Creating Dialogue

Dialogue can really make your story work. You can’t just have pages of narrative, no matter how well written it is. Adding dialogue helps create white spaces that break up the pages of continues black print. And here you can also use dialogue in the white space to show the reader the importance of what is being said. In real life, we make judgments about people on how they talk. So, it follows that a reader will make judgments about your characters on how they talk. Yes, some descriptive words before or after are useful, but they are just there to ease the reader to the next piece of dialogue. But the real power of speech is that the character reveals their real self. Therefore, it is the writer’s responsibility to make sure the character has a distinctive voice. But to do this, you don’t need to do any eccentric accents. It is what they say that counts, not how they say it! For instance, if your character has already been introduced as Irish, the reader will automatically hear your characters voice in Irish! And the reader will have concentrated on what was actually said. So, don’t be smart and add small talk to illustrate your characters inner self. That is a bore; and a chore for the reader. Remember, a story is a shortened version of the whole story. So, your talent and duty is to create a version that does not immerse them in needless dialogue. Remember this: Use only important dialogue: And use only important narrative.

One way of giving each character a distinctive voice is to design your characters first. A simple list of a few key things such as their agenda will do, often a character will develop as the story goes on. And the writer will be excited by how much this character becomes ‘real’. When this happens, you don’t have to think about making up this character anymore. Suddenly, the character blossoms and opens out each time they encounter whatever situation you are putting them up against. Then you are able to ask yourself, how will they react when they reach the thousand-foot precipice. And as if you know them like your life long friend, you will instinctively know exactly what they will say and do next. 

I believe this excerpt from my Trilogy – The Surkling, tells the reader very concisely that the Priest is about to change the lives of the three main characters, if they come into the Temple. And he simply asks: 

“You could stop there,” said the old Priest. “And come no further. But if you do come in – then your lives will be changed forever! I will give you a moment to think about it!”

 Also, make sure the characters in the story are only talking to each other and not to the reader.  Do not use dialogue to enlighten the reader as to what’s going on. The aim is get the reader to ask what is the character going to do next. Then of course, the character might surprise the reader who might judge that character is trickier than at first thought. Remember, the story is not about you the writer. The reader is interested in the characters and the story, and the readers judgment will be how well you told the story. And so next time they see a book of yours; they might just pick it up because your last story was told very well.