dialogue tips – Jean's Writing

Turns out great dialogue contain beats.

Sunday’s are when I catch up on my reading. Blog posts I’ve missed or tagged to read are saved for a slow Sunday afternoon. There are so many great bloggers/writers it’s hard to keep up, but I do try.

I’ve been working on dialogue in my WIP, so you can imagine my excitement when I came across not one but two posts by Dan Alatorre on how to make that dialogue great.

Like Dan, I like to bang out the dialogue fast and get the gist down before I lose the flow. Works more times than not.

What I learned from Dan today…

Write like people talk. In my family, the women drive the men crazy talking over each other, no such thing as one-at-a-time.
Don’t forget the beats. Yes, a dialogue needs beats.
A trick to adding those beats, jot down a list of actions to match conversation. Sort of like setting out all the ingredients before baking a delicious cake.

Click on the links below and read all of Dan’s tips and tricks to turn your good dialogue into great dialogue.

3 Steps To Brilliant Dialogues In Your Stories By

Dan Alatorre

How Your Dialogues Mess Up Your Story, Part 2 By Dan Alatorre

Now tell me, did you learn something new?

Do you have a dialogue tip to help me?

Do you find writing dialogue hard?

I HOPE YOU’LL TAKE A MINUTE TO FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA, JUST CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW. I’LL LEAVE A LIGHT ON.

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.