Dialogue is the downfall of many new authors. It’s not uncommon for it to wind up feeling clunky and unnatural when you are still honing your craft. How do you fix this problem so your on-page dialogue feels like something you might actually overhear at a diner?
Grammatical Basics
Your readers have an expectation of grammatical industry standards. For example, those of us in the US expect to see double quotation marks to signify the beginning and ending of speech, most commonly concluding with a comma followed by “she said” or “he said.”
For example:
“There it is! I’ve been looking for my favorite blue sweater all week,” she said.
Acknowledge Who Is Speaking
You will also need to understand the various methods of acknowledging who is speaking. These include the most common dialogue tags (he said/she said), said bookisms (purple prose tags such as he lamented, she hissed, or he grumbled), and dialogue anchors (action beats), as well as when it’s appropriate to use each one and when you can skip them all.
Dialogue Tag: “Good morning, class,” the teacher said.
Said Bookism: “Good morning, class,” the teacher exclaimed.
Dialogue Anchor: “Good morning, class.” The teacher set her books down on the desk.
To learn more about these, check out my article entitled Dialogue Tags, Said Bookisms, & Anchors.
Be Aware of Common Mistakes
I think it’s fair to say that speaking comes naturally to most of us, but writing it is a whole other story. There are many common mistakes new authors make when it comes to writing dialogue, and as a result, it can often make the dialogue feel forced, awkward, and unrealistic. Familiarizing yourself with the most common dialogue mistakes can help you become aware of these issues so you can overcome this hurdle to writing organic speech.
Here’s some of the most common mistakes I’ve seen:
- Saying each other’s names too much
- Characters telling each other something they should already know
- Lengthy monologues
- Confusing paragraph breaks
- Too many dialogue tags
- Too many said bookisms
- Too much summary
- Characters floating in space
- Telling instead of showing
To learn more about this, check out my article entitled Common Dialogue Mistakes.
Study It
The true secret to writing natural and organic dialogue is to study it. Record your real-life conversations with friends and family, eavesdrop while drinking a latte at your local coffee shop, and watch your favorite show with the subtitles on. These tricks will really help you to notice the structure of sentences within naturally occurring speech.
Read It Aloud
When you’ve managed to write some original dialogue, take a moment to read it out loud and see how the rhythm and cadence feel. This may feel awkward at first, but it truly does help. If you can’t bring yourself to do this, try using Word’s Read Aloud feature and let the computer do it for you.
Be Patient and Keep Practicing
Writing realistic dialogue takes practice and patience, but if you give it the attention it deserves and really study it like you would anything else you were interested in, you will hone your craft until you wind up with beautiful dialogue that makes the reader feel as though they are right there with your characters. And remember, no one writes a perfect first draft.
More About Writing Dialogue
Want to learn even more about dialogue? Check out these other Tips for Writers articles in the Writing Dialogue series:
Red Quill Editorial LLC
Think you might be ready for an editor? If you’re unsure what type of editing you need, want to know how much it might cost, or simply have a question for me, Let’s Discuss Your Manuscript! I offer discounts, a payment plan option, and value adds.