Dialogue

Dialogue is one of the most enjoyable things to write, as it gives life to the characters. A lot can be conveyed in dialogue, including the attitude and values of the characters. Writing dialogue can be like an out of body experience, since the characters can communicate in a way that is unnatural or alien to the author but is completely natural for the characters.

Dialogue takes a lot of time and practice to get right, since I find that the characters might say contradictory things, and this raises the question of where they really stand on a point, or if they would really say such and such line. Dialogue can be nuanced when we look at how the characters pronounce words, their speech patterns, and if they pause during speech or speak in brevity or in long-winded sentences.

A lot has to be worked out in dialogue, but when it works, it feels natural and the characters take on a life of their own. Dialogue also helps us access the characters thoughts and feelings, as well as understand their motivations.

I find that each author writes dialogue differently. Cormac McCarthy, for example, doesn’t use quotations, which can make reading his dialogue puzzling when determining who the speaker is or if a line is intended to be dialogue. But once I got used to this format, I learned that each character has a distinct style to their dialogue (speech pattern), which illuminated who the speaker was, even when multiple characters are speaking. Perhaps that’s what authors are aiming for with or without quotation marks: lines that sound natural and real for each character.

I like dialogue where the characters are making a point, and where the other characters are debating with them. I also prefer dialogue that is direct and simple so that the story flows quickly.

Overall, dialogue should move the story forward as well as educate you as to who the characters are. When that happens, it makes what the characters say sound natural and give their voice distinction.