Dialogue writing is something most of us has to deal with one way or another. Personally, dialogue can sometimes feel like a challenge, especially if it's the first couple of times the character speaks, and I don't yet know for sure what their speaking style is. In this post, I'll review five common dialogue writing mistakes which I noticed in fiction. Let's get into it!
1. OVER-DESCRIBING
'Blah-blah,' he said while closing the doors.
'Blah?' she walked up to him with a surprised smile.
'Blah,' he nodded in response.
'Blablabla,' she commented, before going back to the kitchen.
'Blabla!' he followed after her.
'Bla, bla,' she raised a cup of water.
'Blah,' he grabbed one as well.
This is a mistake of over-describing. The conversation can be about what to eat for dinner, but we'll know exactly how each of them sighed, scratched their arm or smiled. Descriptions are good, but even here you need to remember about balance. Leaving some lines of dialogue without descriptions is completely fine. Additionally, notice how the conversation doesn't flow - it's more like riding a skateboard on a road full of pebbles.
2. NO DESCRIPTORS
They stood face to face, ready to talk.
'Blabla.'
'Bla.'
'Blablabla. Blabla.'
'Bla, bla, bla.'
'Blabla?'
'Blabla...'
'Bla.'
Here we have the opposite of the previous example. Lack of descriptions. There are writers out there who mastered it, but most of the time when I stumble across it, it just leaves me confused with who is speaking and what is going on around them. Some descriptions, even brief ones, would help it a lot. This example I created feels like shooting bullets.
3. UNCLEAR NARRATION
Dawid and Steve were checking the engine.
'It doesn't seem good,' he noticed.
He, meaning whom? Dawid, or Steve? In situations like this, you need to specify who's speaking, and you don't have to write the name again - you can go with "the younger brother", "the taller one" or "the ginger", just for example.
This mistake can also happen with objects, causing really funny misunderstandings:
John's cow was lazily standing in front of the well, so he took it out.
"It", meaning the cow or the well?
4. UNREALISTIC DIALOGUE
'Do you even enjoy this movie?'
He looked at me with darkness in his gaze.
'You know, Julie, a famous philosopher once said: to be enjoyed doesn't equal to be valued. If we were to speak to my perception of the value of this piece of art, I'd have to agree with the critics: it's a masterpiece.'
Yes, this is a call-out to romance stories. You're creating unreachable standards.
Look, there are people who enjoy speaking in this matter. But if that's not the case, going with such a flowery, overboard language feels... Ridiculous.
Think; is the language I'm using appropriate and fitting? Read it out loud to see if you're going to cringe of not.
5. EVERYONE SPEAKS THE SAME
This is a mistake I keep seeing lately. It's great if you gave your characters hobbies and a backstory - but if they speak to each other, and everyone sounds the same, it won't give the feeling of a well build character.
Some people speak less, in short sentences, use more direct speech. Some people prefer long sentences with a bunch of adjectives. Some people use a certain word a lot, like "like". Some people curse. You get the point.
Make your characters distinguished even in the way they're speaking.
Comments
Post a Comment