How To Avoid Stale Dialogue
While you put all of your characters’ conversations in between quotes, it doesn’t necessarily make all of them a dialogue. In fact, I’ll bet that most of the conversations going on in your work are just that – people talking.
Conversation is not dialogue. When Joey says, “The sun shines” and Gina replies, “Yes it does,” it’s only dialogue when it pushes the story forward. If it doesn’t, then it’s just two people talking. Like two friends lying on the sand in the beach, enjoying the sun – they’re probably speaking words, but it’s all fodder. No matter how impeccably written the exchanges are (thanks to your powerful writing software), two people “chatting” just doesn’t make a good story.
Dialogue, on the other hand, always serves a purpose. Because it pushes the story forward, it keeps things active. Remember, readers will pay more attention to that which moves, than those which stand still. As such, dialogue will keep your readers tuned in the way mere conversations are likely to make them tune out.
How do you write strong dialogue?
- Make sure your characters move the piece along by discussing things that are relevant to the story.
- Don’t have a character give a second hand account of an important event. Put your reader in the thick of the action by letting them sit in the middle of it. Any dialogue that happens then becomes vibrant naturally. At the least, have it told through one of your characters’ eyes.
- Be efficient with your use of quotes, using it to highlight strong, forceful exchanges.
- Make sure the reader knows who’s speaking. I know that’s a given, but it always begs saying.