How to write good dialogue

@GingerCoffee : Ta, glad that it's showing up now

@Thomas Kitchen : A bit like you say, I tend to think of sci-fi and fantasy as 'foreign' lands that are unknown to the reader, hence in need of extra work to fill out the senses so that the reader can experience the place as well as the story. So, I suppose in the case of Leonard's writing he is working very much in a place of the familiar, of that which is likely well known to the reader, so there's no need for much extra information beyond the story of the characters themselves.

 

I think a lot of writers (especially beginners) just like to "show off" or feel the need to prove themselves. It's almost like they're afraid the readers will think less of them if they don't describe every little detail:

"See, look at how amazingly deep my imagination is! Look at these rolling hills and this shimmering grass, and the dew on these leaves! I'm so damn creative I've imagined this scene in the minutest detail! Wanna know what color my MC's panties are? 'Cuz I do. Let me tell you all about it…"

Some people can do it well, but, more often than not, it just comes off as a waste of my time when I read overly-long descriptions. It often comes across as the writer's heavy-handed attempts at "controlling" the narrative and making sure we see EXACTLY what they want us to see.

IMO, readers will never see exactly what we want them to see and attempts to strongarm their perceptions into matching your own is a major turn-off. A good writer knows when to let go. You can lead the horse to water, but don't try to control how many sips it takes.

 

my only preference as a reader is for good writing, period... what that consists of can take so many different forms that it's useless to try to list them..

 

I just caught myself doing this. I repeated the sentence I was writing about 10 times in different variations to see if i should tag it as a mutter, slur, etc.. Then I realized I do this often enough to the point where an outside observer would think I'm some nut muttering to the voices in my head. Anyone else read their dialogue out loud while they're writing it?

 

No but I have been interviewed by just about every TV chat show in the world about my book - and I'm talking in-depth interviews, I even had translators in the studio with me!

You think you're mad.... balooba-dooba!

 

YES! I do! I may be trying to avoid fancy dialogue tags, these days, but readability is key. If it feels wrong reading it out loud, if the words don't roll off the tongue when put together, I think about making adjustments. But I always find this process works best if I say things out loud. It doesn't have to be dialogue either. Anything I write has to go through this. Of course there are standards that can't be sacrificed for natural speech, voice is something any story must have, and what better way to test the flow than with an actual voice? ha ha!

 

Of course I read the dialogue out loud. Why wouldn't I? I actually read the entire story aloud - if it doesn't sound good, then it isn't good. Reading the dialogue aloud reassures me that it sounds like speech; reading the rest of it aloud confirms that the rhythms of my sentences are okay, that I don't have any unintentional rhymes, that I haven't unwittingly put in ridiculous tongue-twisters, and so on.

 

Ha, yes. As much as I love the idea of writing in coffeeshops, I avoid that now...doing dishes and laundry is when I work out a lot of my scenes, so I'm almost always muttering under my breath.

I do facial expressions all the time, too. Hubby has walked into the kitchen and been able to tell which character I was thinking about by the way I was scowling...

 

As often as not, I'm writing dialogue when I'm talking to myself. Sometimes I start with the lines on paper and then go over them again out loud, but just as often I try to act out both sides of the the conversation first to get a feel for what direction it would probably go in... and sometimes I go back and forth a few times in what amounts to just a couple of pages

 

My characters talk to each other when I walk my dogs. They don't typically talk out loud while I'm writing the dialogue, but they are definitely alive in my head.

 

Yes, all the time. Except, I don't realize I'm doing it. I'll do hand and body motions too, while trying to enact a character. I'll be planning out a scene in my head and then all of a sudden my sister's calling me out for talking to myself. It really freaks her out

 

Ok then. Glad to know I'm not the only one who acts out my scenes

 

All. The. Time. In fact this seems to be the only way in which it flows as I would like

 

Yup.

It's the only way I can tell whether it's working or not. I've gone past the point of feeling silly about it, though I do get some looks from my flat mate when he passes my room. He wouldn't be the first person to think I have a screw loose.

 

Yeah.

Not so much when I'm writing dialogue but when I'm not writing I plan scenes in my head and speak the dialogue, I don't even realize I'm doing it. Also when I get into one of my frantic planning moods wherein I will try to solve every conceivable flaw or plot hole in my story or back-story before eating or sleeping, I mutter like a mad person. And I pace. If I'm working through a difficult scene I will also mutter single words/phrases like 'why?' 'does that make sense?' and the like so I can straighten it out in my mind. I used to talk to actual people but they got bored/alienated.

 

Hello, Jimmy Rabbitt! LOL!

 

Yes. I talk to myself out loud when I'm writing anything. It's the best way to tell how it flows.

 

Now I feel awkward because I don't speak the lines my characters are saying...

They do sort of speak in my head, however.

 

I wrote my first book before the Commitments came out and thought that scene was hilarious. It reassured me I wasn't the only lunatic with such dreams because I'd been interviewed for all sorts during my teens, being a pro-footballer, stadium-filling rock star, best-selling author. Even if it was a fictional character someone had to at least think it

So after reading these replies it seems all of us writers are at least a little nuts...

 

We are, indeed.

 

This is, of course, a good thing. Only people who are a little nuts accomplish great things.

 

Yes as a matter of fact i do and i find it very helpful

 

Hi all,

So I've been reading a lot of 1st person novels as I am writing one atm. And what I notice is that most of them have pages and pages of the narrator just talking to themselves a lot of the time and not pages of dialogue.

Now, I won't say my novel has pages of dialogue but I feel that my novel has quite a bit (Most conversations with important characters that add to the plot)...I only have a few times where there's pages and pages of my MC just talking to himself and about his feelings.

It makes me wonder: Am I doing this whole first person thing wrong? Am I doing exposition through dialogue too much and not enough through the actual narrator?

I feel that this could be because my character is new in his setting and is meeting a lot of new people, thus why there is quite a bit of dialogue. But I'm not sure that even with that, there should pages of dialogue sometimes...hmm.

Sorry if this is hard to understand! But thank you in advance for any advice given.

 

You say you have been reading lots of 1st person novels.
Therefore, do it exactly the way they have done it. (Is there a price inside the dust jacket? $25.95, for example?)