A story is only as good as its words. That’s a simple truism that many of us know. Through description and dialogue, a story can transport us into another time or place, can make reality fade, bring fantasy forth. Exposition in a story relays the background, the setting against which the tale takes place. Just as important, if not more so, are the words spoken by the characters, the roleplayers. Through the spoken word, a character is created, fleshed-out; a plot derived, moved forward; tension created, a climax built. Therefore, dialogue has to be fluid, believable to present an effective story that will pull your reader in.
A good writer has an ear for dialogue. Without it, she will be handicapped in relaying a good narrative. How do you as a writer perfect your “ear”? By listening. Look at the following example and determine what is wrong with it. Let’s pretend it’s a conversation between two friends.
“Hello, how are you Felicia?”
“I am fine. How are you Jane?”
“I am well. And how are your children?”
“They are fine. And how are yours?”
If you can’t readily tell what’s wrong here, you really need to go outside your inner sanctum and listen to even the most banal of conversations. Simply put, people don’t talk like this (except maybe in a town called Stepford.)
This is a case of stilted speech. First of all, people use contractions, especially if they are familiar with one another. Instead of “I am well”, you’re more likely to hear, “I’m well”. Human speech is not perfect, even in formal settings. People contract their words, they use slang, they drop letters, omit words that are understood without saying. There are pauses, sound effects like coughs, clearing of throats. These are the things you need to listen out for and try to recreate to make your dialogue fluid, true to life.
In this case, where the speakers are friends, they don’t really need to name one another. This is another pitfall that inexperienced writers or writers often make.
Another mistake writers make in their dialogue is explaining instead of showing. For example:
“Why, I believe you are angry.”
“Yes, I am. I am very angry.”
This exchange is unnecessary and diminishes the impact of the story. Emotions should be shown, plots left unexplained. Trust the reader to pick up on the nuances you set up. For example, let’s try this again:
He slammed the refrigerator door so hard it shook the wall.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.
“None of your business!”
OK, the reader should know from that exchange that at least one of the speakers is not having a good day. And this dialogue is much more dramatic than the prior.
A good ear is a learned talent. Listen to conversations around you, pay attention to movie dialogue, read good authors and see how they approach conversations between characters. Pretty soon, you will find it easier to mimic a true-life conversation on paper.
A good source to learn about dialogue is Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella. You will find the book at Amazon.com.
