Dialogue? Any tricks from the pros?

[Joshua Fitts]

I just cant seem to come up with realistic dialogue. My story plots I feel are sound, I have characters I hope the audience will relate to, but when I started writing the dialogue between some of my characters, I just end up sitting there, blank faced, looking at my screen, nothing coming out of my fingers onto the keyboard. Are there any tricks to writing dialogue? I am new to writing novel type stories, and Im looking for soome help. If anyone has any pointers about this, I would be so grateful for your assitance. Thank you

Sincerely Joshua Fitts

[Kaz]

Become a people watcher. Observe them talking to one another. Not so much what they are saying but what they are doing...their facial expressions, hand movements and body language. Remember when writing dialogue to have your characters doing something or changing expressions to show their emotions or reactions to what they heard or are trying to convey. Just plain dialogue with tags of he said, she said is stiff. Remember to use contractions. Most people speak with contractions.

Stiff and stilted: "I cannot believe you would even consider such a thing. It is positively awful!"

Better: Her eyes widened in shock. Without knowing it, she leaned forward, her look penetrating. "I can't believe you'd even consider such a thing. It's insane!"

Dialogue is the glue that holds a novel together, allows the characters to develop and move the plot along. It is crucial. Without it, you tell rather than show. Instead of telling how Uncle Bob was upset about losing his job, show his reactions by describing what he did and said.

The key to figuring out dialogue is let your characters tell the story through their actions and reactions rather than through the narrator. A narrator is necessary to set scenes but should not take over the telling of things the characters are capable of doing themselves.

Hope this helps a little
Regards, Kaz

www.ckluz.homestead.com

[Valerie Moreau]

just have a conversation with your characters. Think it out to yourself first. If one were to say this, what would the other say, try several different lines. Work it out, let the characters do the talking. You are only writing down their words, like a sectatary taking dictation.

[Sidney Glaser]

Ever do any role playing?
Imagine you're given a role to play, let's say you're the boss and you have to fire an incompetent subordinate. In her latest caper she botched up a million dollar real estate sale. You make up the circumstances. Find a quiet spot, close your eyes and play it out in your head. Take both parts, boss and subordinate. Go at it. Guess what––you're creating dialogue.

Do the same thing with your characters. Get into their heads. Visualize and verbalize the conversation between them. When you get really good at this, you'll begin to react with the "feelings" that go along with it. When you get to that point, your dialogue will take on a new dynamic.

On the other hand, maybe this won't work for you. In which case, I suggest a book by Tom Chiarella entitled, "Writing Dialogue."

Good luck,
sid

[Jenny Hilton]

Hi Joshua!

And practice, practice, practice!

I start at the high drama part of my story, then I think of a great argument or verbal revelation (there are so many ) that I had once and basically write it out this way. But that’s just to get going. It’s gets easier once you start.

I can't do this though, until I know the foibles of my characters. When I know if they like coffee or orange juice, rainy days or sunny, if they talk too much or not enough, how they feel about Elvis....... Then I react to the situation I give my characters in the way that their character would allow. If you....

Okay......let me put it differently. They are many facets to a human being, each individual is a rainbow of the human condition. We all have a little love, angst, fear, self doubt, courage, stamina , good, evil, elation, depression, deep seated needs sometimes never expressed, Mary Poppins/Hilter days (all in the same).

When you make your character he'll/she'll be a mixture of everything in the writers experience, either personal or external. When I find the dialogue FLYS is when I rally know the character and how they work.

It seemed silly at first making a list of preferences of my characters. But suddenly......I saw them.....and they were suddenly chatting away in my head faster than my fingers could tap.

Email me if you want something about characterisation that I found online. I lost the link but I have the info. Although, this is my method. I do think every writer eventually develops their own approached. Hope I helped anyway.

Happy dialoguing,

Jenny

[Cindi]

I liked RBSA's post on this under Unpublished Writers. Did you read it?

CF

[Jenny Hilton]

I did Cindi.

I agree with him. He often has good advice like that.

Happy writing,

Jenny