Writing Mixtape - 10 Tips for Writing Dialog

/

Dialog allows you to provide insight into your characters and ways to move your story forward. If you write in third person, it also gives you a way to show what your character is thinking.

Here are 10 tips for writing dialog:

  1. Make sure your characters’ speech sounds realistic and not too formal. People don’t always speak in complete sentences. They also use jargon and contractions.

  2. Don’t overuse dialog to highlight a character’s accent by writing large chunks of dialog phonetically. It’s okay to make a brief point about how to pronounce something, but it’s overuse annoys readers.

  3. Mix up your dialog to avoid overusing dialog tags (e.g. he said or she said).

    Example: “Are you going out tonight?” Jill asked.

    “I didn’t plan on it.” Jack picked up his laptop and slid it into his messenger bag.

  4. If two characters are alone in a conversation, you don’t have to use dialog tags on every line. The exception to this is when the dialog goes on for several pages. You don’t want readers to be confused about who is speaking.

  5. Use dialog to help show your reader a character’s reaction or feeling instead of “telling them.”

    Example: “I’m done,” Mandy said, grimacing. “I’ve tried and tried, and he won’t listen to reason.”

  6. Don’t substitute synonyms for “said” to avoid overusing it. With the exception of “asked” for questions, stick with “said.”

  7. Make sure your slang matches the character’s age. If you’re not familiar with slang from other decades, there are lots of dictionaries available online.

  8. Make sure your references for stories set in present day are correct. Not many people wind down the windows anymore. We no longer tape or video our shows or rewind our movies. Tech is always changing. Make sure your references are current.

  9. Don’t overuse dialog in your writing. It breaks up sections of narrative text, but conversations shouldn’t go on for twenty pages.

  10. Don’t underuse dialog. Authors often fall into the trap of “telling” instead of showing. Too much expository text gets tedious.

What would you add to my list?