Do your characters sound realistic?
The dialogue in my work-in-progress sounded a little stilted to me. So I was excited to find a helpful post.
No one wants their characters to sound like robots.
We all want the characters in our story to jump out at the reader. To engage them and give them fun “ah-ha” moments. Maybe connect a character to a friend or family member. Nothing would make me happier than to hear, “That character reminded me of my best friend. Did you spy on us?”
After reading Gina Conkle’s post, I learned…
- Tags are not stop signs.
- Use them judiciously.
- Don’t overuse non-verbal cues.
- Be creative.
- Men speak differently than women.
- This is something we know but forget to incorporate into a manuscript.
- Viva la difference.
- Not all character voices are created equal.
- Men command, women, have conversations.
- Dyads
- Even in a group setting, the conversation is between two dominant characters.
- Unless I’m with my sisters. The five of us talk over each other, and that would present a nightmare to write on paper. LOL
- Don’t confuse the reader about who is talking to whom.
Gina goes into a lot more detail. Be sure and click on her link and read the entire post. Believe me, her tips are very helpful.
I’m I the only writer who has problems with dialogue?
Do you have a tip or two that you use to make dialogue realistic?
How to Create Page-Turning Dialogue by Gina Conkle
Jean's Writing 
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
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My dilemma is do I write the dialogue as I envision the character speaking, like the accent or the slang words that really aren’t words at all or do I put all that in the tags?
Do men speak using more commands than women? I’m not sure about this. I would think it would depend on the circumstances of the scene.
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How about a mixture of both? That way the dialogue doesn’t become a formula. I think men do. By that I mean, men speak in short, to the point sentences. At times incomplete sentences. Where women expound to the point of flowery at times. We are more prone to work at getting our point across. JMHO 🙂
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I’ve known woman [in a business setting] who are more of one sentence type than men. Maybe it has to do with the business I’m referring to, a hospital.
Yes, maybe a mixture of dialogue and tags would be the best way to go.
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Good point. I guess the business can make a difference as well as their personality. Good way to show that personality in your story.
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