Ahh..dialogue....I need improvement in this as well. So this is a good topic to do.

Dialogue does a lot for your story.

It can either reveal character, advance a plot, make characters seem real, or give a sense of something unfolding. But dialogue not only helps the plot, but it helps the look of a book. This may seem weird, but dialogue does make your story look more attracted, at least in my opinion. How many of you have read The Road? Awful book...I could have enjoyed it if it wasn't for the fact that the author never ever used quotation marks around dialogue, run on sentences and sentence fragments were everywhere, and he never broke up his dialogue and never used dialogue tags. The story was good, but I just could not read it because of the improper handling of dialogue, the over explanations, and his many grammar mistakes. I just couldn't look past it which is why I was dreading it when I had to read it for a school assignment. But anyway, all of those components I complained about are things you should keep in mind, but also a few components as well.

(1) Dialogue Tags

I find myself using dialogue tags all the time and I'm trying to stop that habit of mine, it isn't working so far. If you do not know what a dialogue tag is, it is the little phrase that tell a reader who is speaking, like these:

He said

She muttered to herself

I stuttered

But you tend to see "said" used a lot and that's fine! They worry using "said" will bore a reader, but to be honest, I only really read the name of a dialogue tag....you..know..when I actually get time to read on Wattpad, which is rare nowadays. But writers tend to turn to more creative tags so they don't bore readers:

He opined

She screamed

I exclaimed

...Simple tags are best, readers barely notice them half the time. But if you are looking for some different tags, I tend to use said, asked, answered, whispered, questioned, muttered, shouted, or screamed. Those are the tags I tend to use a lot. But if you are looking to get rid a dialogue tag all together, add an action before the dialogue. This is simple little trick that I'm trying to use more often and it goes like this:

Sarah came running in the room. "I can't find it anywhere!"

Action: Sarah came running in

You can use any action before dialogue, but remember to make it the character who is about to speak do an action before you write the dialogue or else you can be The Road...who clearly needs to get to an editor...You can get anyway with not using quotation marks, but it is so rare because readers prefer the quotation marks so they don't lose dialogue in the middle of a big paragraph of description.

(2) Formal v.s. Informal Speech

No one speaks perfectly, NO ONE! So do not make your characters speak perfectly. Add variety to your dialogue, give your characters their own voice. People from Texas say ain't a lot and I say ain't a lot and I get yelled at because people say it ain't a real word.....I just used it without thinking about it. Ain't is...I do not even know how to break that up...People say a lot of slang words or shorten words, so give your characters that. Let me show you:

Formal: I don't know

Informal: I dunno <---- People tend to say this more often than I don't know

Formal: If I were you

Informal: If I was you <--- While If I were you is correct, people say the informal version more than the formal version because that is just how people talk.

Formal: want to

Informal: Wanna <-- I use this all the time, never want to since I am too lazy

Do you get what I am getting at? And while I am at how people speak, your sentences should no be too long and overcomplicated. Remember, people think before they speak when having a conversation. So make sure your characters think before they speak and if they don't have a lot of time to think, they tend to have short sentences and more time to think would be longer.

Most of your characters will not be talking correctly. But there are situations that your characters would be talking clear and precise but that tends to set off as being uptight. If you are still struggling, pay closer to attention to how the people around you speak, you can see some clear signs of improper speech that people use everyday.

(3) Don't be too realistic

Peppering in a few "ums" and "ers" or hesitations can make it hard for a reader to know what is going on. And it can change the mood of a sentence as well. Like this:

"Dinner is ready."

Now add in overused informality:

"Um, d-dinner is ready."

Completely different right? The second sentences makes whoever is talking sound uncertain and shy while the first is just saying dinner is ready. People tend to fumble their words when they are nervous, lying, or they are hurt and in pain. So putting in hesitation in a sentence that is just saying dinner is ready is pointless and just confuses a reader. Make sure you know how a character is feeling before you add in a hesitation. Are they nervous? Scared? Lying? Are they hurt or are they under a lot of pressure? Ask yourself this before you mess with your character's dialogue.

(4) Accents Warning

It's fun to give your character an accent, it makes it so your reader can easily tell who is talking since that is the only character who talks like that. But tread carefully here, accents can confuse a reader. It can also come across as almost like you are insulting someone when you aren't. So just be careful if you are using accents, trying using a weird word order:

"Take the challenge, you shall not." ---> "You shall not take the challenge."

Unless you have never watched Star Wars, that is backwards talking, which is what Yoda does all the time. Or:

"Yous shall nots take thes challenge." <--- Spell Check loves this accent..not really..

For my readers, that is obviously Barney (ThatGuyBarney) talking who has that accent in real life since it would feel weird if I didn't add it in. But adding in stuff like that can spice up your dialogue, but be careful with how you approach. Simple things like backwards talk and adding "s" at the end of some words are easy to read while some things would no be. I mean I had a conversation with someone from Virginia, I could not understand one word they were saying because their accent was thick.

So if you want your character to have an accent, the world is full of them. I'm told I have an accent...I don't...I don't get it either.....although, to a British person, Americans do since well..who doesn't love a British or Irish accent? Irish accents are my favorite, but they are a pain to write in since most of the time they make no sense at all.

(5) Don't Use Character Names

Not talking about dialogue tags here. I'm talking about within the dialogue itself. Say you are talking to your friend or a sibling, how often do you actually say their name? I barely call my friend, Ashlee, by her real name...I mostly call her Debbie because it annoys her. ;)

But seriously, if you want your dialogue to be realistic, don't say your character's names. It can seem repetitive and just annoys a reader. Like this:

"Jason did you take out the trash? Jason, did you clean the windows? Jason, why aren't you answering? Jason, look at me. Jason!"

I can't even look at that, it is just horrendous because of how many times Jason is used. It is okay to say it when you are trying to get another character's attention, like this:

"Jason, did you take out the trash and clean the windows? Why aren't you answering me? Turn around and answer me, boy."

That looks better. Let's pretend it is his mom speaking since I'm lazy to put a tag or action on it. But his mother tries to get his attention in the first question and when she finds out he isn't paying attention, she calls him boy at the end to indicate she is mad. Also this is just a little grammar tip, when talking direct to someone by saying their name, a comma is associated with it. Either before or after, but when you are talking about someone and you say their name, no comma is needed, unless the sentence is..special in some way. I'm too lazy to teach grammar right now. Also, you shouldn't talk like this to someone:

"John, did you get those copies I wanted?"

"Sorry, Amy, I forgot."

No..just no...that is annoying. You don't need to say a character's name if they already know each other. Mostly character names are used in dialogue when attention is needed or when you are introducing someone. That's like going around and using your friend's name in every sentence you say when you two are talking. It is just weird.

(6) Character's Voices

Don't make them all sound the same, it will be like you are talking to a robot. It is boring and a way to lose readers. So get creative! NOT TOO CREATIVE!

Some ideas would be to add in sayings they say. But don't overdo them, just add in some phrases they say a lot, kind of like a catchphrase. Overdoing it would be like you are an animal in Animal Crossing where they say a catchphrase at the end of their dialogue every single time...

Don't want them to swear? If you feel like they need to but you still don't want them dropping an F-bomb, have them say alternatives. I find I say instead of curse words, I say: "oh, sugar honey ice tea." I say "Fudge" a lot. "By Jaysus" "Frack" "Shite" "Bollix"

Or I just swear in german since I'm living in America and my teachers will have no idea what I am saying.....unless they look it up...

Some characters have a way with words and some do not. Make that stand out. Often enough when a guy, who is shy, asks a girl that they like out to a date they don't speak right. They pause a lot and stutter, which is what makes it more adorable in my opinion. I don't know, I just find it adorable when guys are nervous and shy when talking to girls because they usually hide that.

Are they polite or not? If you don't get it, would they swear at a cop or would they respect them and do what they say? The correct answer is to do what they say since the cop can give you a $200 ticket or send you to jail! Being a little arschloch is not gonna help you get home any faster! (And if you looked up arschloch, I'm pretty sure that is asshole in german)

(7) Indirect Speech

I had to look this one up since I forgot everything about it once I wrote that heading....

But not all conversations need to be spelled out. Giving a quick summary is all you need which would be indirect dialogue. Here is how to use it without details:

Tom and Jeff chatted for a while about the football game they had seen last night. Beth, bored, went to get another drink.

Saying that Tom and Jeff are chatting about football is a great way to tell a reader that the conversation is going on without having to go into detail, so the example above is not wrong, it is a version of indirect speech that you can use if you don't want to go into detail in the narrative. But giving a blow-by-blow account of the game when using indirect speech like this will leave a reader as bored as Beth.

But remember that things do tend to be more dramatic when the words are spoken rather than just reading a summary.

(8) Don't provide all Info

Okay, let me rephrase that, don't give your reader every juicy detail at once since they'll feel like you just gave the book away and stop reading it. It shouldn't be obvious to the reader they are being fed important facts at all, I use that method ALL the time. It is quite amazing what people can miss when you twist the words in dialogue. I can just imagine my readers going back to chapters once they read this paragraph. Long story short, pull out the useless sentences in dialogue, we don't need to know everything, just stick to the facts.

If you are having a conversation on the phone in a chapter, how would you write it? Like this:

"Hey Julie."

"Hey Frank."

"So how are you?"

"Good, how about you?"

Or like this?:

"Hey Julie, did you get my email?"

"Yes, I just approved it for publishing."

"Thanks!"

The second version is the correct answer. We don't care about the first example, we care about the second one since it would make a reader wonder what was in the email and why it needed approval for publishing......and who's Julie? *DAA* DA* DAAAAA*

(9) Avoid Stereotypes

Ahhh...stereotypes...I hate them. They are the reason I don't tell anyone where I was born since once I do everyone immediately assumes I was born in an igloo with the polar bears and penguins to an Eskimo family. I am an Eskimo, but I am still insulted by that stereotype...

Stereotypes can be funny and sometimes seems like they are needed, but they can pull a reader out of your world that you are trying to put them in so try to avoid them. Also, you could insult someone without meaning to because just say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or even saying someone is wrong about something just offends everyone! So just don't!

I asked someone to move politely since I was painting a wall and they were about to put their back against wet paint and they first thing they said to me was "Why because I'm black?!" His skin color had nothing to do with it! It made me just want to let him lay on wet paint because he was being unreasonable. That is actually a good example of what to avoid in dialogue. It is also a reason why I have never been to my state's capital since you can tell when someone is from there since they are like a different culture altogether.

(10) Adding Unique Aspects

Things are said different all around. Trying adding that in. Here are some examples with the United States:

Submarine Sandwiches: In Pennsylvania, they are called Hoagies. In New England, they are called Grinders. In New York, they are call heroes. In New Orleans, they are called Po' Boy. Everywhere else they are just called subs.

Flapjacks: In North Carolina, they are called Flapjacks. Everywhere else they are pancakes.

Drinking Fountains: In the North and West, they are drinking fountains. Everywhere else they are water fountains.

The TV Remote: In New England, they are called a clicker. Everywhere else calls is a remote.

Ice Cream Toppings: In New England, they are called jimmies. Everywhere else calls it sprinkles.

Fireflies: East Coast: Lightning Bugs. West Coast: Fireflies.

I find some of them strange since I call lightning bugs just fireflies because that is shorter and I live on the east coast of the United States....anyway..Try including where your characters are at some sayings or different names for things to add uniqueness to dialogue.

And no, I don't call pancakes flapjacks...I just put that there to confuse everyone who doesn't call it that.

But that is all I got! I might make more, who knows.

But since you all requested it, how to write a action scene will be next! Oh boy...I can't..wait....I love writing fighting scenes, I really do, but I never really thought about how I write one since my system is like this untold one in my head. But I do have a system. Still suck at writing action scenes though...but they are still my favorite to write.