Write Better Fictional Dialogue
More Realistic Words for Your Characters to Speak
Try these tips for putting the right words into your characters' mouths that will not only hold readers' attention, but show them who these people really are.
People speak for a number of reasons. They speak to exchange thoughts, feelings, and information. Some speak because they are uncomfortable with the silence that ensues if there are no words filling it. Others speak to teach or inspire others, to warn of disaster, or to worship. Since fictional characters speak for the same reasons that people do, as a writer you want to ensure that their words do more than just reflect the characters’ surface. Their words need to dig deeper.
For example, if your character is a teenage bully, dialogue may be filled with combativeness and rage, but this is just one dimension. If you don’t push on to discover other aspects to the bully – necessitating other words to help bring out those aspects – then this character will remain a stereotype, and readers will quickly tire of him or her.
An Exercise in Listening
As part of your desire to create better dialogue, try this listening exercise. Tune your radio to an all talk show and focus on listening to the host. As you listen, think about these questions, and jot down some answers, along with the reasons why you wrote the answers you did.
Is the host an animated speaker, gesturing when excited? Does the host lean into the microphone when speaking? Does the host look at the guest during the interview? Does the host do most of the talking? What kind of words does the host use? (Sophisticated? Slang? Profanity?)
Does the host always come across as gruff, arrogant, a know-it-all, or are there times when softness and humility creep in? (If so, when does this happen?) Is the host partial to long speeches or rants? Is there a lot of filler words such as 'you know', 'well', 'ah', and 'like' in the host's speech? Does the host sound like a real person or a stereotypical talk radio host?
Analyze your Notes
Now turn off the radio, and analyze the notes you’ve made. Ask yourself two questions:
1. Do the words I’ve heard, and the actions I’ve imagined, suit the person I think he or she is?
2. Have I learned anything about this person that makes him or her more than a stereotype in my mind?
The Fun Part
Next comes the fun part. Forget about the real radio host, and create your own character. Show another side to this character through dialogue, and then ‘perform’ the dialogue for a spouse or friends, making sure to get their responses to what they’ve heard. You may have written a more believable radio host than the one you were listening to.
Read more about dialogue in Fictional Dialogue Exercises.
