Published by deborah.woehr on 12 Jan 2006 at 09:48 am
Writing Dialogue, by Tom Chiarella
This book is great to have if you feel you need to improve the dialogue in your fiction. It is written with a conversational style throughout. Chiarella points out that real-time dialogue is not the same as fictional dialogue. By listening to other people talk (as well as myself), I find that he is quite correct. He teaches you how to push your story forward with dialogue, when to make your character talk (or shut up), and gives good examples of ‘tennis court talking’ or dialogue that goes nowhere.
Also included are exercises to help you practice writing dialogue. Writing Dialogue was published back in 1998 (can’t believe how long ago that was), but it is still useful today.
Chris Howard on 12 Jan 2006 at 2:17 pm #
I read this one a while ago and really liked it. One of the obvious tips is to carry a notebook everywhere and write down interesting bits of dialogue you overhear–even if you’d never use them word for word.
I have trouble with first time meetings. Characters in fiction meet other characters a lot, and I think this is one of the most difficult pieces to write because a real conversation between two strangers on a train might sound horrible, full of common greeting phrases: “How’s it going?” “Great weather. I hate the rain.” “How about those Pats, eh?”
I don’t fly as much as I used to, but when I do, I try to spend some time listening to others around me, and most of the time I pick up some great lines or phrases. (There’s always a really loud guy sitting behind me telling another passenger–a complete stranger–about his sales call in Dallas). The structure of the conversation is important, how it got started, how it ends, but there single words that might be worth recording, the use of colloquialisms, metaphors, and industry terms and phrases that might add some realism to my character’s dialogue.
Benjamin Solah on 12 Jan 2006 at 4:22 pm #
I used to read stories where dialogue wouldn’t be used for a few pages, and imagine everyone being silent, seriously. But now I find dialogue is just an extended element of ‘telling,’ and ‘tennis talk’ does always need mentioning.
deborah.woehr on 12 Jan 2006 at 8:43 pm #
Chris, I hear you about the initial meeting between characters. I don’t fly as much as I used to, either. But I remember being fascinated with people-watching. I loved to listen to them and watch their body language.
I find that dialogue can reveal a character’s background in a much more powerful way, if done right.
Ben: Writing good dialogue takes some practice. I tend to do better with dialogue than with narration. At least that’s what I think. I’ll know the truth when I go back and edit my work.
I’ve read about 100 books over the course of my life and can’t remember reading one that was mostly narrative. Perhaps because the story put me to sleep??