Can we talk?

Conversation between characters in books is a very important part of any story. Well-written dialogue can move a plot along like nothing else.

Think about it. When you read, do you really want to slog through reams of exposition or pages of backstory? Do you enjoy reading lengthy descriptions of the local flora and fauna that drags on for paragraph after painful paragraph?

I don’t. And I don’t want to read about the main character’s ‘butter-soft leather boots and cashmere sweater, teamed with her gorgeous new chocolate-brown suede skirt’ either. Yawn.

No. If you’re like most readers, you just want the writer to get on with the story.

And one of the best ways to do that is with the judicious use of dialogue. Dialogue can illustrate character; it can move the plot along; it can be used to unobtrusively work in bits of background information or description. Dialogue is the workhorse of any good novel.

One of the things new writers sometimes have trouble with is writing believable dialogue. Instead of using informal contractions in fictional conversations – for example, I’m, can’t, won’t, haven’t – these writers spell out every. Single. Word.

And when crafting realistic dialogue between two characters, that’s deadly.

Instead of reading a conversation between characters, I end up stumbling over stilted, wordy sentences that no normal (or sane) person would ever utter. For example:

Hello, Sam. I am going out to the store. I will get you some apples for that pie you are baking.

That would be nice since I cannot go, Sue. It would be great if you went! I would very much appreciate it.

Pretty bad, right? No one – except maybe Mr Spock – talks like that. Now, try it instead with contractions:

Hi Sam! I’m going out to the store. I’ll get you some apples for that pie you’re baking.

That’d be nice, since I can’t go, Sue. I’d very much appreciate it.

See the difference? While it’s not exactly scintillating dialogue, it’s more true to the way real people talk. There’s nothing wrong with using contractions, or sentence fragments, or colloquialisms. You want to mimic real conversation when writing dialogue, and recreate the imprecise rhythms of daily speech – not construct a grammatically correct sentence that lies there on the page like a dead, stinking fish.

If your book has a character with a regional accent – a Texan, for example, or maybe a Scotsman, or a working class bloke from the East End of London – show it through dialogue, but do it subtly, and sparingly. Too much of anything, especially a dialect, is never a good thing.

Bad:  “Cor blimey! ‘e ‘as a ‘orrible ‘abit of droppin’ ‘is aitches whenever ‘e talks.”

Better: “Blimey, but ‘e has a bad habit of droppin’ his aitches whenever he talks.”

Readers are pretty smart people. Don’t beat them over the head by exaggerating a character’s accent. Just a hint here and there will do the trick.

When writing dialogue, I recommend reading it out loud. You’ll immediately ‘hear’ if a character’s speech sounds stilted or wrong.  Read it the way an actor might go over his lines when rehearsing for a play. See how it sounds. Do you talk like that? Do your friends?

If not, rewrite it. Because there should be nothing in your prose to make a reader come to a screeching halt. You don’t want awkward sentence construction, overly formal speech, or overwrought regional dialect to stop readers dead in their tracks.

Happy writing. And have a very Happy New Year!

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