Young Writers Society

There are a number of problems people encounter with dialogue, and a number of ways they can be circumvented.

The four primary issues that need to be addressed are:

Characters only say two things.

Dialogue is not two people talking to each other. It is two people talking AT each other.

Dialogue without subtext is boring.

Dialogue is an act, not a conversation.

1. Characters only say two things:

This is who I am.

This is what I want.

That is it.

When you write dialogue, bear these two points in mind.

This isn't to say the characters are explicit about their identity and motivation (we'll address subtext in a moment) but nevertheless, identity and motivation are always the determining factors.

Often, weak dialogue stems from statements which either lack personality or lack motivation. Characters are just talking to fill space on the page.

Don't do that.

Its perfectly alright to have a character blather pointlessly... but only if that pointless blather reveals character or motivation.

2. Dialogue is two people talking AT each other.

All of the points I'm making are tied together. This one is particularly tied to my previous point about a character's wants being expressed in dialogue.

Often, you'll read a segment of dialogue that feels like a lazy badminton match. The words go back and forth... back and forth.

No. Good dialogue is about scoring points. Its like volleyball. Your characters set themselves up, put the opposite team off balance if possible, and then spike the ball down.

Each character has a clear goal in mind for this conversation. They want something, even if its only to hear themselves talk.

Rarely are they talking for the purposes of holding an equal and measured conversation, purely for the mutual joy of it.

The art of conversation is dead. If it was ever alive to begin with.

Characters talk at each other. Their words are intended to provoke a change in the external world. The goal isn't always explicit, but its always the purpose behind the conversation.

3. Dialogue without subtext is boring.

What isn't said is almost always more interesting than what is said.

Sometimes, it's necessary for characters to explicit and unambiguously "put it all out there." These moments should be special and used because they are so jarring and blunt.

Often however, you should shoot for a level of meaning beneath the spoken words. You need to give the reader something to think about and infer beyond what is being said, otherwise you're left with just the words on the page and a bored reader.

You want to engage the reader on levels beneath the obvious. You want to give the reader "2 + 2 =" but rarely should you tell them "4."

A boy wants to ask a girl out:

Have him walk up to her and say "Will you go out with me?"

Have him walk up to her and talk about what a beautiful day it is, and how beautiful that flower over there is. And... how beautiful that dress she's wearing is.... uh....

This is just one, halfbaked example, because quite frankly its hard to give examples of dialogue with subtext. But the gist of it is simple. Its the difference between a dancer preforming a flirty striptease and a naked woman walking out on stage.

This doesn't mean you get to linger, or waste words. You should still endeavor to cut to the heart of matters, just don't walk out onto stage naked.

Implication and inference are vital. Without them, dialogue comes across as superficial and flat.

4. Dialogue is an act.

Ever notice how, in a movie when a character pays a taxi, they never stop to fumble for change? And they never get change back? (unless it has some specific purpose in the plot)

Dialogue should be like that. Its a stage production. An act which mimics real-life, but only for the purposes of providing enough familiarity for the reader to function.

Its like the background set on a play. Does it look real? Not really. But it looks real enough to fill its function.

Dialogue has the same function.

Most of real-life conversation (and real-life life) is composed of inane and mechanical events. This goes along with the "back-and-forth" I mentioned earlier. Yes, back-and-forth obviously does occur in dialogue, but you should be ruthless in cutting out the unnecessary and the uninteresting.

At least, this is how I see dialogue. Hope it helped.