Thread by @parrotttd, So let's talk about writing dialogue.Usual preface: I do not think I [...]

So let's talk about writing dialogue.

Usual preface: I do not think I am a Great Writer. I offer the things I've learned in my own journey, and that's all. Take what you like and leave the rest.

Without further ado, let's get this train a-movin'. 1/18

The holy grail of dialogue is that it be transparent, characterful, and useful.

We'll tackle those traits and how to incorporate them one by one, but the real goal is to get them all happening at the same time. 2/18

Transparency is, fundamentally, the author getting out of the way of his dialogue and letting it speak for itself. The less that the reader can feel the author's hand shaping the dialogue, the more immersed they will be. 3/18

That's why you'll see people say that you shouldn't use adverbs (said angrily, said frustratedly) or alternatives to 'said' (exclaimed, snapped, growled).

As with most of the great rules, this shouldn't be treated as a straitjacket. But understand why before you break it. 4/18

Consider two examples of dialogue:

A: 'I am sorry to hear that,' she said sadly.
B: 'I am sorry to hear that,' she said.

A is fine grammatically, but it duplicates information. The content of the words will, by themselves, already convey sadness. 5/18

Of course, there's a third possible example:

C: 'I am sorry to hear that,' she said sardonically.

When the emotional context contrasts with the content of the dialogue like this, that might be a good time to provide an adverb to clarify. 6/18

You also want for dialogue to read naturally. One good way to approach this is to listen to people talking when you're out and about in the world. There's a lot to be learned from the way real people talk to each other, after all! 7/18

At the same time, though, remember as with TV or movie dialogue that you don't want to be TOO true to life. Leave out the hems and haws that people tend to unless it's a vital character detail. Otherwise it's just distracting. 8/18

Another good tactic is to read your dialogue aloud, or have someone read it aloud to you. Hearing it spoken can often show you where something is stilted and in need of adjustment. 9/18

You also want your dialogue to be characterful. One of the best ways to test for this is to strip it of all tags for who is speaking. If you cannot tell the characters apart even so, you might want to work on conveying them more clearly. 10/18

Towards that end, think hard about word choice and cadence and how it applies to a character.

Again, let's try and illustrate this with some examples.

11/18

A: The undergrowth is heavy along the banks here, as you'd expect with a tropical biome.
B: Situational awareness stops at the trees on this river. Could be a hundred folks watching us.
C: This forest.. Like the alley walls back home. Can't see a thing.

12/18

This is a bit heavy-handed, but you get the idea. One person is a scientist, one is a soldier, one is a city slicker.

All of them are conveying basically the same information, but the way they go about it connects to who they are and how they see the world.

13/18

The last trait for good dialogue is it should be useful, which here I mean convey information that is meaningful to the reader. If characters are talking and you are learning nothing about them OR the plot, ask yourself whether you need to be including the conversation. 14/18

That's difficult to properly illustrate on Twitter due to space constraints, but nothing will bore a reader like a conversation that isn't telling them anything and isn't going anywhere. It's also going to vary a lot based on genre. 15/18

A military SF story with no love subplot probably doesn't need an in-depth discussion of the lack of romance opportunities back on base. Just get into the habit of asking yourself why you're including a conversation. If you don't need it, cut it! 16/18

And like I said before, the trick is doing all three of these things at the same time. Just because a conversation is plot-important doesn't mean it's time to forget characterization. Just because you want to characterize doesn't mean it's time to go overboard with adverbs. 17/18

I hope this has been helpful! As ever, feel free to ask questions about things I've said or discuss them with me. 18/18

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