When reading books, we are often absorbed into the plot twists and feel sympathy for the characters. When you read a book as an ordinary reader, the novel is considered by you as an inseparable creation of words, ideas, and characters. However, when reading a literary work from the professional side, you take the things even deeply and observe all the tiny bricks that build the huge construction of the novel.
There is no doubt that except vivid descriptions and distinguished characters, dialogs represent one of the milestones, which can be reached only by the most talented and skillful writers. Remember all those quotations and phrases that follow us during the whole life and possess wisdom or sarcasm that are so suitable in numerous situations. How to write such dialogs, which make readers believe your story and characters? What phrases and words disturb the heart of your fans?
- Make your dialog laconic and maximally real. Do not bore your readers with long sentences and too wordy interactions. Try not to spread the speed of the characters into dozens of lines, but limit with few but strong ones. To attract the reader your dialog should be similar to the dialogs in the real life. But here you should find a balance between fake imagination and too real replication.
- Do not opt for describing characters behavior or emotions within his or her verbal exchange with another character. You should avoid saying that the character is laughing, crying or smiles. Do your best to transfer emotions within the dialog. In such a case, it will be a good one.
- Adjust the language of your character to his or her age. If your character is a teenager, you should definitely opt for slang (if you are not familiar with, perform some research). Thus, to sound natural in the dialog, you should imagine your character up to small details, including his or her manner of speech.
- Do not forget about the background of your characters. The information, which you have narrated to your readers about your characters (place of birth, education) should be considered for consistency. Thus, your character may have a particular accent or formulate his or her thoughts depending on the sphere of knowledge.
- Write your dialog in the context of your world (represented in the novel) and consider it in its realities.
- Do not make your dialog stagnant or expositional. Trying to fill the gaps in your plot with the page long dialog is not a good idea. This approach will be noticed by a reader at once and will be hardly appreciated.
- Use your dialog to imply the story and remember that your characters will be revealed both by the things they say and which they do not.
Writing a great dialog is an activity that requires talent, skillfulness, and imagination. Do not expect to face success with the first one. You will need to write dozens of drafts and generate hundreds of ideas and it quite a common situation.
Majority of young writers search creative thoughts and tips when reading novels of world acknowledged authors. And this is quite an effective approach, which set the standards you need to follow. However, sometimes it is even better to look for inspiration in ordinary places and real people.
