The Story Corner » Discussions
Writers Discuss - Dialogue (#13)
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*Sigh* Leave it to me to answer this until the last minute. Okay...
To make dialogue "good", you have to understand basic human communication. Humans of all ethnicities, countries, races, and ages communicate through a single common tongue in order to pass their same idea to another individual. They gather their thoughts to present through their tongue, formulating it to be the most understandable sentence that will pass the thought thoroughly and effectively to the intended target. Each human has their own personality interlaced in their dialogue, and they discern an "understandable sentence" differently from the next guy.
A scientist mastering in the art of poetic phrases most likely will waver from words like "stuff" and phrases like, "Ya see what I mean, dude?" A man's dialogue must match with his personality, and what new writers usually fall into is the "universal teenage speech". I like to call it such because this form of communication is what a group of awkward, bland middle schoolers say to each other when they've just met each other on their first day of school. It's hard to put it into exact words (which is ironic, since new writers have managed to do just that) but the characters' dialogue seems sickly-sweet to the other. There's an undertone of communicational immaturity, because they ask each other drab questions and answer with drab answers:
"Where are you going, Timmy?"
"Oh, just around the block."
"Cool! Can I come?"
"Sure!"
Ah, I just noticed another thing; an excess amount of exclamation points. Exclamation points are supposed to be special, reserved only for the most exciting, spontaneous, or alarming moments. Humans usually aren't entirely excited to go around the block with their friend. If they reply with "cool", then it usually ends in a boring period. Why? Because going around the block is honestly boring. I'm not going to get worked up by something and exclaim everything I announce. It mirrors, what I feel is, amateurish writing.
I feel that writers should also address the "second tone". The second tone is that underlying meaning in a sentence. When a teenager says "I dunno", everyone knows they mean something entirely different. Just like when a baby is crying and they aren't particularly hungry, a teenager says "I dunno" as a way to communicate with each other. "I dunno" means, "I'm sorry", or, "That was stupid of me" It means, "I miss you", or, "I don't really want to talk right now." A surprising amount of what we say usually isn't actually what we mean. We have this undertone that people can discern.
And in conveying that undertone, I don't think it's wise to blatantly state what the person actually meant at the next sentence:
' "What's wrong, Timmy."
"Nothing."
At that moment, Timmy's mom knew that something was up. '
Just... don't do that. Because the reader also knows something is up, and it's extremely redundant--and almost irritating--when the book lets the reader know anyway. It makes the reader feel inferior, when a basic human ability is to gather context clues from the dialogue.
Dialogue has several layers to it. Use these layers. Understand them. Listen to dialogue and engage in them.
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I'm working on a part of one of my chapters (big surprise I know...) andI can't help but wonder if the dialogue (the part in bold) fit's Aela's charater. Any thought's, suggestions?
One side of Aela’s lips rose up in a playful scowl while the palm of her hand hit him in the centre of his chest, causing him to lose the pose he was trying to keep hold of.
“No… It makes you look fat!!” She stared laughing due to the look on Farkas’s face until Vilkas’s own expression caught her eye. “I’m only messing with you, ya big baby… Vilkas? You’re quiet!”
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