Monday, January 17, 2011

6 Common Dialogue Mistakes to Avoid




Writing dialogue can be tricky. Your characters should sound real, but not too real. They need to explain certain things, but not too much. They should discuss elements of their lives, but in an interesting way. What it boils down to is balance and common sense.

Here’s a list of things to avoid when writing dialogue:

1. Introductions and niceties: Don’t have your characters answer the phone like this, “Hello?” “Hi, is this Glenda?” “Yes, it is. Who’s this?” “It’s Gerald.” “Oh, hi. How are you doing?” “Pretty good and you?” If this were written in true manuscript format, I’d have covered six lines and nothing was said yet. While it’s true we speak like that in real life, we don’t need to have our characters talk like that. Instead, you can skip past all of this and get right into the real dialogue.

2. Info dumps: There are two kinds of info dumps in dialogue. The first one is simply where the character goes on and on about something, taking up more than a few lines. I’ve seen some characters talk for a whole page without interruptions. Granted, we know people who are long winded in real life, but we don’t want to read about them. The other example of an info dump in dialogue is when a character says something like this, “As you know, Abby, when we broke up a few months ago, I decided to move on with my life.” If the character knows something, but the reader doesn’t, dialogue isn’t the place to slip it in. At least not like this. You may have to have the character talk to someone who doesn’t know the situation, or have the character internalize about the situation instead.

3. Waste of time: Make sure the dialogue is always goal-driven. There must be a reason for it. Aimless conversations are a waste of time for the writer and the reader. The discussion must accomplish something. Are you informing the reader about a situation or character? Is the character learning something that will help them grow, add conflict, or move the plot forward?

4. Conversations with more than three characters: Typically, a conversation between two characters is the easiest to follow, but sometimes the story requires three or more characters to chat. One way to do this is to have conflicting opinions. For example, if Ginger’s mom is okay with her going on a date, but her father doesn’t think she’s old enough, then it would be clear who’s speaking without too many dialogue tags. However, if both parents agree, it would be hard to tell who’s talking without having dialogue tags everywhere.

5. Transcripts: Make sure the dialogue is more than just dialogue. We need actions tags to show what the characters are doing. Even in real life, if people are sitting at a table chatting, they’re doing more than that. Maybe they’re sipping their drink or people watching. Maybe they’re twiddling their thumbs or slipping their flip flop on and off. Show us not only what these characters are doing, but what’s happening around them and how that affects them.

6. The name game: Don’t have your characters repeatedly refer to each other by name. For example, “I love you, Beth.” “I love you, too, Morris.” “I don’t want you to ever leave, Beth.” “Morris, I could never leave you.” Characters should rarely, if ever, refer to each other by name. There’s no need for it and it makes the dialogue sound stilted. Think about it. How often do you say your significant other’s name? Use that as a guide.

While dialogue can be hard to write, using a list like this will help you keep it real.

What other dialogue mistakes have you encountered?

20 comments:

  1. Awesome list! I need to bookmark this page. I've botched my scenes trying to do a dialect that came off being hard to read. It took the reader away from the story so I had to delete it.

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  2. Great post :)

    I think dialogue should come naturally from the current situation. If it's merely a filler, it will sound like a filler.

    Also, I don't like when the dialogue is not germane to the part of the country or world. A person from Great Britain would not say.."Hey, dude." Using a bit of slang or colloquial language enriches your characters.

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  3. GREAT GREAT GREAT tips!!!!!! In my first experience with my editor at Lyrical Press, I learned some of those valuable lessons!!! My biggest was dialogue tags and eliminating them as much as possible. And adding in action during a conversation.

    I've been told my dialogue flows and is quite natural, so I'm glad I at least had something going for me!!

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  4. Great list!I recently read a book where the characters used each others' names in almost every sentence. DROVE ME INSANE!

    I think another good point is to make the character sound like that type of person he/she represents.

    In that same book, I read some of the dialogue aloud to my husband who responded, "Men don't talk that way. Women want us to, but that is just not how we work." I try to keep that in mind.

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  5. Great point, Dawn. In my line of work as an editor, I often see that mistake both in dialogue and narration. Writers have to remember that when the character internalizes something, it should still sound like the character and his/her gender. Women are more emotional and men are more logical. It's simple human nature. We can't and shouldn't change that.

    Stephanie: I'm glad you're dialogue flows well. Pat yourself on the back. Many writers struggle with this.

    Florence: Good point. Writers should keep the country's slang and way of speaking in mind. The same goes for the period in time. What was "in" during the 50's wasn't in the 20's and isn't now (for the most part.)

    Catherine: Dilect in the written form is something that's very hard to pull off. I feel it's better to write the dialogue the way we'd read it. If we know the character, we'll expect him to say it in an English accent for example.

    Lynnette Labelle
    www.labelleseditorialservices.com

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  6. Very helpful. Thank you.

    (Did Beth stay with Morris?)

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  7. Characters referring to each other by names is something that really bugs me when I'm watching a TV show or movie. But I see it all the time! I wish screenwriters would get your hint too!

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  8. Ugh. Information dump. Very hard to avoid-thanks for the tips!

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  9. I am learning and so fortunate I am in good hands.

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  10. Wonderful tips. This post is just another that has added a load of knowledge to my eager mind.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Great list! Making sure dialogue isn't a waste of time is def a big one, and I can't STAND the name game!!

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  12. Very helpful information that we can't hear often enough. I need lots of work on the action tags, this is a weakness for me.

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  13. Great list - I've had to learn these over time but it definitely enriches a scene!!

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  14. Another thing to avoid is questions like "What do you mean?" or "how so?" Not only do they make your character look like a dope, but they slow the pace.

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  15. Thanks for all the great comments!

    DawnB: Duh, whacha mean? LOL

    Lynnette Labelle
    www.labelleseditorialservices.com

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  16. I think the info dump is a biggie. Great post! I also wanted to let you know I've nominated you for a sylish blogger award. you can pick it up here http://chandarawrites.blogspot.com/2011/01/stylish-blogger-award.html

    Thanks for the great info you provide.

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  17. said, said, said, said, said...

    Nice post. I think you summed it all up really well.

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  18. Great tips. I particularly like #5 The scene instantly gains so much more life when the reader can 'see' what's happening as well as 'hear' it.

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