Tips On Writing Good Dialogue

So, your characters speak. Sweet. Do they speak well enough to keep your readers interested?

Dialogue is an important part of your story. It is how your characters communicate, and it tells a lot about them. Many people struggle with writing dialogue that feels authentic—dialogue that doesn’t feel performatory. Today we are having a little chat about writing what I call ‘good’ dialogue, and I’ll give you a few tips to help you write such dialogue.

My definition of good dialogue is dialogue that is both authentic and necessary in the grand scheme of things.

The role of dialogue in novels is to drive the story plot forward and to immerse the reader in the story. Narration is good and all, but there is something about listening to (reading) people talk that is so ‘active’ and immersing. Of course, good dialogue also clues readers in to your characters’ thoughts and the relationship between characters. But honestly, good dialogue is dialogue that bangs.

Here are the tips I promised.

I’ll start by saying you are not expected to give actual ‘authentic’ dialogue—that is boring and confusing and will not be received well in text.

How many times do you say ‘uhm’ and ‘erm’ when talking? How many times have you gone off a tangent before getting to your point?

If you wrote candidly authentic dialogue, you would bore the reader and run out of paper before you manage to get your point across. Dialogue in novels must walk the thin line between sounding ‘written’ and sounding ‘au naturel’. This is achieved by cutting out filler words and aiming for succinctness. Like what we think we sound like when in reality we sound like a walrus having a stroke.

Here is an example: “You know, Modupe, sometimes ehn, I think, like I think these can be explained. I mean, just…just imagine this now, ehn. The… uhm… if the girl was being honest—and I’m not saying in every case they are lying, because sometimes these things happen, but if she was being honest she would have stayed. She would stand her ground. If not, why do think she ran? It’s just like one thing I read in that book I was telling you about. Remember the book? The one that my cousin left in our place, the one about—”

Eishhh! Did someone else get a headache or was that just me? This is how most of our conversations go. Don’t believe me? Record yourself while gisting with a friend and listen to the rubbish you say. Respectfully, of course.

We don’t notice it because we know what we want to communicate and the person we are speaking to usually knows the direction we are heading as well.

You’d notice this issue when transcribing interviews—cut the fluff and you are left with fewer sentences. These remaining sentences are powerful because they carry the vital information. This is what dialogue in storytelling is—only the necessary words. Someone on Quora said dialogue in novels are highlight reels of actual dialogue, and I agree a hundred percent.

Now, if I was to make sense of the info-dump on poor Modupe, it would go like this:

“You know, Modupe, sometimes ehn, I think these can be explained. I mean, just imagine this—if the girl was being honest, she wouldn’t have run. It’s just like in that book I told you about—”

The main points are passed in lesser time and without taking our brains for a spin round the block. Of course, some characters might be ramblers (which I’d get to in a few) and so making their sentences concise would be out of character, but you want to try as much as possible to remove the fluff from your dialogue in general.

Don’t swing too far with this and end up writing robotic dialogue where your characters speak in monotone, not one word out of place. We can clock that, and we don’t like it. Actually, readers don’t like a lot of stuff. Tough crowd to please, we.

Because we cannot actually hear your characters’ voices and could get distracted when you use dialogue tags without fail, verbal cues (language or manner of speaking) can go a long way in telling us who is speaking at every one time. These cues such as tone (serious, playful, sarcastic), diction (choice of words e.g., mandem for crew), and speed of speech can also clue readers in on what a character is thinking.

No two persons sound exactly the same, so when writing dialogue you hope mirrors real life, try to give each main character a distinct voice. You don’t have to make it a big thing with accent marks and twangs for every character but make it such that we can almost always identify who is speaking even without context.

A character might be fond of using ‘mehn’ in every sentence, another may use only proper English (whatever that is), a third character may ramble whenever they open their mouth. Whenever we see ‘mehn’, we would know exactly who it is that is speaking. Not only do these little quirks help your readers identify your characters, but they make your dialogue dynamic and engaging.

Okay, that was an exaggerated exaggeration. I meant to say let the background guide you, but I am extra, so…

Your character’s background should inform how you write their dialogue. Your character is a sum of their background and experiences. You don’t expect a Kaduna girl from a low-income family to be speaking ‘innit’ and ‘aight’ to her parents without receiving a resounding and brain resetting slap. If someone from her background and within that environment speaks that way, they might be forming ‘phoneh’ to impress a friend or may have found a gullible Oyimbo pepper.

Either way, your character’s background sets the stage for the way they speak. This is especially helpful if you are having trouble giving your character a voice—you could start with a likkle R or L-factor, play around with it and settle on something that is not stereotypical but still authentic. Keeping your character’s background at the back of your mind makes it easier to tap into a voice that sounds true to them—all variations will be individual.

The way we speak, and our choice of words can vary based on who we are speaking with and our relationship with them. A character who talks in colloquialisms may suddenly speak formally when they are in the presence of authority or even a person they do not like.

In the same vein, a person may speak differently when they are in an environment that demands a particular kind of language (think bend-down-select in a busy market and an SDG conference at Transcorp Hilton) or with a person who speaks a certain way (maybe someone whose default is pidgin English).

Keep this in mind when writing dialogue because unless your character is on the spectrum or is consciously strict with their speech, the way they speak should be influenced by their environment in one way or the other.

Apart from spoken communication, nonverbal cues are important in dialogue because most of what we say is unspoken. Just as rambling on about a topic could mean a person is nervous, silence could be very telling. Are there any underlying desires your characters have? Is there an elephant in the room they are ignoring? What does your character’s silence mean?

Here’s an example from Damilare Kuku’s novel, Only Big Bumbum Matters Tomorrow:

You moved your gaze to Big Mummy, who was suddenly perched on the edge of her seat. “Big Mummy, where is your first husband, and why do you bleach your skin?”

Silence

This scene is powerful because far be it from Big Mummy to be quiet when she is addressed by a child, but because this child asks a heavy question, we see Big Mummy suddenly silent. This mirrors dialogue in real life as well. Sometimes it isn’t silence, but a sudden change of topic when one character is uncomfortable with a conversation. You can use these devices to add layers to your dialogue and make it feel real.

I think I had way too much fun writing this post because it is loooooonggg. But don’t start groaning just yet, I’ll cater to your short attention span and cut it in two. I’ll post part two on Tuesday, so see you then or in the comments section before then.

Have a splendid weekend!