The point is, creating unique slang for your world can add to the dialogue and tell you more about the characters who use it, not to mention build your world effortlessly. This book is set in the near future and so Moreci had to create slang fitting for the time:. The main idea is that if one character speaks in choppy sentences, it should remain that way unless the moment changes to something that would require something more elegant.
Like in the tips in 4, if they use a specific word more frequently, make sure they use that word whenever they should in order to maintain a consistent voice. Rarely do people speak for a very long time uninterrupted.
It might be important for your character to say something lengthy but remember to at least split it up with body language and other means of giving your reader a break. These can feel very long-winded and end up slowing down the pacing of your book, which can be great if you use them for this purpose. Your readers know enough to assume there was a greeting of some sort. Cutting these will help speed up your pacing as well as keep the dialogue to the must-speak information.
One of the best methods of character development is dialogue. Think about it: how do we learn about new people when we meet them? Through what they say. You could meet someone entirely new and based on the exchange, you actually learn a lot about who they are and how they operate in life.
She let stray strands fall in front of her face as she looked down and scuffed something sticky on the sidewalk. We all make mistakes. Your world should unfold gradually to the reader through showing and not telling. This means that if you have the same dialogue format for a few lines, you need to change it up because otherwise, it will be very boring to your readers. You can see in the point above, using only dialogue tags at the end is very boring.
The same applies for repeated other types as well. For example, read through each of these and you can get a feel for the monotony you want to avoid within the repeated formats. The more enjoyable it is to read, the more readers will become invested.
One exception is when you have two characters going back and forth very quickly. In this case, a few lines of dialogue only, with no tags or anything, is acceptable.
He weaved between the overgrown plants, pushing them aside. If you have additional questions or need additional resources, book a call with our Resource Team. Our team can give you extra resources to help you on your author journey, learn about your book and your book goals. Curious, but not ready to book a call yet? No problem! Grab our free resource below to learn more about writing dialogue well, and register for the online class on the last page of your workbook.
If characters stand around and explain the story through direct exposition which is telling, not showing , then the audience gets cheated out of sharing the experience of those events with the characters, which is how we build a relationship with them and grow to like, love, or hate them.
Rather than revealing backstory or though processes through dialogue, try showing the characters make these decisions and take action to illustrating the story. It cheats the audience out of shared experience with the characters, delivers exposition clumsily, and leaves the audience out of the loop. Never leave the audience out of the loop. The story is for them, after all. Want help on your dialogue? Let us know.
Storysci is here to help! Good dialogue… 1. Reveals character and plot in every line. These days it seems there are formulas for every aspect of the writing process —for plotting, for developing character arcs and backstories, for building worlds and establishing settings.
Unfortunately, there is no magic recipe. Understanding what makes dialogue powerful will save you a lot of time and effort when you sit down to clean up your first draft. Here are some tips and exercises that can set you on the right track to writing great conversations. The next time you find yourself in a busy setting, try to eavesdrop on the different conversations happening all around you. Real people express themselves in different ways.
If you want to draw readers into your story and keep them there, your characters should, too. Both characters come from completely different backgrounds. They likely have very different levels of education.
Disparate interests, insecurities and aspirations. Perhaps the girl was raised in a country village where everyone lingers on their vowels and most of the population is illiterate. Maybe the prince was neglected by his parents as a child and thus becomes very talkative the moment somebody pays him any attention. Then make them interact. Small talk spills easily from his lips, fluid and peppered with lofty words our serving girl does not recognize or understand.
But when he mentions his love of horses, her eyes light up and suddenly she has much to say indeed. Emboldened and excited, she interrupts the prince frequently, her sentences long and emphatic.
When your characters speak in a way that makes sense given their backgrounds and personalities, they become real. Info dump slows dialogue to a grinding halt. It sounds awkward.
And it actually insults the reader. Info dump is a large amount of exposition given all at once, and left for the reader to sort out. Every character, just like every person you know, will have a unique way of speaking and delivering their thoughts.
Some people are more forceful and deliberate. Others are more passive and meandering. You can honor these and other different styles without rambling. My preferred method is to focus on word choice. Along with word choice, I also like establishing a pattern of speech.
Does the character speak in a sharp staccato, or a deliberate, flowy manner? By knowing how the character especially the protagonist speaks, you can create consistency whenever the character dialogues with others.
Remember to be consistent with your characters. When your characters speak, they should stay true to who they are. People leave a lot unsaid, and this is also true for the characters in your novel. To create a realistic interaction between your characters, you must honor the fact that most people leave a lot of things unsaid. A character will speak to his mother differently than he does to his best friend. It actually gives more depth and realness to the character.
The reader likes to see the scene, pick up the cues and come to the conclusion, instead of being told what to think. And sometimes, what they say they feel is different from what they truly feel. By the way, body language is an important part of dialogue, and should be written into every scene.
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