I love writing dialogue, so it's probably no surprise that I've written quite a bit about dialogue on the Aliventures blog in the past: you can find all those posts linked to from Everything You Need to Know About Writing Great Dialogue.

But in case you've only got a few minutes to spare today, I wanted to quickly run through three things that can make a huge difference to the quality of your dialogue.

#1: Use "Said" Unless You Need a Different Tag to Add Meaning

In general, when writing, we want to avoid using the same word over and over again (unless it's deliberate repetition). But there are exceptions to this! Some words are so very common that the reader won't notice you using them multiple times ... and trying to vary them will just seem odd.

The word "said" is a good example. It's a perfectly good dialogue tag and you don't need to come up with a whole bunch of variations. Let your dialogue itself shine and stick with "said" unless you actually need a different tag to add a meaning that isn't clear from the dialogue or the character's actions.

Example:

Here's a good example of using "said" unless an alternative is needed:

Michelle took her baby back, cradling Donna against her breastbone.

'She's probably just hungry,' she said. 'I'm going to get her inside and out of this sun.'

She took a couple of steps towards her own garden.

'Yeah,' said Sharon. 'Good idea. But I'll pop round later for a cuppa. Yeah?'

Michelle gave her a weak smile.

'That'd be nice,' she lied, and then felt bad. It would be nice to see Sharon. She just needed a little bit of peace and quiet to get herself straight first.

(from In a Single Moment, Imogen Clark)

#2: Use Dialogue to Give Your Characters a Unique Voice

It's probably not a great idea to attempt to faithfully reproduce dialect on the page (it can be hard to read and can seem like you're mocking the character's accent) ... but dialogue is a great way to give a flavour of your character's unique voice. That's not just about their accent, pitch, or cadance, but also about the words and phrases they use.

You might want to think about your character's age and background, and how they're likely to talk. Where I live in Yorkshire, for instance, people generally say "on a morning" instead of "in the morning" ... a small detail, but one that could easily help show a character's regional background through dialogue.

Dialogue can also show a character's personal way of speaking, with perhaps a particular phrase or word that they often use, or a pattern of speech (long-winded vs curt, perhaps) that helps to characterise them and make them feel more real to the reader.

Example:

Here's an example where the speaker's repetition of the word "okay?" at the end of sentences helps us to hear her voice:

BEEP. 'Dad, it's Deepali. Rohini told me to give you a ring because she hasn't heard from you. She said to tell you it's your bin day today so remember, okay? Not like last time when you had to run out in your dressing gown in the morning! Call me later, okay? I am going to work now, okay? Bye. The twins say bye too. Bye, Dada.'

(from The Reading List, Sara Nisha Adams)

#3: Make All Your Dialogue Count

It's easy, when writing dialogue, to have too much "chit-chat" in there. Perhaps you couldn't quite think of what to write, so you've got a scene where some characters just sit around chatting. Or maybe you struggle to get in and out of conversations without a round of greetings and goodbyes.

Dialogue isn't supposed to faithfully represent real-life talk. Instead, it should usually reveal character, advance the plot, and/or give the reader information they need to know.

If you can, make dialogue serve a double purpose. For instance, perhaps you need to get some information across to the reader ... but you could do this in dialogue that has a layer of subtext. The words chosen and the way they're spoken in a very functional conversation could reveal a lot about the state of a relationship, for instance.

Example:

There's a lot going on beneath the surface in this example. By this point in the first chapter of Behind Closed Doors, we already have the uneasy sense that something is very wrong in Jack and Grace's marriage. Some of the subtext in this conversation about Grace's younger sister Millie (who has Down's syndrome) becomes clearer later in the novel:

'Millie will be moving in with us,' Jack explains. He smiles over at me. 'I knew it would be a condition to Grace accepting to marry me and it was one that I was more than happy to comply with.'

'That's very generous of you,' Esther says.

'Not at all—I'm delighted that Millie will be living here. It will add another dimension to our lives, won't it, darling?'

I lift my glass and take a sip of my wine so that I don't have to answer.

(from Behind Closed Doors, B. A. Paris)

Of course, you don't have to get your dialogue spot-on in your first draft. You can come back to it as you revise and hone your story, adjusting dialogue tags, refining your characters' voices, and adding more layers of meaning where appropriate.

If you'd like more help with your fiction, check out the self-study seminar pack sale, particularly:

• The Craft of Fiction Pack (#2) – This includes seminars covering dialogue, flashbacks, scene structure, and descriptions.
• The Advanced Fiction Pack (#5) – These seminars cover evaluating your ideas, writing heroes and villains, handling viewpoint, and adding depth to your characters.
• The Novel Editing Pack (#6) – This has seminars covering structure and outlining, revising vs editing, what to watch out for when rewriting, and how to stay organised when editing.

Each pack of four seminars costs $10 (usually $20) ... but you can also get all six seminar packs for just $25 (usually $50) during the closing-down sale.

After Tuesday 30th April, the seminar packs will be gone for good.

Happy writing,

Ali

P.S. If you missed last week's Aliventures blog post, here it is:

Five Tips to Help You Rewrite Your Story After Beta Reader or Editor Feedback