Break It Up

… With dialogue, that is.

One of my favorite techniques when revising is to bring in more dialogue between characters. After all, humans are inherently social. One might even say we’re nosy. Dialogue is a really great way to draw readers in and show them who the characters are.

Writers can pack in a lot of subtle information through conversation. Who wants something from the others? Who has lower status? Who is being honest and who is being sneaky? Writers should always make our passages pull double duty when we can.

Currently I’m working on Lorrah’s arc, and she is traveling with Badger Squad. Some of you will remember my women warriors from the first volume, The Tower in the Mist. There are six of them. I don’t want them to be faceless minions. So having them chatter — with Lorrah or with each other — is one way to bring them to life.

Dialogue is also great for breaking up long passages of description, or the dreaded info-dump. Why have a character sitting there, pondering a problem, when they could be talking about it with someone?

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