8 Reasons to Write Dialogue
One of the most common reasons manuscripts are rejected is because the author tells too much of the story and fails to engage the reader by showing action. Dialogue is action. It’s one of the best ways to show your story. Good dialogue is like having good tires on your car. Dialogue grips the road of your plot and keeps your story car going up and down hills, through the twists and turns of your plot road.
1. Reveal Character
When we meet new people on the job or in social situations, we gradually get to know them through casual conversation. At first we might only learn their name and what sort of job they do. Then we might discover they’re married, have children, just got a new dog. We learn things about their personalities, whether they are rude, forgiving, ambitious, or can’t say no. Hopes, fears, dreams are all eventually revealed the closer we become to that person. Through conversation we decide if we want to know the person better, or keep them at a distance.
It is the same for the relationship between your readers and the characters in your story. As writers we don’t want to tell the reader everything about our characters up front. We dole out information about their background, goals and fears, and personality through their interaction with other characters in the story. Allow your character to reveal themselves to the reader organically inside their actions and reactions within the story.
At the top of the stairs, he turned left and froze. Poking from behind the partially closed door of the nearest bedroom was the long barrel of a Hawken rifle. The edge of a faded blue skirt with no crinoline was the only clue Wes had to help him identify the person aiming the old flintlock.
“Stop right there. Put your gun down and leave this house.”
What does this line of dialogue tell you about the woman’s character? Strong? Fighter? Protective? Assertive?
“So you wanted to talk about John’s arrest?” asked Frank.
“Yeah, I’d like you to represent him. His arraignment is the day after tomorrow and he can’t afford a lawyer. All he’ll end up with is some court appointed kid who just passed the bar,” said Jesse.
“Alright, but I’m not sure I can do any better,” said Frank.
In this bit of dialogue the reader has been shown things about both the characters and the conflict without being told.
a. Frank and Jesse apparently both know John.
b. Frank is an attorney.
c. John doesn’t seem to have enough money to afford a good attorney.
d. Frank doesn’t seem to have much confidence in his own ability. Either that or he’s hedging about taking on this case for some reason.
Another way to reveal character is for one character to say something to another character.
“Ask Marcy to switch shifts with you on Christmas. She doesn’t have any family. Why should she care?”
While this line of dialogue lets the reader know Marcy has no family, it also gives a reader a glimpse of the personality of the speaker as well as a bit of conflict for the person who needs to switch shifts.
“Yes sir, Paw.”
The beats of a character’s dialogue, the structure of their sentences can reflect attitude (cynical, snarky, optimistic, or cold) as well as how formal or informal they are. Do they use contractions, proper English with an expansive vocabulary, or do they use a lot of slang?
2. Create Mood
Dialogue can also help the writer enhance the mood of the story. Aside from description and plot, dialogue can lighten or darken a scene.
“God, it looks like a damn battlefield.”
What is the mood here? Dark? Depressing?
“Ya know, fer a low-down, no-account Yankee, an’ a lawman to boot, ya really ain’t so bad.”
“For an outlaw, you ain’t so bad yourself.”
What do you feel here? Grudging respect? Humor?
She took a hesitant step forward, her brown eyes searching his face. “You’ve been well?”
“Disappointed?”
She gasped and stepped back as though he’d struck her. “Oh, Wes, can you ever forgive me for writin’ that hateful letter?
What is the mood here based on the dialogue? Light? Dark? Can you feel the bitterness of Wes?
3. Create Tension
As with all elements of writing craft, the elements of good dialogue over lap and intertwine. In writing a line of dialogue that reflects character, the emotion of that character comes through. Remember conflict comes from plot. Tension in a story comes from emotion. By letting the emotion of the character come through in the dialogue, the tension of your story can increase.
In the above paragraph of dialogue the tension between the two characters is amped up with the single word, “Disappointed?”
Pauses add doubt.
“Where’s your backpack?”
“I don’t know.”
Doubt increases the tension. And depending on what is in the backpack even more tension might be added.
Skepticism in the conversation adds tension (“Are you sure this will work?”), as does hedging the answer (“I had an idea, but I don’t know. I’m not sure we have everything. It might be a risk.”), and diverting the conversation (“I have vacation next week. I think I’ll do some fly fishing. I hear Montana’s nice this time of year.”). Another way is to answer the unasked question rather than the one asked. “Maybe you should stay here. I can handle it. What? Afraid I’ll wig-out again and get us both killed?”
Anything that raises questions and makes the reader wonder can add tension to the conversation. Dialogue drags unless it is infused with tension.
4. Add Conflict
In remembering that conflict comes from plot, dialogue can be used as a tool to convey facts and let the reader know of a new plot twist or obstacle.
Abby drew in a deep breath and lifted her eyes to met his. “I tried to contact you, but you’d stopped writin’, and no one knew where you were. I wanted you to know, I really did. I tried so hard to find you….”
She squared her shoulders, “Wes, you have a son.”
In this next example the conflict is less about the conflict between the characters, and instead shows conflict in the plot.
“If it keeps raining we won’t be able to cross in the morning. We’ll have to wait for the water to go down while Bodine’s men catch up. I say, cross now before it gets any higher. We can camp on the other side.”
5. Show Growth
Remember your character arc. Your character needs to change for better or worse. They might discover something new about themselves, overcome a fear or turn to the dark side at that moment of choice. Dialogue is the primary means to show the reader that what has happened in the story has changed the character.
If you’re character is judgmental at the beginning of your story, the dialogue must reflect that, so by the end, the reader can see by that through the character’s action and conversation they have changed.
6. Reveal Back Story
Dialogue not only moves the story forward by increasing the pace and raising questions, it also reveals character.
Everything your character says, how they say it and how they react, reflects who they are and who they are reflects their personal back story.
When writing back story into a scene remember to dole it out in small bits. Also keep in mind that dialogue should not repeat what the reader or another character already knows.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Your mother invited us for dinner tonight.”
“My mother?”
Jessie laughed uncertainly. “You know I don’t have one.”
“Why were you talking to my mother?” His lowered voice held a bite of accusation. “How did you get her number?”
“I didn’t. You left your cell phone in the bathroom and she called.”
“Damn it. Why didn’t you let it go to voice mail?”
“Because it wouldn’t stop vibrating. I thought it was important.”
Jessie has no mother.
This other person and Jessie have a relationship, where from the use of ‘the bathroom’ instead of ‘my bathroom’ one might guess they are in a serious relationship.
This person is touchy about his mother and for some reason wants to keep Jessie and his mother apart.
In going back and thinking about how dialogue shows character, what does this show you about the character of these two people?
That while Jessie knows there is a problem she appears to be uncertain yet doesn’t entirely back down from the confrontation.
And the other person is more assertive.
When considering ways to reveal back story, don’t make the mistake of one character saying to the other, “Remember when…” I’m not saying never use the phrase, but if you do be sure you’re not using it to segue into an info dump of back story.
7. Include Information
Dialogue can be used to give the reader information that the reader needs to know, but isn’t important enough to write a scene around.
“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I saw that two boys out fishing had found Marcie’s body in the river.”
This is information the reader needs to know as they mentally piece together the murder. Building a lengthy scene about two boys who are not important to the story, who go fishing and discover a body would slow the pacing and use vital words. In order to convey this information the writer can add this bit of dialogue into another scene.
Be careful of info dumps through dialogue.
“Then you saw that John was arrested for Marcie’s murder.”
“Yeah, it was a real surprise. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news last night that Marcie’s body had been found in the river by two boys out fishing. She’d disappeared after she’d dropped her son Dylan off at school. They found her car and purse in the parking lot at the mall, but no one reported seeing her shopping. She had been missing for three months. I can’t believe they arrested John for it.
This feels unnatural and almost annoying for the reader. Sometime romance writers do this when talking with a best friend character about their feelings. On a side note, in my personal opinion, if only purpose of the best friend/secondary character is to be a sounding board and dole out advice, delete them.
If you have to dole out a chunk of information, rather than have it evolve organically through the story, do it naturally back and forth between the characters. And incorporate other elements of dialogue, character, conflict, tension, etc. so it serves more than one purpose.
8. Increase Pacing
Good dialogue increases the pacing of the story, which engages the reader without the long slow paragraphs of narration. Remember dialogue creates white space on the page. If you pick up a book and while flipping through it, see long paragraphs of lengthy description and narration, mentally your brain says, “This is too hard.” But if you flip through another book, with lots of white space, your brain will think, “This is easy.” By having white space on a page the eye moves quickly and the pacing increases.
As the writer it’s up to you to decide how best to use that visual tool.
Think about places where there might be a lot of tension or excitement between your characters. In those instances use more white space, or tight dialogue. Consider short sentences and sentence fragments.
Crack! Another rifle shot split the air.
Someone cried out in pain.
“Where is he?”
“He keeps moving!”
“Damn, he’s picking us off one by one!
Utilizing less dialogue and including more narration, slows things down. You’re the director. You may want to slow things down after a tense emotional scene to give the reader a break. After a slow scene with more internal dialogue you may want to pick up the pace so you don’t lose your reader.
Dialogue is a tool to tie your reader to your story. It makes your characters come alive on the page. By using dialogue to show these eight elements of your story you can keep things moving and the reader stays invested and keeps turning pages.
