Have you ever compared two books for the handling of dialogue before? If you have, chances are they were very different. For example, one of the writer's characters might sound like they are drowning in dialect. Then the other one's sound like they are from another dimension. And the more books you read the more confusing dialogue can be. So who is right? Hmmm. I have been thinking that it depends on the reader. I don't believe there is really any certain way to do dialogue. For me at least, I think I just try to believe in the language I hear. And I make sure I listen to voices and really hear what they are saying. I want my characters to sound real.
I think really listening to the voices we hear is the key. Listening to the way WE ourselves speak isn't enough. The world has a lot of voices in it. We talk to one another. We sing. Our voices tell others a lot about ourselves. People communicate. It's life. So I'm listening a lot more people these days. And it's paying off. My dialogue sounds REAL.
What do you think about dialogue? Does it come easy for you? Or is it the hardest thing about writing you do? Thanks for reading. :)
I love me some dialogue. Love. Love. Love. For me, dialogue conveys so much - tension, joy, anger, confusion, wants, needs, desire, and so much more. Dialogue, at least for me, can often show me 'who' the character is, more so than a ton of narrative describing a character's likes/dislikes, and all that jazz.
ReplyDeleteI always try to make my dialogue as 'real' as possible. I pay attention to how my friends speak to each other, I eavesdrop on the conversations of strangers to hear how they speak, and I try to convey everything I learned into the dialogue of my characters.
Okay, I also eavesdrop because sometimes I get a really good piece of gossip, or a story idea, but it's all in the name of research. Seriously. It really is! : )
Dialogue comes easy for me. I normally don't try and put in the different dialects and all that jazz. If someone has an accent, I mention that, but don't try to fill their dialogue with things inherent to a specific dialect other than a y'all, yonder, and fixin' if I'm writing about a bunch of people in the South. Then again, I live in the South, and I rarely hear those phrases.
So, with dialect, regional differences, I think a writer should pay attention to the fact that often those regional differences are hyped up when we see them on television or in the movies. The dialects are stereotyped in many ways, so we should be careful not to stereotype are characters. : )
Great post! Food for thought on this cool September morning!
S
I love dialogue. I think, for me, it forms the basis of my novel and my characters. It reveals who they are and what their goals are.
ReplyDeleteI think it gets easier and easier for me. I think this not because of what I see in my own writing, but in how much dialogue that needs work stands out to me.
ReplyDeleteSome people won't read a novel unless there is a lot of dialogue, because they don't like exposition. I like it all, if it's written well. Of course, the dialogue must seem real, natural and it must fit each character, and I sure notice if characters sound lame when I read a novel. I think the more alive the characters become to the writer, the easier it becomes to write dialogue in specific voices. I personally love writing it.
ReplyDeleteDialgoue is my favorite part of writing. It's the other stuff I struggle with. And I always thought you'd find the right dialgue when it suits your character. What kind of person are they, where do they live, what time period are they in, what kind of story are they starring in... that kind of stuff.
ReplyDeleteDialogue is NOT my favourite part of writing. In my edits I usually find the most work has to be done on my character's dialogue. Others in my crit group can write dialogue magic and I just don't know how they do it. I just can't seem to get my dialogue to sound natural!!
ReplyDeleteGood dialogue didn't come naturally to me, but according to my critiques, it's getting better. There is a huge advantage in eaves dropping for dialogue writing, but still, as writers we need to chop a lot. The key is to pull out the lines that really matter, that offer a punch, and write them to fit the character, I think.
ReplyDeleteI love writing dialogue. Verbal interaction between my characters is one of my favorite things to write. I didn't used to do well at it, though. My dialogue didn't sound natural and it always made me stray toward description more. Now I'm improving and I probably put TOO MUCH dialogue in my stories! :D
ReplyDeleteI like dialogue. I think it is a great tool when you are stuck trying to show and not tell. However, sometimes, I find it difficult to write. I like your idea about listening to real people around us.
ReplyDeleteDialog is one of the hardest things for me. I always admire anyone who can do it well. I spent a lot of time--when I finally decided that this was something I needed to work on--copying down people's conversations. That helped a lot. Now, when I'm writing dialog, I try to surprise myself. I make my characters a little bolder, or a little more clever than people I know in real life.
ReplyDeleteI'm weird, but dialogue is my favorite part of writing. It's where the characters take on a life of their own. And you're right, every author does it differently. One of my biggest pet peeves is when an author makes his or her character speak things that should be understood. Like the author is trying to explain why the character is saying something...ugh. It makes my toes curl just typing about it!
ReplyDelete*waves hands around frantically* Did you get my email? I can't meet this weekend... (and PS: I did send the pic to you!)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love good dialogue. Writing dialogue is my favorite part of writing. I love to listen to Captain Jack Sparrow and also to the various characters in The Mummy. Their dialogue zings.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble reading stories where the dialogue is stilted and ho hum. It's like hearing someone's nails scraping down a black board.
Now, I have to work on the rest of my story to get them to the level of my dialogue. Dialogue comes easy to me. I like it loose and sassy and realistic. Realistic to me means realistic to the character and there are millions of us on this planet. And yet, my newest editor has me going through my book with her to make sure the dialogue for the hero is more masculine - shorter like men usually speak and think. So even though I love dialogue and thought I had it pretty well handled, I'm still learning more about this part of the craft.