Last night, my guest author, Kay Marshall Strom, spoke to my novel writing class about writing dialogue. One thing I noted was that she and I say the same things in a different way. When she describes not letting the characters say things to each other that they already know, I call that information loading. No soliloquy? In my class, that means no talking heads. She covered the challenges of using dialect, of remembering your audience (no blue language in a kid’s book, e.g.) of weaving action and emotion around the spoken lines to avoid strange or laugh-out-loud attributions. Most of all she emphasized the number thing about dialogue: It sounds like real speech, but it isn’t. I couldn’t have done a better job myself.
Writing Tip for Today: Write your dialogue quickly on the first draft. Use a string of “he saids and she saids” if necessary. Let your draft cool off, and then go back in and tighten it. Sometimes dialogue sounds more natural if you use a sentence fragment (Instead of “Are you going to the play?”, “Going to the play?”) or if the other character’s answers are indirect and/or surprising. (EX: “Going to the play?” “Why can’t you just butt out and leave me alone?”)
REMEMBER: Dialogue must always reveal character and move the story forward.