Writing Compelling Dialogue

   Dialogue can either make or break a story. So much character and plot is (or can be) conveyed in dialogue. It is a critical point in your writing. And it is one that I struggled with for a long time. One of the main things I have learned as I wrote is that characters shouldn't stay silent. They need to interact. Put a group of people in a room and see how long it is before someone says something. It's just not natural for people to not interact unless there's some sort of tension between them. Dialogue opens a wonderful door for you -- as the writer -- to reveal who your character really is. Here are several tips that I have found useful in writing dialogue.

   Tags. Your use of tags is extremely important. I've been reading a book lately with some good dialogue but horrible tags. A few mild examples, "he said loudly", "she replied laughingly", or "they said quietly". I don't know about you, but this drives me absolutely crazy! It is weak writing. These could be replaced with "he shouted", "she laughed", and "they whispered". There are places for adverbs, but they are few and far between.

   Another thing that I have learned about tags is that they should be used -- mostly, of course -- for specifying who is talking, not HOW they are talking. The dialogue itself should convey what the character is feeling and how they are saying it. For example:

"I want you to leave now," he demanded.

"Leave! NOW!" he said.

The verb "demanded" is not necessary if I convey the same thing through the way a character says something.

   Character styles. Every character should speak in such a way that it reveals something about them. What I mean by that is that each character should have a pattern of speech. Some characters might be soft-spoken and non-confrontational while another might have bullets loaded into every word. Some characters might be very particular about grammar while another might say "yer" instead of "your". It's completely up to you. Stephen King demonstrated this in his book "Misery" with the character, Annie Wilkes. She used words like "cockadoodie" and "Mr. Smart Guy" and "oogy". Dialogue is a great tool for developing character. Don't neglect it!

   Make it realistic. Dialogue, like most things in your writing, should feel authentic and realistic, not strained and awkward. One of the greatest things that you can do in learning how to write dialogue is listen to people. Talk to people. Observe their speech patterns and your own. What distinguishes how they talk? How you do? There are lots of things to be learned in every day life, especially when it comes to character. We have millions of living examples all around us. We just need to lend our attention to them.

These are just a few things that I have observed about dialogue. Do you have anything to add? Comment and start a discussion!