Dynamic dialogue lifts a book from the slush pile

You’ve written a really crucial dialogue that will end your characters’ marriage, but it seems … flat, unreal or, worst of all, dreary.

What’s wrong with it? It will change your characters’ lives. Why doesn’t it affect the lives of your readers?

Here are a couple of quick hints that will lift a plain or dreary dialogue and give it dynamism:

• Give your characters real business to do, while holding the conversation. They’re not talking heads, ending their marriage in a vacuum. They’re doing something in the real world.

It could be something mundane and ordinary, which contrasts with the intensity of their words. They could be making tea, doing the washing, watching their son play soccer, eating in a restaurant. Whatever it is, the action gives dynamism to the words.
• Give them real emotion. Show their feelings in the way they speak, the words they choose – even the things they don’t say.
• Don’t be too ethnic. Don’t use too much accent or phonetic speech. If someone has an accent, give a hint of it and let it go.
• Everyone has small tics - things they do when they speak. But like accents, these can irritate if used too much. A hint is enough.
• Avoid adverbs, she said angrily. If you find yourself using too many adverbs, you’re “telling” us about people and their emotions, rather than “showing” us, through their actions and dialogue.
• Not too many “comments”, she averred. In other words, don’t scatter your dialogue with: “he commented”, “she averred”. When there are two people speaking, it’s often fairly obvious who is speaking. Leave it out. And where it is necessary, our eyes are used to “he said” and “she said”. We skip over them quite happily without distracting ourselves..
• Remember your rhythm. If someone is angry, they’ll speak in short, bursts. The speech of someone in love will flow in long and languid sentences.
• Remember the subtext. Dialogue can be a mask for unexpressed feelings, or lying. – people frequently don’t say what they mean. It may be for the best or worst intentions: they don’t want to hurt others, they don’t want to be shown in a bad light, they may not be able to face something.

Dynamic dialogue can lift a piece of writing from the slush pile and make it publishable. For more about dynamic dialogue, see our online writing courses.