I love writing dialogue. It can allow writers to deliver exposition, advance the plot, and, above all, develop our characters. It gives us glimpses into their inner lives and motivations. The things the characters say to each other, and sometimes what they don’t say, provides more insight than simply describing them or *shudder* telling us what they think and feel.
Step One: Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.*
- “It’s a lovely evening for a stroll,” she said.
- She said, “Where will we go now?”
- “I wonder,” he said, “whether I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
- “You’re wrong,” he said. “I’d never do that!”
- “That’s not true! You’re a liar!”
In example #3, his thought is broken up to let the “I wonder” linger. Since it is not a complete sentence, the tag is followed by a comma before continuing with the rest of his thought. In example #4, “You’re wrong,” is a complete sentence, so the tag ends in a period. A second sentence follows it, completing his thought.
In the last example, I’ve chosen to let the dialogue stand on its own. Adding a “he cried” or “he yelled” wouldn’t provide any new information for the reader; we can tell that he’s yelling already. Unless there is a question about who the speaker is, I tend to use tags every three lines or so. If two people are talking, we can assume that they alternate lines of dialogue.
In conversations with more than two speakers, it can get trickier, but I try to develop distinct voices for each of my characters. That is not to say that unique voices require gimmicks or (god forbid) corny dialect. There’s no reason to go all Huck Finn on your readers. Some of my characters use a specific nickname for each other (Only Lark calls Grimoire “Grim,” for example) or have a particular way of phrasing things. Arthur Lionheart likes to include lots of aphorisms in his speech, and I like to think that he sounds like a somewhat condescending college professor. His sister, Oleander, is a little less pedantic, but she peppers her speech with rules that she makes up to teach Grimoire various lessons.
If a character’s speech goes on for more than a paragraph, the correct way to punctuate it is like this:
“paragraph one.
“paragraph two.”
However, I think it’s unrealistic to let your characters natter on for more than a paragraph. Unless they’re actually delivering an oration, it’s unlikely that a single character would be allowed to talk for that long without interruption. If you simply must have them make a speech, I’d recommend breaking up the block of text with an action, even if it’s just the person fidgeting or pouring a glass of water. Unless, of course, the point is that the speaker is a blowhard who likes to pontificate long after his audience has stopped listening.
*Please note that grammar rules only apply to American English. If you’re British, well, you’re on your own.
Step Two: Keep it simple.
Action!
Nine times out of ten, a simple “said” is the best choice. “Said” is a perfectly serviceable, well-nigh invisible verb that allows you to identify the speaker without intruding on the dialogue. As writers, we have been taught to use robust, active verbs. We don’t litter our writing with listless wases; we employ verbs that leap and dash and spin across the page. In dialogue, however, fancy verbs are often redundant or even distracting.
- “Don’t do that,” she chided.
- “I hate you!” he screamed.
- “That’s what she said,” he retorted
How I hate “retorted,” and yet it sometimes still creeps into my writing. You have to remain vigilant; it’s easy to slip into sloppy habits. One thing that I like to do–and this is a personal preference, not a hard-and-fast rule–is to have one-sentence interludes of action or description in between lines of dialogue.
Step Three: Say it Out Loud.
You can’t hiss consonants. Dana from http://reasoningwithvampires.tumblr.com/, one of the best and most inspirational grammar/writing blogs I’ve seen, has a wonderful archive of terrible dialogue from the Twilight series. Bella & The Gang sigh, growl, hiss, murmur, and mumble their words, but very rarely say anything.
Sometimes you want a character to deliver a particular line, but it doesn’t really sound like something they’d say. I’m a huge Buffy fan, but there’s a scene in the fourth season episode “The Freshman” where Buffy and Willow visit the awesome library at UC Sunnydale. Willow geeks out and talks about how amazing it is, and Buffy quips, “Yeah, it’ll be great…if we ever need a place for the Nuremberg Rallies.” Later in the same episode, she confuses “reconnaissance” with “the Renaissance.” Buffy has many admirable qualities, but she’s not particularly brainy…nor is she particularly dumb. Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed the episode and should have known better, seized the opportunity to make the first joke even though Buffy really isn’t known for her interest in European history (or Nazis). The second joke is more at her expense. Xander might have said it, but not Buffy.
Aaaaand that paragraph probably tells you a lot more about me and my nerdiness than you really needed to know. The point is, not only do you need to develop a unique voice for each of your main characters–and that includes giving some thought to diction as well as the possible depth of their knowledge–you also need to read things out loud to make sure they don’t sound stilted or stupid. Unless you mean for it to sound stilted and stupid, as a stylistic choice. Test it out to make sure it flows nicely. Don’t be afraid to use ellipses (in moderation) and dashes to allow character to trail off or interrupt each other. Conversations in real life are rarely a measured exchange of complete, coherent, grammatically correct sentences. While you don’t want to write exactly the way people talk, I think striving for more authentic speech patterns makes your characters seem more alive.
Bringing It All Together
Here’s an example from my work in progress, The Ghosts of Evergreen:
“When I woke up this morning, it smelled awful, and there was all this ash in the sink,” says Chelsea, her blue eyes wide.
Matt rolls up three slices of bacon inside a pancake and dunks the whole thing in syrup. He gestures with it like a cigar and asks, “Are you gonna turn her in?”
“I don’t know. They’ll probably expel her, and then I’ll feel guilty.”
“Better than getting burned to death in the night by pyrogirl,” says Sara with a shiver.
“You’re right. I’ll tell Sandra tonight after class.”
At my questioning look, Lucy clarifies, “Sandra is the RA on the senior girls’ floor. She’s the Po-Po’s niece—that’s Mrs. Poole—and she’s a total hard-ass.”
I’m not trying to hold this up as a paragon of awesome writing, but I do think that it does some things well. Chelsea is identified as the initial speaker (she’s telling a story about her suitemate, who has a tendency to lock herself in their shared bathroom and set things on fire), and when she responds to a direct question from the other people at the table, I left off the tags because I felt it should be clear that she’s replying to them. This cuts down on clutter. Lucy has a distinctive voice–she uses more slang and cusses a lot more often than her peers, which I think says something about her character.
Thanks for sharing. I’m sure this’ll be helpful.
Thank you for stopping by!
“Paragon of awesome writing” indeed — or at least, awesome teaching!
This is great. I am a writer by profession, so your post resonates on every level.
Thank you!
Thank you very much!
Very good tips here. I am a retired print journalist who has dabbled at writing other things besides news stories. What is so ironic is that I literally hated English in high school, then after military service studied both English Composition and Journalism in college with a 3.6 GPA. I have had few successes writing other than journalistic articles.
Thank you for this great post!
I worked in print journalism for one (disastrous) month. I’m much better at making up my own stories than reporting on other people’s. It takes a special kind of talent to write the news. : )
““When I woke up this morning, it smelled awful, and there was all this ash in the sink,” says Chelsea, her blue eyes wide.”
Says? I thought everything should be in the past tense. You have everything in the present tense.
Great question. I decided to try experimenting with present tense, first-person narration, which is something I’ve never tried before, to give more immediacy to the story. We’ll see if it works out. : )
I didn’t even know there were a lot of newer novels written in this tense–I’m really out of it. Good luck with your work.
Always love a buffy reference. And yes, said is just about as visible as Marcie from season one. I tend to skip even using verbs of saying unless it is absolutely necessary.
Who doesn’t love a Buffy reference?
I think read out loud your work is the best way to proofread. Sometimes you have to hear it to know how bad something reads before you can change it.
Definitely true. I often miss entire words when I’m typing, but reading it out loud fixes that. Sometimes. : )
Don’t worry, you’re not nerdy; I’m a fan of Buffy too. Good post, by the way. Very well done.
Thank you! I think it’s okay to be nerdy, but I still get embarrassed sometimes when I tell people that my book is about wizards. : )
what’s wrong with that? i’ve got a few ideas for stories where magic plays in.
I love stories about magic, but it feels odd sometimes to be a grown woman talking about wizards and magic cats. I feel the same way when I go straight to the YA section at Barnes and Noble.
hey, everybody has their own tastes. and why should a grown woman hide what she likes to read? look at j.k. rowling, for the love of merlin!
You’re right. : ) Maybe now that so many people know my secret geekiness, I can be more open about it.
be open about it; there are 6.5 billion people on the planet. i doubt they all want to judge you on your literary tastes. besides, what do they have to judge? j.k. rowling made it okay for women like my mom to love magic and wizards in the open, and it’s gonna stay that way for some time.
by the way, i recommend the “age of misrule” books by mark chadbourn if you’re looking for something new to read. they are awesome!
I will have to check those out, thanks!
always happy to play “dear abby” and recommend some literature while i’m at it.
thank you for sharing this, and best wishes on your WIP!
I like that photo; it be a great cd cover for the right music…
I’m not quite sure if you are replying specifically to me or not. If you are, thanks!
Thank you! I’m having a lot of fun writing it. It’s a departure from Grey Magic, but I needed the break. : )
Terrific blog! Thanks for these great tips!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I’m just thrilled you use “dialogue” rather than “dialog”! Hideous spelling, although it will probably prevail in the end. : ) Nice, useful post and congrats on being FP’ed.
I did a project in college on spelling reform. It’s really kind of fascinating, if you’re into linguistics. A lot of our spelling differences from British English come from a desire for the newly formed United States to differentiate itself from the nasty old British Empire. Hence dropping the “u” from colour, etc.
Also, being FP’ed is awesome. I’m so glad you came by to visit.
Thank you Erin.
Thank you!
Very helpful tips. Thank You
Thank you! I guess now I need to do more grammar posts. : )
Don’t worry about your nerdiness being exposed. Your Buffy reference (I hate that you can’t italicize in comments!) is what brought this entire post to a whole new level.
It’s bothered me more than once that you can’t italicize in comments. I like to write titles properly!
I think another important thing to keep in mind is that, with dialogue, is that it has to sound like a person is saying it rather than the author. In a lot of scripts and books, people sometimes shoehorn in exposition and other stuff that a real person probably would never say. If you can’t imagine someone saying what you’re writing, then chances are it should be axed.
Otherwise, really good. ^_^
Definitely. Having one character explain something to another character for the purpose of exposition can be a good tool, but if it’s used to much, it grates on the reader. Thank you for stopping by!
I always learn something when I read other people’s blogs. Thanks for the pointers
Thank you very much! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Step two is especially pertinent in news writing. It took me a while to reconcile with the “said” rule (prompted by an instructor’s anecdote that justifies it). Plus, it’s just as effective to write “she said with a laugh” or “he said, raising his voice.”
I agree! Sometimes the best word of phrase for the job is short and simple. I’m not a fan of reading books that sound like the author flipped through a thesaurus to find every third word.
Thank you for writing this. It is really helpful to see how others deal with writing dialogue.
Thanks! Even though writing is essentially a solitary process, it’s super important to talk to other writers and see how they do things. I’m enjoying your blog, too! Self-publishers need to support each other. : )
Thank You, when ever I get too focused and alone I remind myself that some of the greatest writers of the twentieth century would share their work with each other.
Thank you. Well said.
Cheers! I love the name of your blog, btw.
You mentioned a lot there. I love your article.
Thanks! I appreciate it. : )
In response to your first post, I was going to say that I’m British, and I’m not aware of major grammatical differences, just differences in spelling between American and British English. Having just investigated, you’re right, there are quite a few grammatical differences, but everything you’ve written here is just as helpful to a Brit as to an American. Well done.
Cheers! I did a semester abroad at the University of East Anglia, and when I was writing papers, I found out about the differences between American and British punctuation. I think my professors cut me some slack, since I was a poor, befuddled Colonial.
Great review! I had heard that the trend is to keep conversation to “said” or “replied” and that “screamed,” and “retorted” etc, were “out” like adverbs and shoulder pads.
Congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
LOL. I might do a post on adverbs, which I think are sometimes wrongfully maligned, but shoulder pads are definitely out. : )
Hahaha! True! I will look forward to your defense of the ly words…
I appreciated this article as a writer, and artist and an avid reader. I’m a huge S.King fan and always found his dialog very natural, if not a bit uncomfortably so.
You address several issues in fantastic form. When and how to use the Quotations, who.m is speaking and having something worth while to say.
The biggest grumble I usually get at first from my work is that Aurora, is a very “Quiet” character. She spends more time in her head, and when there are more characters she rarely speaks, but when she does, they finally love her for it.
Thank you for your tips!
If you read The Hunger Games, Katniss doesn’t speak out loud very often, but she has an incredibly rich mind. Not every character needs to be a chatterbox. : )
This is something that all aspiring fiction writers should learn. (And it made me want to write fiction.) Great post!
Thank you!
I just stopped by your blog, and I was fascinated. Women’s rights, especially our reproductive rights, are a huge issue here. In South Carolina, where I live, our governor (who is a woman!) tried to veto funding for free clinics, rape crisis centers, and AIDS testing centers. Thankfully her budget did not pass, but it’s a really scary trend.
omg! That’s awful! It’s bad enough there are male politicians in the USA who seem to have some kind of vendetta against women going on, but that a female governor would try to pull something like that is just – as you say – scary! I wonder what her motivation was?
Thanks for checking out my blog! The news I keep hearing from your side of the Atlantic were among the things that got me into a starting the blog in the first place. It seems that religion is gaining too much influence in politics, with special emphasis on violating women’s human rights. It’s chilling to watch, even from a distance.
Dialogue pet peeve: “Grinned.” As in, “‘I don’t know the answer to that,’ he grinned.” YOU CAN’T GRIN AND TALK AT THE SAME TIME.
For some reason, it appears very often in fantasy literature.
I might be guilty of that. : (
Have you read Reasoning With Vampires? I think you would really like it.
Also, hi Kristen! Is it getting crowded in here, or what?
I’m an author, and your post here offers good teaching to people. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, Lyn!
You’re very welcome! Blessings to you today!
When writing dialogue I always try to remember Harrison Ford’s statement to George Lucas: “You might be able to write this shit, but you sure as hell can’t say it.” It’s amazing how much rewriting time I’ve saved myself just be learning to say dialogue out loud before I write it the first time.
Some of the best lines from Star Wars were ad libbed or changed by Harrison Ford. When Leia tells Han she loves him, just before he’s encased in carbonite, the original script had him say “I love you too.” He changed it to “I know,” and film history was made.
For contrast watch the deleted scene from “Revenge of the Sith” where Obi-Wan and Anakin finish each other’s sentences and communicate through awkward Jedi hand signals… Yeah.
Poor George Lucas. He seems to be his own worst enemy, doesn’t he? I’m afraid that Peter Jackson is slowly going the same way. Does The Hobbit really need to be made into a trilogy?
The Hobbit probably does not need to be split up into multiple parts but I’m curious to see just how he’s going to manage it.
This was is very well done. Thank you!
Thanks, Brent! I just browsed your photography, and it’s really amazing!
Thanks for this! Congrats on Freshly Pressed
I feel that dialogue gets hard to write simply because of the repetitiveness. And I definitely agree about the verbs, unless you really mean they “hissed” or “yelled” etc., then you should just stick with said. 
I’m so excited and grateful to be FP’d.
Which part of dialogue writing to do you find repetitive?
Thanks a ton for this, about to start writing a comic myself!
Very cool! That’s something I would really like to try some day. Best of luck!
Hi Erin,
Thanks for the concise clarifications on dialogue. I’m sure Buffy would approve. She liked things to be simple and done the right way. Punctuation outside of quotations is just evil.
Congrats on the FP’d!
Cheers,
iRuniBreathe
Back when I was teaching English, I think staking people who messed up subject-verb agreement or did a comma splice would have been an effective teaching tool. Always ask, what would Buffy do?
Awesome. I hope to be a good writer one day, even if just for my own enjoyment!
That’s the only reason to do it, sir. : )
Out of all the blogs I’ve read on dialogue, this is truly one of the better ones. You point out some great tips and reading this was a good refresher for me since I’m currently editing my first novel.
I admit I’m guilty at dodging the “said” word. Ever since elementary school it was beaten into me as a dead word and it wasn’t until recent years that I began to understand simpler can be better. Especially when (like you said) those action verbs are often merely reiterating what the dialogue already portrays.
Great stuff!
Thank you so much, Elli! It’s funny how some of the “boring” words that we were taught to avoid are actually the brick and mortar of stories. Now, I do believe “was” is overused, but said is a perfectly lovely word. Just let the dialogue do the talkin’. : )
Great read. I was just contemplating this. I’m thinking about writing a few short stories and needed a refresher. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Jeremy. You should definitely take the plunge and just start writing. Best of luck!
Thanks for posting! Dialog is not my strength, or so I was told in creative writing class. Now that I’m doing a comic strip for my blog, it’s even more challenging, because I can only fit so many words in a frame. I’ve been meaning to read a book called Sound on the Page to help hone this skill.
What a cool idea! I love webcomics, and writing a graphic novel is something that I’ve wanted to do for years. If I can make a suggestion, one of the best ways to train your ear is to go out and eavesdrop on people’s conversations in public places. Just try not to get caught. : )
Thank you for the suggestion! I do go to restaurants on my own sometimes, so it shouldn’t be hard to follow.
Hi Erin, Congratulations on Freshly Pressed. I love your blog it’s very interesting and informative. I am a follower now. I agree with some of the other comments about reading your work out loud. It really seems to help to find mistakes in grammer and spelling. Thank you for sharing. Happy Blogging
cheers Judy
judysp.wordpress.com
Thanks, Judy! Welcome. : )
No kidding. I just looked up whether to but the quotation marks after or before a in-text quotation. Talk about a small world. Great tips. Thank you.
Thanks, Shanah. There are so many fiddly little rules to follow, but everybody loves to spot a typo–as long as it’s not their own.
Yes…like my typo of but (should be put). Not sure how this happens to far apart on the keyboard. Oh, well!
Erin, this is a great post. I’m sure you know “Elements of Style” well but I highly recommend it to your readers.
The Elements of Style is a classic! Such an elegant, witty book.
That is in-text citation maybe. I forgot to say congrats on the Freshly Pressed by the way.
Gah, now I’m having flashbacks to teaching APA style.
Thank you! I’ve never been quite sure how to punctuate dialogue where the thought is split.
It’s one of those things that I always have to look up. Check out Grammar Girl @ http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
for a lot of great tips.
I will and thanks again.
You’re right…nerdy.
Guilty as charged.
This post had me at Dr. Doom.
Love your blog–especially the Saturday comics section.
Though it is not likely that I will use this info, it was interesting to learn all the same. Congrats on being freshly pressed.
Thanks for stopping by, Richard!
I also love to write dialogues. I am using them a lot in my books.
Nice to find your blogsite!
Thank you, Carita!
Great lesson! Now I just need to figure out if I really need as many commas as I’m using. Congrats on being freshly pressed!
Hi, Liza! I may do a follow-up post on commas, right after I defend adverbs.
Wish everyone remembered step 1 for punctuation. Thanks for the simple tips! And for reminding me that I need to write more…creative stories, that is (not my typical journalistic stuff). Has always interested me.
Your magazine is really cool!
Thanks! Got a great blog yourself…will definitely be checking back in.
I appreciate it. : )
Brit writers can also learn from this!
Thanks, Jan!
I really needed this! Always got my puncutation mixed up!
Thanks! I’m glad I could help!
I see stuff all the time where people (at work, my nine to five) put the punctuation outside of the quotes. Drives me crazy! Thanks for your post.
Have you ever checked out http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/? I can spend hours there, cackling over other people’s grammar mistakes.
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
I guess the main aim is to present the story so the consumer takes it in without a struggle. Punctuation helps here, but should not be over done.
And if you make a mistake, it may not be noticed, or, it could change the whole meaning of that part of the story.
Drawing pictures is much easier !!
A misplaced or missing comma can totally change the meaning of a sentence, it’s true. Thanks for stopping by!
I loved this post, and have to say Point #1 is genuinely going to come in real use. Since leaving school my ability to write dialouge has pretty much plummeted and exploded… and I’d entirely forgotten about where to put the punctuation. I blame my History degree… it’s not so much quotation marks as it is italics!
Thanks, Anna! Your comment made me think of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, in the scene where the whale plummets and explodes. ; )
I think I have previously been guilty of getting some of these wrong, particularly punctuation.
What style do you prefer for internal dialogue?
When I’m writing a character’s thoughts, I put them in italics and leave off the quotation marks.
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Lovely post about that ‘bugger-bear’ for so many writers. Even H.P. Lovecraft had problems with realistic sounding dialogue. “Oh, and congratulations,” he said, “on getting freshly pressed!”
Thanks, Mike!
Wow! This post is chock full of tips that I’ve been looking for. I have some fiction books in mind, but I have so much to learn. So, thanks so much for taking the time to share this information so specifically and engagingly.
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it.
Great post – one that as inspired me to look more deeply into your blog for other brilliant insights!
Wow, thank you!
Thanks for the amazing tips! As a writer I am constantly looking for great advice such as this. Do you mind telling me if I am doing it right? Please come check out my blog: thescribblerarchive.
Again, great advice!
Thanks, Scribbler!
No, Thank you!
wow, this post is great- i’m writing my own teen fiction book, and sometimes i find it so hard to come up with good conversation between characters :/ thanks
Very cool. What’s your book about?
Great tips I tried to start writing short stories once or twice and I I totally failed when it came to dialogu, so I hope I get to use them one day. Thank you
Thanks! I just hopped over to your blog, and I’m so jealous of all the places you’ve traveled. I’m hoping to get to Egypt before the end of next year.
Hi Erin,
Very interesting and helpful article. However, there’s one thing that I’ve always wondered about dialogue. In reference to step one, which one of the following sentences is correct:
“What do you mean?,” he said.
“What do you mean?”, he said.
I ask because, like you, I always keep punctuation within quotation marks, but does this rule still apply when you have two punctuation marks right next to each other (in this case, a question mark and comma)? Because every time I keep both of them within the quotation marks, Word gives me that annoying, red line.
What’s your take on this?
Great question! Honest answer: I cheat. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, no comma is needed. It should be: “What do you mean?” he said. However, I’ve never liked the way that looks. I avoid dialogue tags on questions or exclamations, since the “he asked” or “she yelled” is usually implied by the punctuation of the speech.
That’s good to know. Although, I do think dialogue tags can be helpful for identifying which character is saying what. Many times authors don’t do this during dialogue-heavy pages and it can confuse the reader. However, I guess a quick solve would be sparingly putting identifying tags before dialogue to gently remind the reader who is doing the talking.
Agreed. Even if it’s a scene with two characters having a conversation, I think a dialogue tag every third line or so is a good idea. I also like to break up walls of dialogue with action or description, so it doesn’t feel so much like a script.
Great advice, thank you!
Thanks, Elske!
This is super helpful. I was going so wrong in the punctuations!
Thank you, Maahir!
Thanks, this is fab! I’ve been dabbling in writing for a while and dialogue is a tricky format. Your post is great for showing examples and has persuaded my to try out some passages of my own along side my new project: http://www.greatbigbookchallenge.wordpress.com
Thanks
I love the idea of your project!
Thanks! It will be tricky but I’m really looking forward to some new material of a different genre.
Such useful tips! I’ve taken a bunch of writing classes and, sadly, most of the aforementioned tips weren’t even discussed until the semester was almost over lol.
Thank you for sharing. They’re useful reminders.
Thank you! When I took creative writing classes in high school, one of the required components was a short course on editing. It turned out to be one of the best and most useful things I’ve ever learned.
“I like dealing in specifics. I liked this post because it gave specific pointers and examples.” She added, “Thanks for that.” (And she meant it.)
Thanks! Your comment made me chuckle. : )
As someone who’s way more comfortable with long, fluid passages of description than dialogue…this had some great pointers. And you’re dead on about the Twilight characters. Are all the characters animals or something? Why are they always hissing/shrieking/roaring?
Also, I love the way you said that Matt gestured with his rolled-up pancake ‘like a cigar.’
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your expertise!
Thank you so much, Elizabeth! I like to write passages of description, too, and I sometimes struggle to find a balance between description, action, and dialogue.
Reblogged this on words n stuffs and commented:
I just need to remember this as I struggle through edits of my first book…the dialouge is the most painful part for me. If any of you have additional tips I’d be more than grateful.
Sorry that revision is giving you such a hard time, Skampie. Hang in there and remember to read everything out loud.
THanks Erin
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Reblogged this on Elli Writes and commented:
If you’re a writer, Erin Elizabeth Long’s blog is a great one to follow. I recently stumbled upon her post on writing dialogue via WordPress’s “Freshly Pressed” and joined her mailing list before I even reached the end of her entry.
Reblogged this on Elli Writes and commented:
If you’re a writer, Erin Elizabeth Long’s blog is a great one to follow. I recently stumbled upon her post on writing dialogue via WordPress’s “Freshly Pressed” and joined her mailing list before I even reached the end of her entry.
Pingback: Guest Blog: How To Write Dialogue in Three Easy Steps « Elli Writes
good tips, like the Buffy example (Im a big fan, but it’s true…). Ive read DC comics for over 40 years, and the art of dialogue seems to have passed away. The characters either soliloquise like Shakespeare or spout cliched drivel designed to appeal to 16-year-olds, neither of which is realistic. Great writers make each character speak with their own rhythms and use of words. If they all sound the same, interchangeable, they aren’t trying hard enough…!
thanks:)
Popchart, have you read any titles from Vertigo? There are some amazing stories being told–Fables, Unwritten, Sandman (which is coming back with new issues!).
Sadly I havent read Vertigo, but some of my comics fans friends have said good things about the same titles you mention, so thanks for that, I must dig them out…!
many thanks! john
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Absolutely!
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Cheeky, I know, as my only experience with a novel is the one that acts as a doorstop. But here’s a couple of things I’ve picked up for myself and wouldn’t mind sharing. Beginners are generally afraid of dialogue and avoid it like the plague. (One story I read was in the form of a memorandum. How cunning an evasion is that?). Two traps that beginners often fall into: Professional people (doctors, teachers lawyers) only talk jargon at work. At home they talk every day talk like the rest of us. Also some writers are quite young and have their older characters speak like teenagers. Unlike real life where dialogue is messy and goes off on differtent tangents, in a story (especially a short story) every word counts towards the plot / storyline. Have I said fabulous post? If not, it’s a fabulous post.