What could be easier? We all speak, we all have conversations, we all say things. It must be easy then. Actually, writing dialogue can be very difficult because it is quite different from the language we use and hear ourselves. If you've ever listened carefully to the language of a conversation between friends, you'll have noticed how frequently they interrupt each other, leave sentences half finished, make noises, talk at the same time, and finish each others' sentences. None of that is acceptable in written dialogue because it would be difficult to read. So how do I go about writing dialogue?
I'm far from expert at it but I can offer some pointers. Dialogue has to sound natural and fitting the context and the character so the choice of language is important. You don't want a conversation using language that the character typically wouldn't use. At the same time, you don't want to overplay it. The language has to reflect what the character might realistically say but in the context of writing, it has to do a lot more.
Dialogue carries the plot forward and develops the characters. It conveys information to the reader as they get to understand more of the character doing the speaking. It can create conflict and tension, and it is much more immediate so it focuses the feelings of the reader. Creating empathy for a character often comes from poignant things they say. So dialogue has a lot of work to do.
I like to speak my dialogue when I'm writing it, to hear what it sounds like. I do that because it helps me feel how the character feels and it's easier to see where the dialogue falls flat. A conversation has different levels during its course, rising when there is conflict and dropping when there is shared agreement. You can use those different levels to focus the feelings of the reader providing the language does its job effectively. Get it wrong and the conversation sounds lumpy and instead of drawing the reader towards the characters, it makes them sound thin, flat, and unconvincing. Poor dialogue can spoil the atmosphere created by the surrounding writing.
Dialogue has to move the story along and/or develop the characters. If it doesn't do either of those things, you should consider chopping it or rewriting it. On many occasions I have condensed down a long dialogue to a short exchange making it much more effective. A dialogue is not a conversation and it has to justify its presence in the story by what it contributes.
Here are some common mistakes in dialogue:
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Constant repetition of names to remind the reader who is talking. Generally you can keep all that outside of the quotation marks.
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Overloading with information, getting the characters to deliver a speech or report.
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Having one character talking for far too long. It probably wouldn't happen because they'd be interrupted. If you need to do that, you need to prepare the reader, and the character who is listening.
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He said, she said, he said, she said. Often it's obvious who is speaking in a dialogue and you don't need identifiers for every single pair of quotation marks.
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Overuse of adverbs. He said ….ily, she said ...ily, can quickly become tedious.
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Dialogue where nothing happens. If the relationship doesn't change between the characters, you have to ask what the dialogue delivers.
I find writing dialogue challenging but it really focusses your mind on what is or should be happening. For a few brief moments, you are that character and you are in their situation. That can help clarify all kinds of problems with the plot. Sometimes, away from the text, I'll write some dialogue between characters who perhaps wouldn't meet in the story but it helps me to understand their attitudes to each other.
