Tip 2

Dialogue can often be tricky to work with when writing. Writers often struggle to find the exact words they need. Here are some tips to avoid coming across problems in your work.

Listen to how people talk. The speech needs to sound natural and can’t sound stupid. For example, a lot of people say ‘cos’ instead of ‘because’. Use this in your story. However don’t use ‘cos’ all of the time because the reader will think that you got lazy when writing. With words like these, use a mix. Also remember the characters. Some characters will not use any slang language and some will be the complete opposite. Write the dialogue based on the character.

Never provide too much information at once. The reader will get fed up if they realise they are being told all of the important facts. Unless a character is telling a story, let the story unfold naturally and spread out the important facts throughout the book to keep the reader interested.

Break up large chunks of dialogue. Readers will get bored with huge chunks of text (unless, as above, it is a character telling a story) so if you see a large block of dialogue in your story, use physical details to split it. Even if the physical detail is just a character moving around, it gives the reader a small break from dialogue.

Use ‘said’! 90% of the time you should use ‘said’ when describing text. While it is good to use other words (ie asked, responded, exclaimed etc), readers will become annoyed of having to imagine every single way a phrase is said. Also using ‘said’ means that the reader is paying attention to your dialogue and not the way the dialogue was said.

Profanity is found in many books and is OK to use but use it sparingly. Readers (particularly young readers and elderly readers) will feel disgusted reading constant foul language and may even be tempted to put the book down. It is OK to use swear words as people do in real life but don’t add them in just for the sake of it.

The final tip is the most obvious. Punctuate your dialogue correctly. Readers won’t read your story if they are feeling lost trying to follow your dialogue.

By following these simple rules it should be easy to write good dialogue that will keep readers interested in your story.

Keep writing.