The Power of Dialogue

I don't know what it is about dialogue but it connects you with a character faster than plot, setting or any other thing. Maybe that's because we use dialogue in our own connectedness with others. Without dialogue, whether in person or on paper, we're left alone. It's the dialogue that keeps us reading. It's the dialogue we connect with. It's the dialogue that needs to feel just right.

Photo by Ed Yourdon, courtesy of Flickr

Have you ever read a manuscript, perhaps even a book, where the language was stilted, almost--unreal? This is because the writer struggled to find the truth in the dialogue he/she used. Either the writer was trying to impress you or he/she was not able to get a handle on the dialogue itself. 

Let's tackle both of these issues:

• Beginning writers especially have a problem with trying to impress. If they have not yet found their writer's voice, they will attempt to use the voice of someone else. Finding your voice is not an overnight discovery, finding your voice takes time and a willingness to open yourself up and share your heart. 

My first short story was a real problem. I tried to impress with long and little used words. I wanted to sound smart, like I knew what I was writing; instead I sounded like what I wanted to avoid. But I still keep this short story. It reminds me of where I was, how far I have come, and what to continue to avoid when it comes to dialogue.

• It is often difficult to write dialogue, especially when you are running against other characters in your book. Before beginning a book I find it helpful to find pictures from a magazine or other source that I can put into a binder along with a list of characteristics about each character. Characters are people and each will have quirks about them and ways of saying certain things that differentiate them from another character. 

Photo by epSos.ed, courtesy of Flickr

If all of your characters sound the same it's a good idea to spend some time listening to people and either recording them or writing down key phrases that catch your eye. Spending time at the mall or on a bus is a great way to hear and record how people speak. Sitting down at the park or spending some time alone at a restaurant will help you to key in to how others speak.

If you remember that characters from a book should be just like the characters you deal with in your "real" life, you will write in characters that are as real as your next door neighbor, your great aunt Marge, or your best friend who thinks others are always staring at her.

And that's something we all want.