Dialogue

I can' t believe you click on that, didn't you read my user info (English second language), what can I tell you about dialogue (in English)?

Well… there is a little something. For example those who are not native in English, maybe the tip that a it’s, you’re, I’ll, etc. sound more natural in dialogue than it is, you are, I will… will came in handy.

For others... let's talk about dialogue tags (she said, he shouted, etc), I think that they are called also beats, but I’m not quite sure. So… why are dialogue tags important? Because you can use them for giving the rhythm and feel to your dialogue.

Let’s see some examples:

“Oh, my god, that’s unbelievable,” he said.

He said: “Oh, my god, that’s unbelievable.” (This reminds me on the screen play.)

“Oh, my god,” he said. “That’s unbelievable.” (Here we have put a little pause in between. I personally like this one, it’s my favourite, so the next examples will be in form like that. )

“Oh, my god,” he shouted. “That’s unbelievable.” (I personally wouldn’t use shouted, but would rather put a ! at the end of the sentence.

“Oh, my god.” He turned away from the window. “That’s unbelievable.” (Here we also have a little action.)

“Oh, my god.” He turned away from the window toward Ann, his eyes wide, the hand lifting before his mouth. “That’s unbelievable.”

“Oh, my god.” He turned away from the window toward Ann, his eyes wide, the hand lifting before his mouth. How could this be? How could they betray him like that? “That’s unbelievable.” (A little more action and narrative, but we have also slowed the dialogue considerably.)

So how you write your dialogue (with little or a lot of action, narrative, inside thoughts, etc) depends on what kind of rhythm or feel would you like to set.

Just dialogue does work, especially if you want for things to have a quick pace, but with too long dialogue without dialogue tags you get a screen play (my personal opinion); and besides we are not still when we talk are we?

Now, about the adverbs, I like them, I really like them, in my opinion they can be like a cherry on the cake, but almost every book I read recommends a sparse use of them, saying that the professionals don’t use them at all or very rarely. Well I don’t care about that, but as much as I like them, if there’s too much of them… it’s like a dish on which you used too many spices. Not good, not good at all. Now the perfect use of adverbs is when the words of your character are contradicting his feeling.

Example:

“I hate you,” she breathed gently into his ear.

“We are always happy to see you,” he said grumpily.

End of the examples.

“Well.” I said tiredly. “That’s all I have on dialogue, so until next time. Bye.”

A little author note: You know I feel like a fake writing this, because truth to be told, I find myself sometimes contradicting my own advices. Well, anyway for the next topic I’m thinking about describing the process from idea to story (how do I do it and what do the little notepads have to do with it); so...would you like to read about that?