Let's Talk Dialogue

[Jay]

New post at Find Your Funny!

Let's Talk Dialogue - Part 1

There are as many opinions on dialogue as there are writers on planet Earth.

[J.D.]

Trying to find the right mix of dialogue and action, thoughts and speech, is possibly the hardest part of writing fiction. I usually write more conceptual, and less action fiction, and dialogue can be really tricky.
I usually dip a toe into a conversation, set it up with the first few exchanges, and then step back and describe the rest of the conversation from a more objective point of view.

[Amber]

I like your point about letting the characters speak in their own unique voices. I hear them in my head, and write down what comes up--like improv acting while I play all the roles. It's often as messy as real speech. I edit out some of the annoying stuff that a verbatim transcript of a conversation would include (um, uh, well, like, y'know?), but not quite all of it. I have one particular character whose thought process bounces around a great deal and his dialog shows that he's not as linear as some other people.