Writing dialogue can be such a hit or miss. It’s something you can improve in but I feel like some authors are really good at it and some just aren’t. So, here’s the best tip to know about writing dialogue – in my opinion.
Keep It Realistic
Dialogue can be such a hit or miss. It can take a little while to get it “right.” When I said right, I mean get it to sound realistic.
It’s easy to make your characters sound like robots. Unless they really are robots, you don’t want them sounding like that.
The main goal of the dialogue is to get your characters speaking as though they’re real people having a real conversation.
This is pretty simple as though you write as you or anyone else would normally speak. The hardest part, I think, is to ignore the editor. If you write in Word Document then you know the red squiggly lines come after you – when you try to have someone stammer or when you try to have someone speak unclearly. Word doesn’t like it.
I’ll admit, I’ve edited my dialogue based on Word for a while. Then I realized it just didn’t sound realistic and now I try my best to ignore Word. I mean, Word is right sometimes, but not when it comes to that.
Be sure to listen to how people talk. Hear how they pronounce their words, tones, emotions, and even accents. Treat your characters like real people and you should be good to go.
What do you think? Do you agree with me or do you have any other tips? Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around.
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If we recorded how people really speak the dialogue would be full of urrs and umms so the trick is to make it feel realistic without being totally real. Just a few slang words or local dialect should give the essence without writing line after line that might be hard to read or even unintelligible.
Lol, that’s actually a really good point. And the use of “like” would be completely overused and annoying.
YES THAT IS A GOOD TIP RACHEL, THANKS CHINA
Thanks for reading!
Some writers make all of the characters sound alike. Even if the dialogue is good, that mistake ruins the whole thing.
It does. They all need to sound unique from one another.
Unrealistic dialogue isn’t fun to read.
Nope, not at all.
Hello I have to say thank you so much for publishing this blog post it is so helpful! Of all the blog posts I’ve ever read I think this one has to have been the most useful to me… I am someone who finds it particularly difficult to write realistic sounding dialogue! Dialogue is the bain of my life can’t lie to you! At one point I thought I’m so terrible at it that I’m never gunna write dialogue again – too much hassle. But really if I never try I won’t improve. You blog posts relating to dialogue are very useful Rachel – please keep posting to help people like me out (I’m sure I’m not the only one)!
Also I’ve noticed Herminia has commented on here – I’d just like to make everyone aware she is my favourite most inspirational blogger. I have lots of love for Herminia… and for you Rachel you are a fab blogger too – Rachel I want to read your novel ‘The Scribe’ and I can’t find it on Amazon… where is it published?
I’m glad you find my blog posts so helpful, that means a lot. 🙂 Thanks so much for reading and commenting! Also, The Scribe is on my Wattpad for free. You can click the button in the sidebar on the blog or you can go to My Books page and find it through there. Enjoy!
Also, Herminia is the best, I agree. 😉
Fab thank you for telling me how to find ‘The Scribe’ – I look forward to reading it.
Do you know Herminia outside of this blog or are you just aware of each other through blogging?
No problem. Thanks for your interest in it.
No, we don’t know each other in real life. Herminia and I are just blogging buddies.
Cool, it’d nice to have a blogging buddy – hopefully that is what me and you will become.
Oh if you have a min at any point please check out my very first blogging buddy – Gracebey. Her work is fab, I don’t mind plugging her a little!
Yeah, definitely.