In a previous post about giving characters their own voice, I mentioned one of my shameful speech
habits and how it made my voice stand out – for better or worse. That’s a
helpful tip when it comes to writing dialogue, but it’s just an appetizer.
Notes on dialogue make up a full seven-course meal with two desserts.
Elmore Leonard, one of the true craftsmen of dialogue |
The late Elmore
Leonard offered this simple line among his famous rules: “If it sounds like
writing, I rewrite it.” A more honest line has never been spoken when it comes
to dialogue. A beautifully written, grammatically perfect, razor-sharp piece of
dialogue will usually stand out from the rest of the page – and not in a good
way. Crisp, clear writing is usually the opposite of dialogue.
Some writers go to a
park or a Starbucks, grab a seat, and just people-watch for hours to gather insights into writing more descriptive, realistic characters. The same thing
works for dialogue – just with the ears. Listen in on conversations in the
elevator, on the train, in a park or at Starbucks, and key in on all the little
nuances of the spoken word. Listen to the bad phrases people use
(“irregardless,” “taken for granite,” and “I could care less” are just some
examples) and how they interject filler words everywhere. Listen to all the “well,”
“like,” and, “sorta” that people use. People stutter, stammer, stall on
phrases, and make all these tonal changes. Speech is not perfect, though
including all these missteps is not a good idea.
(I used to record
conversations on my phone so I could listen to them later and target little
nuances of dialogue. I later deleted them – it started feeling a little too
stalker-ish – but the lessons stayed.)
Before you throw
everything possible into the dialogue of your next character, keep in mind the
importance of moderation. In real life, when someone speaks with their bad
grammar and verbal miscues, we compensate for it by reading their body
language, following their change in tone, and occasionally asking questions. No
such luck with written dialogue. Your writing is the only tool, so it has to
incorporate spoken-word miscues but still be readable at first pass. Otherwise,
a very elaborate speech still loses the reader’s interest.
One of the more
educational endeavors I ever made into dialogue came as a contributing editor
to Newton Berry’s Bughouse Square. The main character was Lester Lusker, a
young man in the 1950s, moving to Chicago from his home state of Mississippi.
Lester had a southern drawl, some significant issues with the rules of
grammar, and he talked way too much for his own good. Oh – the book was also in
the first person, so his narration had the same defects. Yes – I had the
privilege of editing this.
Aside from learning
the Mississippi twang and all the different euphemisms that came along with it,
I learned how to moderate the dialogue. Certain words were tag phrases for
Lester, so they stayed at all costs. Some phrases needed context to make
sense, others made for good filler, and too many of them created lines that
made no sense to the mainstream reader. And they all made Lester Lusker a
clearly defined character, with a way of speaking that still rattles through my
brain.
On a final note, don’t
be afraid to read your dialogue aloud. Not in your head, but aloud, preferably
in your character’s voice. Record it if you want, but listen for the little
cues and notes you throw into it, the parts you add in when you read it like a
script. Sometimes you will say words that aren’t on the page just because they
naturally flow when you are going through the process. Trust your voice at that
point, and include those parts. Include everything that you hear when that voice
feels natural. It should sound like dialogue at that point.
And if it sounds like
writing, rewrite it.
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