Online Writers’ Conference, Part I – Dialogue

I apologizing for being so scarce here lately.  I’ve been running around to writers’ conferences from Oregon to Philadelphia, teaching classes on scenes, pacing, and characters.  So, I’ve decided to share parts of my lessons with everyone, in hopes that my readers – especially those unable to attend a conference – might be helped a little.  We’ll start with some dialogue tips.

The number one way your characters – and as such, your readers – learn new information that propels the plot along is through dialogue.  Dialogue can make or break a novel.  Have you ever read a book and just cringed at some of what the characters say?  Dialogue needs to be realistic, relevant, revealing, and resonant. 

Realistic – to both your audience and your characters.  Obviously, you’re not going to include every mundane conversation that people have in real life.  But, there has to be realism in the interaction between characters.  Who here is a mom?  Do you always speak kindly to your children?  Who here is married?  Do you and your spouse ever snip at each other?  Flirt with one another?  These are real life things.  Also, dialogue needs to be realistic to your characters – having your protagonist say something that makes the reader stop and think, “I could never have pictured that coming out of so-and-so’s mouth,” only serves to pull the reader out of the story.  As writers, we want to keep them within the world of the novel as much as possible.

Relevant – is there are reason your characters are saying these things now?  If Sam and Bob have been talking about cars, and suddenly Sam says, “Oh, this steering wheel cover reminds me of the dress Jane wore last week to work.  Have you seen her lately?” well, that’s just wrong.  Dialogue needs to flow naturally from one topic to another.  Readers want to see the connections.

Revealing – every sentence should give your reader a deeper understanding of the characters and story.  Some rules I try to stick with in order to do this are:

1. No saying things that have already been said.  I read a book once when one character said something like, “This is Judy.  I work with her.”  And then, half a page later, Tom asks Judy, “So, how do you know Bill?”  Well, the reader learned that two paragraphs ago.  Not good.
2. No saying things that both characters and the reader already know.  This is just rehashing and doesn’t server to move the story along.  That means, no recounting events that already took place.
3. No saying things that don’t in some way advance the plot or characterization.

Resonant – is there something memorable about the dialogue?  Will it stick with your reader?