Writing dialogue can be scary for some writers but you cannot avoid it.
Telling a story is much more than just description and action.
Without dialogue, your story will seem wooden and lifeless.
There are no absolutes but some say around 30% of your book should be dialogue.
My Favourite 5 tips for writing dialogue.
1. Keep it short – there are exceptions but in normal life, people don’t speak for long without interruption.
2. Avoid being too formal. Don’t use ’she did not’ and ‘he would not’ when normal speech for your characters would be ‘she didn’t’ and ‘he wouldn’t’. Keep speech natural.
3. Remember the reason for the dialogue. There must be a purpose for the speech. If characters are chatting about the weather it should be because the weather is going to affect the story otherwise you are going to bore your readers. Dialogue must move the story forward.
4. Don’t drain your brain looking for alternatives to ‘he said’ and ’she said.’ Readers barely notice but it can be wearing as well as a sign of amateur writing to use too many alternatives like ‘she expostulated’ or ‘he inferred.’ Of course, if the dialogue is shouted then use ‘he shouted.’ Keep it simple.
5. If it is not clear who is speaking then naming them is fine: Using ‘Clare said’ and ‘John said’ is better if you want to save your reader the frustration of reading backwards trying to find out who said what.
Writing dialogue is fun – the more you do it the better you will become.
Read as much as you can and when you find a piece of dialogue in a book you particularly enjoy spend some time studying it.
Ask yourself why this dialogue read so well and understand what was it about the dialogue that made it enjoyable.
Good luck with your writing and don’t forget – if you’ve got a question – just ask.
Best wishes
Grace.
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