Calling all authors... anyone have any good guides to writing dialouge?

[Vesayen]

As some of you may know from a few posts I made in the past... I’ve made a few attempts at writing in the past, my longest one getting to the better part of 40 pages before I gave up.

My problem has always been that I am bad at formatting my dialogue, fitting it into narration and making it flow, as well as the general format of the dialogue. Most of what I know about actual writing I’ve learned from the many authors I’ve read. I’ve seen a few authors who write their books almost entirely in narration and some who write almost all dialogue. It is hard to find even two authors who write their dialogue in the same style however and I have not been able to pick up the nack.

I think my narration is quite good, no issues there. I have a good idea to try another book, so I'm going to give it another try.

Anyone recommend any links to any guides on writing good dialogue?

[Apocalypse]

Well, I don't have a guide, but one of the biggest things to remember is that people tend to not notice things around the " " all the time.

[Vesayen]

Geee thanks, lol.

[The Emperor Fabulous]

Wish I had a guide. Just one tip, if you'd like, that I try to remember while writing is to not have your character say too much. Keep it simple, sonny.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Also remember that it doesn't have to sound well, just read well.

There's a famous story about Raymond Chandler writing the screen adaptation of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity. Cain's book was very popular, so Chandler used as much dialogue from the book as possible. Director Billy Wilder hated Chandler's draft and, when Chandler asked why, forced him to read it out loud. Sue enough, Cain's dialogue, which read so well, sounded terrible. (The final screenplay featured Chandler's original dialogue, which reads as hilariously over-the-top but works beautifully on screen. It's possibly my favorite screenplay, ever.)

So I guess the advice is: unless it's a screenplay, don't think of it as dialogue. Think of it as prose in quotation marks.

[snoopy369]

The one thing to remember, is that unless you're a REALLY good writer, don't make the mistake of trying to write in dialect/accent. Just write what naturally comes to you, for your first several works at least. Dialogue written in 'cajun' or 'inner city' or in a british accent or whatever looks horrible on paper, even if out loud it sounds good; and it lets you get away from writing well. Even if you see your character as someone who would have an accent or talk in a dialect of some sort, write it in proper english anyway; if you're a good enough writer, your character will be well enough formed that the reader will catch on to the dialect/accent and put it in the right accent

[Vesayen]

Narration comes naturally to me.... I don't need to THINK about how to write it. I write it and it comes out well. Of course I make a good number of changes after, but I don't need to think about "how" to write it as I write.... I always have trouble fitting in dialogue and writing it correctly.

I recently read an author who wrote most of a book in narration(see my thread accusing her of being a pedophile on this board heh)... i'm thinking of trying to leave out dialogue almost completely.

[Nostromo]

How about... opening a good book written by a talented writer and take notes?

I somewhat had the same problem recently. I'm translating a novel from english to french and wasn't sure how, exactly, to format dialogues in french. I searched on the internet, found some stuff. Then I had a bright idea: why not open a novel and watch how it is done?

[Asher]

Remember to inject stereotypes in your dialog.

Eg, for a gay character, add a lisp: "Thath totally fabulouth!"

For a black character, use ebonics: "That'smuh ma ****in bike, I jacked dat from an old whitey biotch. and ****."

For a jewish character, add reference to money or wealth: "That car's worth more than my 401k!"

etc

[Nostromo]

And when a woman has an orgasm: "I'm cooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!"

[Asher]

Originally posted by nostromo


And when a woman has an orgasm: "I'm cooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn nnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!"

It depends if he's writing fiction or not. If it's non-fiction, there's no place for female orgasms.

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Asher
Remember to inject stereotypes in your dialog.

Eg, for a gay character, add a lisp: "Thath totally fabulouth!"

For a black character, use ebonics: "That'smuh ma ****in bike, I jacked dat from an old whitey biotch. and ****."

For a jewish character, add reference to money or wealth: "That car's worth more than my 401k!"

etc

A large portion of the characters will be from before the invention of writting, so I don't think I'll need the stereotypes .

Its fiction.

[Asher]

Have you considered making your characters mutes?

[Vesayen]

No.

[DaShi]

Other than keep writing and writing until you feel more comfortable with it, try to simply imagine what your characters would say. You know them better than anyone else. If you write several lines of dialogue and think, "No way Billy Bob would say this" rewrite it.

For practice, try writing a story that primarily dialogue. I wrote one at CG like that filled with funny accents that came out terrible. But I learned a lot from it.