You are most likely a writer who has heard about or experienced the difficulty posed by writing really exceptional dialogue in your fiction or your script. Maybe a beta reader has brought it up, or maybe rejection letters from agents or editors have pointed it out. Or, hey . . . maybe you’re already doing all right in the publishing world, and you’re just looking to up your game when it comes to giving your characters dialogue that really clicks.

Dialogue can be tough because it has so many requirements to be truly wonderful. It must sound authentic but not overly realistic (think of all of our hiccups and pauses and repetitions and filler words). It must move the story forward while revealing character. It must entertain and provide information. It must have “Voice” with a capital V, and not sound derivative of other writers who went before you. And if you’re working in first-person, then you have to do all of this within the narrative too.

That’s a bunch for one writer to juggle.

 The good news is all of these things can be learned, adapted, and modified to suit your requirements (for publication) and style (for satisfaction). I come to my dialogue somewhat rather naturally because of the stage, but acting and directing plays is not the same as crafting marketable fiction, and I’ve learned a lot over the years on how to manipulate this nutty language of ours to tell the best story I can.

 So you can totally do this.

 Now: as with any book or class on writing, this is not gospel. Take what you like, and leave the rest . . . although I know from experience and student feedback there is something in this book for every storyteller, no matter your genre or medium. These are not rules, and if they were, you can find a hundreds novels that break them—including mine! The point is to find useful tips that will help your writing, and in turn, help you sell it, whether that’s directly to an e-reader site like Amazon or to a big publisher like Penguin Random House.

First Things First: Awesome Dialogue Comes From Awesome Plots

Plot = conflict = action = agency = agenda

Without an awesome plot on which to hang its hat, dialogue cannot be awesome. At best, it just sits on the page looking clever. (Ask me how I know . . .)

 An “awesome” plot does not necessarily mean unique or original. For our purposes, “awesome” merely means strong. Well-defined. Clear. Our first and only real rule about writing of any kind is this; Clarity Is God. Strive for clarity in all aspects of your writing, from the plot and theme to the dialogue and narrative.

 Now: awesome plots come from conflict between forces we care about.

 And conflict comes from two forces who are relentlessly pursuing exactly opposite things.

 There are exceptions to this idea, but broadly speaking, all good conflict relies upon two forces who feel they are in a life or death situation, whether that is literally true or not. Asking a girl to the dance can one hundred percent feel like life or death!

 I use the word “forces” rather than “people” to emphasize that conflict is not always exclusively between two human beings. A force could be a sentient computer (“Just what do you think are you doing, Dave?”), a shark, a tornado, a sharknado, a horde of zombies, or the protagonist’s own self-doubt. Most stories are about human beings in conflict, it’s true; but there are always exceptions, and typically there is more than one conflict going on at a time.

 The key here is that both entities want exactly opposite things. The shark in Peter Benchley’s Jaws wants to eat the fine folks of Amity Island in order to survive; Police Chief Brody wants to stop him. That’s it. That’s our plot. That plot gets enriched as Benchley introduces the town selectman who stands in Brody’s way of taking simple precautions (conflict!); then adds crusty fisherman Quint into the mix; his goal is the same as Brody’s, but he is at odds with the chief from the get-go (conflict!).

 Most genre novels make their conflict pretty clear:

 ~ Bad Guy Wants To Blow Up Planet, Good Guy Wants To Stop Him.

~ Bad Guy Steals Person/Object, Hero Wants To Retrieve Him/Her/It

~ Good Girl Wants To Marry Good Guy, Bad Guy/Girl Wants To Stop Them

~ Good Girl Wants To Survive, Bad Guy Wants Her Dead

 And on and on.    

Two goals in opposition. That’s all it really takes to have a plot that functions as the support system for writing our awesome dialogue. But in some novels, again, the force at work is not human, or is more esoteric than that.

Coming up next: Get into a fight! Heroes take action.

Enjoying this article? Subscribe and share!

You are most likely a writer who has heard about or experienced the difficulty posed by writing really exceptional dialogue in your fiction or your script. Maybe a beta reader has brought it up, or maybe rejection letters from agents or editors have pointed it out. Or, hey . . . maybe you’re already doing all right in the publishing world, and you’re just looking to up your game when it comes to giving your characters dialogue that really clicks.

Dialogue can be tough because it has so many requirements to be truly wonderful. It must sound authentic but not overly realistic (think of all of our hiccups and pauses and repetitions and filler words). It must move the story forward while revealing character. It must entertain and provide information. It must have “Voice” with a capital V, and not sound derivative of other writers who went before you. And if you’re working in first-person, then you have to do all of this within the narrative too.

That’s a bunch for one writer to juggle.

 The good news is all of these things can be learned, adapted, and modified to suit your requirements (for publication) and style (for satisfaction). I come to my dialogue somewhat rather naturally because of the stage, but acting and directing plays is not the same as crafting marketable fiction, and I’ve learned a lot over the years on how to manipulate this nutty language of ours to tell the best story I can.

 So you can totally do this.

 Now: as with any book or class on writing, this is not gospel. Take what you like, and leave the rest . . . although I know from experience and student feedback there is something in this book for every storyteller, no matter your genre or medium. These are not rules, and if they were, you can find a hundreds novels that break them—including mine! The point is to find useful tips that will help your writing, and in turn, help you sell it, whether that’s directly to an e-reader site like Amazon or to a big publisher like Penguin Random House.

First Things First: Awesome Dialogue Comes From Awesome Plots

Plot = conflict = action = agency = agenda

Without an awesome plot on which to hang its hat, dialogue cannot be awesome. At best, it just sits on the page looking clever. (Ask me how I know . . .)

 An “awesome” plot does not necessarily mean unique or original. For our purposes, “awesome” merely means strong. Well-defined. Clear. Our first and only real rule about writing of any kind is this; Clarity Is God. Strive for clarity in all aspects of your writing, from the plot and theme to the dialogue and narrative.

 Now: awesome plots come from conflict between forces we care about.

 And conflict comes from two forces who are relentlessly pursuing exactly opposite things.

 There are exceptions to this idea, but broadly speaking, all good conflict relies upon two forces who feel they are in a life or death situation, whether that is literally true or not. Asking a girl to the dance can one hundred percent feel like life or death!

 I use the word “forces” rather than “people” to emphasize that conflict is not always exclusively between two human beings. A force could be a sentient computer (“Just what do you think are you doing, Dave?”), a shark, a tornado, a sharknado, a horde of zombies, or the protagonist’s own self-doubt. Most stories are about human beings in conflict, it’s true; but there are always exceptions, and typically there is more than one conflict going on at a time.

 The key here is that both entities want exactly opposite things. The shark in Peter Benchley’s Jaws wants to eat the fine folks of Amity Island in order to survive; Police Chief Brody wants to stop him. That’s it. That’s our plot. That plot gets enriched as Benchley introduces the town selectman who stands in Brody’s way of taking simple precautions (conflict!); then adds crusty fisherman Quint into the mix; his goal is the same as Brody’s, but he is at odds with the chief from the get-go (conflict!).

 Most genre novels make their conflict pretty clear:

 ~ Bad Guy Wants To Blow Up Planet, Good Guy Wants To Stop Him.

~ Bad Guy Steals Person/Object, Hero Wants To Retrieve Him/Her/It

~ Good Girl Wants To Marry Good Guy, Bad Guy/Girl Wants To Stop Them

~ Good Girl Wants To Survive, Bad Guy Wants Her Dead

 And on and on.    

Two goals in opposition. That’s all it really takes to have a plot that functions as the support system for writing our awesome dialogue. But in some novels, again, the force at work is not human, or is more esoteric than that.

Coming up next: Get into a fight! Heroes take action.

Enjoying this article? Subscribe and share!