Believable Dialog Secrets
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When you have finished reading this article, you will have a good idea on how to write believable dialogue and know when you can break the rules.
An essential part of the story is dialog. Properly written, it will move the story forward and bring the characters to life. When you engage your readers in dialog, you reveal your characters.
This definition comes by way of the Encarta World English Dictionary: “the words spoken by characters in a book… or a section of a work that contains spoken words.
Dialogue has several functions:
? To express through conversations what the reader must know so they can understand the character’s actions, motivations and thoughts.
? To convey character which shows the reader what kind of people make up the story.
To represent a sense of time and place through the use of speech patterns, vocabulary, rhythms and dialect.
? And finally to develop conflict.
Effective dialogue is all about the natural flow of conversation. Sticking to the rules of grammar will make your character’s speech stilted and dry. Dialog must flow easily, like two friends discussing a problem.
Following these simple guidelines will help.
Many sentences are not even complete.
Most people speak improper grammar.
Use words that reveal the character’s historical time period, gender, age, and the region where they live.
? Give your characters individuality and personality through their spoken words.
Take notes when you hear good conversations. Too much description can be very distracting. Avoid being overzealous by keeping it simple.
Let’s take a peek at the scene in Gone With the Wind, where Miss Scarlett and Mammy are talking.
Mammy’s tone became wheedling.
“Now, Miss Scarlett, you be good an’ come eat jes’a lil. Miss Carreen an’ Miss Suellen done eat all dey’n.”
When you watch this kind of scene in a movie, it is one thing, but when a reader has to wade through pages of it, it’s altogether another. For example, just try reading “Brer Rabbit”!
Far and few between are the times that an experienced author should try to write this type of language. Reading an Irish brogue is a monster. Stay in the well-defined terms of simple dialogue and your readers will thank you.
Don’t write lengthy dialog without breaking for scenery quite often. As a general rule of thumb, you should insert a break that describes scenery or setting every three or four paragraphs of dialogue.
Use good tase when you choose the words for dialog. Although people do argue for longs lengths of time in real life, don’t use it in dialog. One thing you can’t rush is learning to writing believable dialog.
To write believable dialogue, sit in train stations, buses, or a restaurant and listen to people talk. Take notes when you can (but you better not let them see you do it).