Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Revision - Dialogue #BWLAuthor #MFRWAuthor #Revision #amwriting #Dialogue

Part of looking at your characters is considering their dialogue. Have you ever read a book where all the characters sound like each other? Or one where the dialogue is so heavy with dialect you need a road map to know what people are saying. There's also the one where people talk and talk and say nothing. One way to look at your dialogue is to read it aloud. Just the speeches and not name the speaker. May mean a bit of extra work. Like typing out the dialogue lines on a sheet and reading them aloud. So revising dialogue is important to make your story sing. There are a number of points to consider. Practiced often enough and the writing becomes easier.

1. Remember dialogue is action and reaction. When your characters are talking to each other, what one say should bring a response from the one being spoken to. Means what they each says shows some kind of action and calls for a reaction. This doesn't necessarily mean a quarrel. Think of a heroine speaking to her best friend about choosing a dress to wear to an event. What she says triggers her friend's response. What if she's speaking to a non-friend. The answers would be different. Or speaking to her mother.

During the scene, there has to be movement as in body language, tone of voice. Without these, the words become flat. Does she scream, mumble the words. Are the responses emphatic or weak? If there's no interaction and no movement look at the passage again.

We'll be looking at more ways to enhance dialogue while revising in the next few posts.


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