Dialogue

Purposeful dialogue in fiction is yet another tool in the writer's toolbox. Each character's speech advances the story in a way that can either inform the reader or reveal surprises. Both the dialogue and action in fiction allow the writer to show the reader the story instead of just telling them the story. The reader will feel a better sense of immersion in the story if he can make his own deductions and conclusions about your characters.

There are several ways to handle the writing of dialogue. The dialogue can be positioned before or after the subject, such as:

1) "I love these tulips," said Kelly.

2) "I love these tulips," Kelly said, as she glanced up at the potted flowers.

3) Kelly said, "I love these Tulips."

It's a good idea in storytelling to break your dialogue up with action, such as in the second example. This creates movement in the story and allows the reader to visualize the scene you are describing for them.

The dialogue in your story must sound natural, so let each character talk the way that he or she would typically talk. You can hear natural dialogue by simply listening to the people around you. Sit in a public place, such as a coffee shop. Write out a transcript of a conversation you overhear. You will notice that slang and contractions are almost always a part of people's natural dialogue.

Please stick with he said, she said. Skip adding in descriptions such as this:

"I love these tulips," said Kelly sweetly.

These dialogue tag adjectives don't advance your story and make it sound childish. Again,

show the reader the scene's action like in the second example above.

The reader must know who is speaking in order to follow your story. When adding in your attributives, try to place them at natural breaks in the character's speech.

Here's an example:

"I love these tulips," she said, "I wish I could grow such beautiful flowers."

Be consistent when writing dialogue. If a character speaks a certain way, stick to it throughout your story. Let's imagine that Kelly is speaking to her cousin, Janette.

"I am going to study horticulture," Kelly said. "Are you going to college next year, Janette?"

"Naw," Janette drawled. "College sounds like too much money and work. I wanna join the Navy so that I can sail in ships with them bigshots!"

Janette is not as self-conscious about herself as Kelly is, so Janette would use more slang when speaking. Using the word "drawled" rather than "said" gives the reader a clear image of where Janette and Kelly live, and if there is a regional dialect where Janette grew up.

The best way to test your dialogue is to your written dialogue out loud. This will help you notice unnatural conversation as well as errors and awkward phrasing. If your dialogue doesn't sound like two or more people having a normal conversation, then you need to revise it.

Here more examples of dialogue:

"I will take these books back to the library tomorrow," Robert said as he picked up the book bag.

"I'm gonna drop these books off tomorrow," Eddie said as he slung the book bag over his shoulder.

"Aw, come on!" Lacy wailed. "I hafta finish reading two of those books. Now we hafta take them back tomorrow?"

Tell us about Robert, Eddie and Lacy in a Comment below. What does each character look like? How old is each character? Where do they live? *How much education does each one have?