Nolafus
Aspiring something
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- Age 28
- Lost in thought... again
- Seen Mar 4, 2018
Sorry for getting this out a little late. It's been one heck of a Monday, so this is the first opportunity I got to post it. Anyway, this week is all about dialogue, so enjoy!
You may be wondering why I'm spending an entire week on just dialogue, but trust me, we have a lot to go over. Dialogue is extremely important to your story. Often times, it's where your character's personality really comes out. I'm not just talking about what your character says, but how they say it. Besides that, there's the grammar. There's so many things to keep in mind. It's almost as confusing as commas, but I don't think there's anything as confusing as commas.
Anyway, let's start with what your characters are saying. Dialogue can be a great way to convey what your character thinks, feels, and all of that stuff. However, there are good ways, and bad ways, to go about this. The most important thing to remember is that your characters are going to be saying these things. Which means, your dialogue has to sound like real people are going to say it. Otherwise, your character will sound fake, and that's never a good thing. If this is something you struggle with, try acting out your scenes. If you have a hard time saying what you're writing down, it may be time to reconsider.
One common thing I've seen is that writers will use a conversation between two people to convey the history between the two to the reader. Just so that I'm clear, I'll provide an example between an old married couple:
Now, it's time to get to the part of writing we all love to hate, grammar. Since dialogue is a flexible part of writing, it can get pretty complicated when it comes to structure and grammar. I'll just start with the basic form:
And that's pretty much all there is to dialogue. It's an important part of any story, you just have to be careful when you go about using it. Make sure that whatever you're writing sounds like something someone would actually say. If you're having trouble with that, try acting the scene out. Grammar can be really confusing, but just remember what I pointed out, and you should be fine. Just keep your head and you'll get the hang of dialogue before you know it.
Homework Assignment:
Alright, it's time to get in touch with your inner critic and fix this following conversation. There will be multiple errors, and I haven't covered all of them here, so make sure to pay attention. I know some of you are a little skeptical about your reviewing skills, so we're going to be working on that as well. Which means, I not only want you to fix it, but point out the mistakes and tell me why it's wrong.
Dialogue
You may be wondering why I'm spending an entire week on just dialogue, but trust me, we have a lot to go over. Dialogue is extremely important to your story. Often times, it's where your character's personality really comes out. I'm not just talking about what your character says, but how they say it. Besides that, there's the grammar. There's so many things to keep in mind. It's almost as confusing as commas, but I don't think there's anything as confusing as commas.
Anyway, let's start with what your characters are saying. Dialogue can be a great way to convey what your character thinks, feels, and all of that stuff. However, there are good ways, and bad ways, to go about this. The most important thing to remember is that your characters are going to be saying these things. Which means, your dialogue has to sound like real people are going to say it. Otherwise, your character will sound fake, and that's never a good thing. If this is something you struggle with, try acting out your scenes. If you have a hard time saying what you're writing down, it may be time to reconsider.
One common thing I've seen is that writers will use a conversation between two people to convey the history between the two to the reader. Just so that I'm clear, I'll provide an example between an old married couple:
Okay, so we now know how the couple met, and roughly how long they knew each other. It seems like a great way to get this information across, but don't. This hardly ever works. I want you to tell me the last time you talked with your best friend about when you two first met. I can say with complete confidence that you can't, simply because it's not something people really talk about. The trick with dialogue is to make it believable, and about things that would seem appropriate at the time. In fact, if you're writing out a conversation correctly, it almost writes itself. You have to let the conversation flow, and the dialogue comes naturally.
Now, it's time to get to the part of writing we all love to hate, grammar. Since dialogue is a flexible part of writing, it can get pretty complicated when it comes to structure and grammar. I'll just start with the basic form:
There's two parts here. There's the actual dialogue, and the part that identifies the speaker. To stay away from the obvious, you'll notice that the two parts form one sentence. However, you have to capitalize both parts as if they formed two sentences. It's like the comma that splits the two is actually a period, but it's not. Confusing yet? Now, if you're putting the dialogue first, you only replace the final punctuation with a comma if it's a period. If it's an exclamation point or a question mark, you leave it there.
When the dialogue is interrupted like this, the only difference would be where the comma is placed. It can go after the first segment of dialogue, or after the identifying segment. It's really up to the writer. One thing to keep in mind though, is flow. In the above examples, I would personally use the top line, simply because it flows better, and it makes the most sense. If I were to use the bottom, it's not wrong, but the flow is interrupted and it sounds, for the lack of a better word, weird.
Yes, you can have just dialogue. It's a little riskier because you're not specifically stating who's talking, so make sure you make it obvious with the context of the story.
And that's pretty much all there is to dialogue. It's an important part of any story, you just have to be careful when you go about using it. Make sure that whatever you're writing sounds like something someone would actually say. If you're having trouble with that, try acting the scene out. Grammar can be really confusing, but just remember what I pointed out, and you should be fine. Just keep your head and you'll get the hang of dialogue before you know it.
Homework Assignment:
Alright, it's time to get in touch with your inner critic and fix this following conversation. There will be multiple errors, and I haven't covered all of them here, so make sure to pay attention. I know some of you are a little skeptical about your reviewing skills, so we're going to be working on that as well. Which means, I not only want you to fix it, but point out the mistakes and tell me why it's wrong.
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