WRITING GREAT FICTION Pt 2: Dialogue

In the last article, I shared a world of knowledge that can help you up if you’re new to the craft of writing. In this article, I am addressing the use of dialogue in writing great fiction. Call to mind your current writing-in-progress. Let’s assume for a second that you were not the writer but a stranger, a reader that picked up the work hoping for a good story. Ask yourself: if I take a break from writing for two months, and return to read this manuscript with a fresh pair of eyes, would I…

• …find the dialogues engaging enough? 
• …read the story for more than two minutes? three minutes? Up to an hour?
• …connect with the characters? 

By keeping the reader’s perspective in mind, you become conscious of artfully employing literary devices or techniques in writing. Let’s delve  some more into some of these tips, with particular attention to skills you ought to build in your fiction writing journey: 

UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANICS OF DIALOGUE

When writing dialogue, there’s a danger of creating stale conversation; you could build nuanced characters with great developmental arcs, only to have dialogues chase your readers away. There are three main questions that aid in crafting good dialogue:

• Is it expressive? (Is a character trying to show how they feel? Or figure out another’s motive?)
• Is it revelatory? (Adds more context to the scene or story?)
• How can I make it relative or engaging?

Here’s a breakdown on what dialogue does: 

1. Advance the plot: Your dialogues should reveal information, introduce conflicts or obstacles, and drive the story forward. Did a fight ensue between two characters? Rather than ‘tell’ us the cause of the fight, reveal it through a dialogue. You can also use dialogue to hint at what further action will be taken in vengeance and reveal what incited previous action. 
2.  Character development and reader engagement: Dialogues are intrinsic to revealing a little more about each character. At intervals, you should infuse each conversation with character identifiers or signatures; a character can have a peculiar way of speaking, or phrases they like to use. Think about  how Hodor likes to say “HODOR.” And it works! That’s the first thing you remember when you think of that character.  Experiencing nuances of each character, especially in conversation, adds to the overall experience of your reader. It gives them someone they like, and someone to root for. 

You could also use dialogue to create tension and suspense, add humor and entertainment, and also provide insight to a character’s thoughts and emotions. Remember that fiction mirrors life itself, so seize opportunities in dialogue to use sayings they can relate to, such as colloquialisms, mannerisms, adages, and idioms. 

Here are some best practices to employ when crafting dialogue:

Use Natural Speech Patterns: 

The more human your characters are, the more your readers can relate to them. This way you give your character a more relatable feel. Usually, the way a person speaks is determined by their background or place of origin; cultural differences imbibe different ways of speech, and different accents or ways words are pronounced. A classic example of this is  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s  Purple Hibiscus. One memorable part of the book was where the author’s character is a Hausa gateman with “Hausa-accented English”  that reverses ‘P’ for ‘F’ and ‘F’ for ‘P’. And so, he pronounces “Father” as “Pather” and “Employer” as “Emfloyer”.

As a reader, I could relate to this because I instantly remembered a recent interaction with a Hausa man. This technique makes the character real and is an effective way of reflecting the character’s education, background, and personality. A well-crafted character bible should have the background stories for each important character. It should also allow you to create distinct or unique voices for each character based on where they come from, or their previous experiences.

Dialogue should convey only as much as it needs to. Avoid littering your story with unnecessary dialogue. 

Don’t Misuse Dialogue Tags: 

Dialogue tags are phrases used to break up written dialogue and identify the speaker. Dialogue tags also help identify the speaker in a story, as well as portray their tone and emotion to your readers. Moderate use of dialogue tags helps the reader to follow the conversation, but excessive use can be appalling. The most common dialogue tag is ‘said’. Also, as a point of note, sometimes you don’t NEED dialogue tags—especially in a heated conversation. 

Take for example:

Ella stormed the dining room, sick of letting him wallow in his guilt. 

“Come to the sitting room.” Ella said.

“I’d rather not.” He replied.

“If I walk away, it will be the last time.” She retorted.

“That’s alright.” He muttered.

“Really?” She snapped.

“Ella, please…” He buried his face once again. 

Cut out excess tags:

Ella stormed the dining room, sick of letting him wallow in his guilt. 

“Come to the sitting room.” Ella told him.

“I’d rather not.” He moped.

“If I walk away, it will be the last time.”

“That’s alright.”

“Really?” 

“Ella, please…” He buried his face once again. 

Again, if you must use dialogue tags, avoid incessant use of adverbs.

“Come to the room.” Ella said happily.

“I’d rather not.” He said stubbornly.

“If I walk away, it will be the last time.” She said sternly.

“That’s alright.” He said sadly.

“Really?” She said angrily.

“Ella, please…” He said sadly and buried his face once again. 

Overuse of adverbs can stall the reading pace and diminish meaning; this is an absolute no, for writing great fiction. 

N/B: Use punctuation effectively. The position of a comma is sufficient to change the meaning of a statement. Note that in the previous example, we used an ellipsis to create a pausal effect. In that moment, the reader deducts that “He” is wary of further interaction. 

If you’re struggling with using the right amount of dialogue tags, you can make use of dialogue beats instead.

Dialogue beats? (AKA action beats)

Dialogue beats are action sentences that identify a speaker in place of tags. They are short descriptions that come before, in the middle of, or at the end dialogue. 

Let’s have an example:

“Ella please. This is not the time. I should have been there with her. I could have helped in some way.”

Compare the statement above, with this:

“Ella please. This is not the time.” He rose up and paced about the room like a man in distress.

“I… I should have been there with her. I could have helped in some way. It’s all my fault.” He sat down again and buried his face.

The sentences in bold are called ‘dialogue beats’.

First, did you notice the pace in each example? The first example is like taking your readers on a race and not giving them a chance to pause, but in the second example, dialogue beats help to give the conversation pace and adds subtext through character behavior. On the other hand, rather than tell the reader that the character spoke sadly, dialogue beats show his emotions through actions.

Dialogue beats add more experience to the reading—as the reader reads dialogue, each beat adds little pieces of visual information that enhances the picture in the mind’s eye. Also, if you’re using dialogue beats, not only can you convey the speaker’s tone of voice, but also avoid repetitions like, “he said,” “she said.”

At this point, I should point out that just like every other technique, dialogue beats are not infallible and are prone to misuse and overuse. Avoid using too many action beats as it could interrupt the flow of your writing. Again, try not to be too repetitive with words and actions, you could wear readers out. I hope you enjoyed this read.

My name is Racheal Asikpo. I can take the creative weight of completing your stories. I can also give you 70% distance from the writing and research. I offer ghostwriting, developmental editing and copyediting services. How about you allow a fresh pair of eyes give you a fresh breath of air?

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