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What I really like is splitting up the dialogue into sections instead of in chunks.
Eg, “I’m so excited about the party tomorrow night, I just can’t wait,” she squealed.
Becomes
“I’m so excited about the party tomorrow night,” she squealed picking out a dress, “I just can’t wait!”
I hope that helps 😀
"Come out from them and be separate says the Lord." 2 Corinthians 6:17
That does help! Thank you @pickupyourpenandwrite
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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@kaya-young *jumps in* Sometimes, when I feel like my dialogue is subpar, it’s because I’m concentrating too much on revealing information to the reader than actually letting my characters accomplish their goals through dialogue. For me, dialogue is all about what a character wants. In real life, we talk because we want to accomplish something and to (for lack of a more positive term) manipulate others into feeling, doing, or thinking the way we want them to. For instance, if I want someone to think I’m a nice person, I’m going to compliment them or ask if I can assist them. If I want a small child to share his toy with another kid, I’m going to set myself up as an authority figure through my words and body language before and after asking him to share.
Character dialogue should spring from a character’s motivations and goals. If your character doesn’t want anything in a scene, their dialogue is going to seem passive and useless. If you are not aware of what a character wants in a scene and why they want it, you risk making dialogue focused on revealing information, which makes it clunky and unnatural.
As I understand it, a problem with dialogue is usually a problem with a story element somewhere under the surface. A character’s past, where they grew up, their education level, their confidence level, personality, what they want, and why they want it all influence what they talk about and how they say it, so focusing on that may help you write stronger dialogue.
I hope this helps. And if you already knew all this and only wanted advice on dialogue wording and stuff, I’m sorry you had to read through all that. XD
@winter-rose That was very helpful! I guess I need to focus on the characters goals and past more, and thinking their motives. Thanks for taking the time to answer!
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/You’ve got some good advice here 😀 @winter-rose has it totally right. Dialogue isn’t about relaying information so much as it is about characters’ motivations and trying to get what they want. Here’s a tip for figuring out how to improve dialogue: Take everything but the dialogue out of the section so it’s purely dialogue, then read it out loud. The adjustments will probably become obvious, and once you’ve made them, you just add back in the rest of the scene and it’s guaranteed to sound better 🙂
Silence! Silence everyone, for the king's speech!
@mnvalentine Ohh, Great advice! I’ll have to do that.
The Kingdom has been torn asunder...
http://www.encircledbygrace.com/I am by no means more than an amateur writer, so this may not be the best information, but it certainly helped me. Note: This image and the words on it are not mine.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by
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"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit" -Richard Bach
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