and speak in educated sentences, or does he grunt out broken fragments using short words? A Harvard graduate will speak and gesture quite differently from a high-school dropout who drives a taxicab. Watch out for stereotypes, however - some taxicab drivers are PhD students or closet intellectuals!

Writing Dialogue with More Than Two Speakers

Many scenes in your story will involve more than just two people talking. There's no problem adding more speakers - just be sure that you are very clear about who is talking on each line. You'll probably want to sprinkle a few more "Bill said," and "Alice said," indicators into the section so that the reader doesn't get lost, but otherwise, it's exactly the same as writing a conversation between two characters.

Here's how to make a good character dialogue:

1. Have a good idea already in your mind what the characters are going to talk about, and what they're going to say in general. Until you become a more experienced writer, you won't be able to "turn the characters loose" because you won't really "know" them as if they're real people. Experienced writers just have a part in their outline that says "Character X and Character Y talk about the problem" and they know the characters well enough to be able to just start writing it.
2. Stay away from the fancy words -- avoid the temptation to use things like "she exclaimed," "he ejaculated," "the red-headed giant hissed," or anything besides "he said" or "she said!" The reader basically ignores the word "said," and your dialogue will flow along just fine if you stick to using that. When the reader comes up against some flowery term, it jerks them out of the flow and interrupts the story inside their head.
3. Make it plain who's talking. You don't even have to use "he said" or "she said" every time! People will go back and forth, with one paragraph being one character, and the next the other character. So long as you put in some description that makes it plain who's talking, the reader can keep up without you having to put in "he said" after each line.
4. Give each character their own way of speaking. People talk differently -- some use big words, some use small ones. Some use dialect and slang and some don't. Let the character's dialogue be part of your description of that character and show the readers what sort of person they are.

Here's a good example to show you what I mean -- you'll notice that I've done everything I suggested above (except plan it out in advance, because I'm using two characters that I "know" very well inside my head!)

Jess closed the door and slouched against the wall. "That man is going to drive me crazy!"

Kye sprawled onto the sofa. "I dunno. Kirkham's not that bad. He's just a little ...."

"Obsessed. That's what he is. I'm going to murder him."

"No, you ain't. What you're gonna do is ignore him. Let him run around like a squirrel in a trap worrying about how the job's gonna work out. You and me will stay calm and get it done."

Jess ran a hand through his hair. "Can I at least rough him up a little?"