CHAPTER on See How It Sounds

What is dialogue?

It’s an artificial creation that sounds natural when read even aloud. It is more compressed than real speech.

A well written dialogue reflects the character’s vocabulary, history and emotions. So, make sure, different characters sound differently.

How to create good, strong dialogue?

1.) Adjust its Formality:

a. Use more contractions

Ie. Would not --> wouldn’t

Unless: character is stiff/prissy or English is not her first language

b. Use sentence fragments

Ie. It doesn’t matter to Doesn’t matter

c. Use comma instead of period (when connecting 2 sentences

d. Make sure “exposition” or info reads natural

e. Make sure character has reason for saying a line (there’s always a point to everything)

f. Make sure lines are in character: reflect character’s vocabulary, history and emotions (make character’s intention clear)

g. Remove fancy polysyllabic words unless right for the character (more consonants)

Ie. Use think instead of conclude

give up instead of surrender

get instead of retrieve

h. Use Misdirection – show characters understanding unspoken info and/or answering unspoken questions rather than the one asked out loud (you can skip words and imply info)

- talk at cross purposes
- lie
- hedge
- disagree

How to create a Character’s Unique Voice?

Exercise: Read Dialogue Aloud (p- 108)

Select a scene with 2-3 characters speaking
Read dialogue of one character to the end of the scene
Can you sense the character’s conversational style?
Her speech rhythm?
Her vocabulary?
Her Intent? Ie. Self-interruptive
Self-contained
Enthusiastic
Rigid
Her speech mannerisms?
Then, do the same with the next character. Make sure their speech style is different.

*The whole manuscript should be read aloud. Revise narration and description, these must have a sense of rhythm and flow.

How to write Dialect?

Gone are the days of trick spellings and grammatical gimmicks, in other words, no more changing spellings, no more dropping g’s, etc. Dialogue is better without much explanations, if any, no adding adverbs, no speaker attributions besides the first. (p-111)
Instead, to get the character’s geographical, educational, & social background across, by using the right: ]

1. Word Choice
2. Cadence
3. Grammar

Here are books I'm reading:

Characters and Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Paperback)by Orson Scott Card

Here are books on the subject of Editing

Developing Proofreading and Editing Skills (Paperback)by Sue C. Camp
Handbook for Proofreading (Paperback)by Laura Killen Anderson
The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications : With Exercises and Answer Keys (Paperback)by Amy Einsohn