Dialogue is like any other part of your story. It needs to move your story forward. It needs to be a part of tight writing.
It also helps reveal your character’s personality and allows a deeper connection between the character and the reader.
So, what are five of the top tips for writing dialogue?
- Your dialogue must have a purpose.
As a children’s writer, I listen to how children talk. Having three grandsons, 3, 11, and 14, I know that a lot of what’s said is nonessential or fluff. And depending on the child, there could be a lot of goofing around and teasing (more fluff).
Your job as a writer is to choose dialogue that’s essential to the story and leave the fluff out.
However, if you’re writing a silly story for kids. then the ‘goofing around talk’ may be essential.
But overall, keep it lean and purposeful.
- Work on making your dialogue specific to the character.
What this means is that children each speak with a different tone. They use different words.
One may use ‘awesome’ for everything: “That pizza was awesome.”
Another may use “outstanding.”
Along with this, how they talk is important. One character may have a gruff personality. That trait will come out in his dialogue also:
“Hey, didn’t I tell you to bring me some cookies? Thanks for nothing.”
Another character may have a sweet personality, which will be reflected in her dialogue:
“Oh, I thought you were going to bring me some of that. I guess you forgot.”
So, from the words and tone, you can distinguish your characters from one another to the reader.
Using this strategy will allow you to eliminate dialogue tags in some instances.
- A key factor of dialogue is the relationships between the characters.
How a boy talks to his brother will be different than how he talks to a girl, especially one he likes.
An example of this is:
Lucas glared at his brother. “Get out of my way.”
“Excuse me, Stacy. I need to get over there.”
Quite a difference, right.
The same goes for girls. How a girl talks to her mother will differ from how she talks to her friend. How she talks to a brother will differ from how she speaks to her father.
Think about how you speak to the different people in your life. How I talk to my fourteen-year-old grandson is much different from how I talk to my three-year-old grandson.
Relationships are an essential element when writing dialogue. Take into account who the character is talking to.
- Use tags correctly.
This is basic, but use proper tags for dialogue.
The basic tags are “said” and “asked.” There are also other tags that you can use sparingly. They include:
- shouted
- suggested
- added
- mumbled
- nagged
- whined
- demanded
As a children’s ghostwriter, I’ve gotten drafts from clients who use dialogue tags like ‘laughed’ and ‘gasped.’
When writing your dialogue, think about the tags.
You can’t ‘laugh’ dialogue, and you can’t ‘gasp’ dialogue.
- Use physical action rather than ‘said.’
If you can show who’s talking with a gesture or motion, it will add more to the scene and allow you to lose the tag.
Here are two examples:
Anthony kicked the dirt. “I’m mad!”
Julia brushed her hair off her shoulder. “I told him not to do that.”
Using ‘action tags’ allows you to break things up. It avoids the monotony of using ‘said’ all the time.
Summing It Up
How your character speaks can reveal her traits and move the story forward. By incorporating actions and gestures, you can showcase additional character traits and reduce the need for dialogue tags. These techniques will help readers form a deeper connection with the character.
I hope these tips help you write stronger dialogue.
References
I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach. I can help turn your story into a book you’ll be proud to be the author of, one that’s publishable and marketable.
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Balance in Fiction Writing – The Major Elements
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