Dialogue 101: Your Guide to Make Realistic Sounding Dialogue
As I mentioned in my last post, readers value a compelling story, but they also want to connect with the characters. Today, I will be going into more detail about the topic, and emphasize that conversation is what helps the reader engage with your characters.
Take it from me, but I believe that the foundation of every fiction story is realistic dialogue. Why? The following four points support my claim:
- It emphasizes a character’s actions.
- It progresses the plot.
- It establishes the setting’s tone and mood.
- It gives the story a real-world feel.
Since dialogue is a key component of the narrative, it must be realistic; otherwise, nobody will believe it or be able to relate to it, which means that without it, you’ll miss one of the most crucial elements a reader would like to experience with your story, which is immersion. But how do we write a realistic dialogue?
Build a realistic character
If you haven’t already, check out my earlier blog which discusses what I believe is needed to make your characters more authentic, alive, and relatable. Realistic dialog and realistic characters go hand in hand, so remember that for characters to be realistic, they must converse realistically, otherwise, they will be unconvincing.
Consider your characters’ background
When I first started writing my original draft, all my characters shared the same tone, lexicon, and attitude, and as such ended up sounding like one person. If not for my editor, who pointed out to that my characters’ interactions with one another were one-note, I would never have realized it as I was ego-writing. In a later revision, I really began to focus on my characters. I started by concentrating on the context, history, and educational status of my characters. I had to consider them from many angles as a result, and that’s when I came to realize that since they don’t all have the same background, they need to sound different from one another. You may better understand this by going outside and engaging in conversations with individuals from different backgrounds. You’ll soon realize that a university professor and a handyman don’t speak the same way. The plot and the events seemed more authentic after I applied that to my characters because it helped the novel evolve in a homogeneous way.
Long monologues are your enemy
The life of your story is snuffed out by long monologues, which are one of your biggest enemy since in real life, people dislike it when someone rambles on for longer than needed. It makes them feel uncomfortable, and expect the same with readers. This one truly destroys the reader’s attention for two reasons: first, reading long monologues to show-off your excellent writing skills is tiring, and second, this is a bad practice to get into while writing your novel since it suggests that you are telling rather than showing.
Break the Pattern
Occasionally when I read certain stories and listen closely to the dialogue, I observe a recurring pattern that I’ve come to refer to as the Ping Pong Chat. Where Character A poses a question, and Character B responds. This is Ping Pong Chat. However, I am aware that this is a typical way for conversations to go — or is it? Our discussions don’t always go into a Q&A style of interaction; if you pay attention to the people in your everyday life, you notice that what they say connects to the world around them. I’ve outlined some examples of how to break the pattern to help you understand this better:
Make the character avoid questions
By being silent, shifting the subject, replying nervously, or answering slowly.
Make them reply by acting rather than speaking
An example of this would be when Character A says “Are you alright?”, and Character B starts crying.
Create interruptions within conversations
This might be used in a variety of ways, such as people interrupting one another or an outside interruption like an urgent situation that pushes the dialogue to a later point in the story.
These are only a few examples, but there are endless others that you may come up with to break the pattern. It all depends on your imagination and where you get inspiration from, but I think you get my point.
Learn from your daily conversation
If you want to be a writer, you must fully immerse yourself in your work before your readers. For my debut novel, The Juncture, I did just that. Even though my story was science fiction, I had to master how my characters interacted with one another to accurately convey to readers what it was like to live in the universe of The Juncture. The very first thing I had to do was to replicate how actual people communicate. So, here is what I learned through studying how we speak on a regular basis.
We have accents
Although it should go without saying, fresh writers frequently forget that not everyone speaks in the same accent and in the same way. This is among the things that fit the character’s background, which I stated previously in this article. However, proceed with caution since if it’s overused, it may do more harm than good.
We use nicknames for close people
A great technique to tell which characters are closely related from those who aren’t, is to have them refer to each other in nicknames. Speaking of names, only use full names in dialogue when introducing a character for the first time, or on rare occasions when it is necessary.
We say random things when we speak
When it’s appropriate, you can make your characters converse about things unrelated to the plot in order to reduce the tension and make them seem more real. If your story allows it, earn extra points by adding some humour.
We make mistakes when we speak
If you incorporate body language, gestures, false starts, misunderstandings, and the fact that individuals don’t always simply ask questions or answer them, it will seem more authentic.
We hate to repeat ourselves
Like those times when someone asks you “Sorry, what did you say?” after you utter something difficult to say, and your respond, “Nah, forget about it, it’s nothing!” That kind of interaction is an excellent way to attract the reader’s attention, especially if it is tied to something that will later advance the story.
We argue, and we disagree
If all your characters agree on just about everything, that would sound boring and unrealistic, so make sure to add some flavour with a very heated conversation between your characters. However, don’t make a big deal about it because if it takes your story in a different direction, the reader will feel that you are wasting their time.
We use Idioms
Use the appropriate idioms to give the language depth, and also to place the reader in the proper perspective while avoiding using offensive stereotypes.
Let your dialogues lead the story
The primary goal of dialogue is to advance the story. Without the reader being “told” that a character is a specific way, dialogue reveals more about the character. Additionally, conversation quickens the pace, which is advantageous while reading a long book. Not to mention that you can use it to build tension by having some characters withhold information until the right moment, giving the reader a lot of chances to guess what will happen, and offering them a feeling of satisfaction when they ultimately learn whether or not their predictions were accurate.
Final Word
You should keep in mind that writing a conversation is a difficult process, but if you use the advice from this guide — which was gathered from actual experience and undoubtedly benefited me greatly — it will save you a lot of time and effort. Before we wrap up this article, I have two additional bits of advice:
- Make sure the dialogue’s opening and closing sentences stand out.
- Don’t forget to read it aloud to see how it actually sounds.
That’s all I have for you today, see you next Saturday!
If you have any questions or need writing advice, please contact me at bostonscribbles@gmail.com.
And as always, have fun writing!
I post every Saturday on 🙌. Read this post and more on my L-D. Boston Blog
