82
votes
Accepted
How to avoid turning dialogue into Q&A session?
OK. This will be like all the other things we are learning. You fill your tool box with every tool you can find, and use all of them. In this case you are collecting tools to make your dialog sound ...
- 23.8k
75
votes
My story is written in English, but is set in my home country. What language should I use for the dialogue?
You have read books like this, or at least are familiar with books like this:
Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls is set in Spain, and it is indicated, repeatedly, that the dialogue is in ...
66
votes
Accepted
How do we handle pauses in a dialogue?
You indicate pauses with action, even mentioning the pause. (Or, as Cyn says in comment, with other exposition or thoughts).
Chad said, "Was the computer software hacked?"
Bryce shook his ...
- 100k
52
votes
Accepted
How to write dialogue for someone who is intelligent but barely speaks the language?
Insight. Or, if you're so smart --- Prove It!
I think you misunderstand intelligent people, and I wouldn't rely on vocabulary to indicate it in the first place.
I am a professor in a university, ...
- 100k
49
votes
Accepted
How do I say that a character said something without resorting to "said Character" every time?
You don't always have to tag "said" after every line said. You can do something like:
"Why do you always look at me that way?" She turned her head away, embarrassed as she recalled all the times ...
- 4,581
47
votes
Using font to highlight a god's speech in dialogue
Visually distinguishing a character's dialogue is not a bad idea. Sir Terry Pratchett used this tool quite a lot. Most notably, his Death spoke in ALL CAPS, including small caps when needed. (Small ...
39
votes
Accepted
Protagonist constantly has to have long words explained to her. Will this get tedious?
It sounds very gimmicky, to be honest. I think you should think of more different ways in which her lower education would show, and switch it up a bit. Etiquette comes to mind, not being able to read, ...
- 2,842
38
votes
How can one write good dialogue in a story without sounding wooden?
You leave out small talk by focusing on big talk!
By this I mean every thing a person says should be something at least one person in the conversation needs to hear, or wants to hear, or is surprised ...
- 100k
36
votes
Can non-English-speaking characters use wordplay specific to English?
Yes, this is part of the translation convention
People tend to think of translation as a word-to-word equivalency, but it isn't. Different languages have different grammars, and each language words ...
- 11.2k
34
votes
How do we objectively assess if a dialogue sounds unnatural or cringy?
Your sample dialogue sounds unnatural because it's on the nose. If you're not familiar with that term, it means, essentially, that there is no subtext. The characters say exactly what they think, feel,...
- 581
33
votes
What is the correct way to write dialogue?
It depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
Think of authors that you've read who handle dialogue differently, and what they were trying to convey.
For instance:
"I'm headed to the store,&...
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33
votes
Accepted
Why do professional authors make "consistency" mistakes? And how to avoid them?
Lack of proofreading has been the bane of writing in many locations over the last few years.
Do you remember back when newspapers came to your house and you paid to subscribe? Okay, maybe you don't, ...
- 32.4k
33
votes
Writing "hahaha" versus describing the laugh
Dialogue quotes are for things a character actually says.
If your character says "hahaha" then fine. But I've never heard anyone do that. You might get a single "ha!" but that's an exclamation not ...
- 32.4k
32
votes
Writing in a Christian voice
Read authentic Christian voices
Find works written by religious Christians on religious subjects, and read them. These can either be non-fiction works, or stories with religious themes. Ideally, ...
- 11.2k
31
votes
How to write dialogue for someone who is intelligent but barely speaks the language?
Two years ago I took a course with a new professor in our university - a fresh immigrant from the US, who had to teach in Hebrew. Said professor is one of the most brilliant researchers at our faculty,...
30
votes
Accepted
How do we objectively assess if a dialogue sounds unnatural or cringy?
Trust your instinct. Period.
You are right--I zoned out at 'You turned me into a monster.' Who says that? I mean, I don't know whether to cringe or LOL. I didn't read further, but forcing myself to ...
- 23.8k
30
votes
Accepted
How do you use the interjection for snorting?
It would look more natural outside of dialog, to me. Unless the character says "snort."
"He's really attractive."
Megan snorted. She grabbed a napkin and wiped the coffee off the table. "Uh, ...
- 23.8k
29
votes
Accepted
The difference between dialogue marks
I think this is dependent on the convention in the country or location where you are publishing. In the U.S., it's double quotes, but in Britain, it's often single quotes. I believe France and Italy ...
29
votes
Should you avoid redundant information after dialogue?
Why don't you paraphrase the action? Say what he is literally doing. How does he give the chip? Is it in an envelope? Does he extend his arm? Is he tossing it? ....
"Here's the chip in question" he ...
- 389
28
votes
How do we handle pauses in a dialogue?
Amadeus's solution is a good one, but if you really want to keep these sentences within dialogue, without filling the gaps with anything else, you can also use ellipses to indicate pauses within ...
- 809
27
votes
Accepted
How do you make characters sound like non-native English speakers without using any grammar error in their dialogues?
Colloquial, Archaic, big, and non-English insertions:
To give the feel that a character is fluent in English, but not a native speaker, you need to make them flow differently than the flow of an ...
- 13.6k
26
votes
Using colloquialisms the reader may not be familiar with
It worth noting that this kind of thing has been done many times before. Stories such as The Red Badge of Courage, The Unvanquished, and Their Eyes Were Watching God all do this. Their Eyes Were ...
- 2,232
26
votes
Is it okay for the male and female characters in your story to sound the same?
None of your characters should sound the same. If all of your characters have the "same intelligence, same dialect, same level of speech," your dialogue is likely to become monotonous.
The ...
- 391
25
votes
Pregnancy in writing - A bit difficult
As someone else has said, every pregnancy is different.
I am currently eight months pregnant, have been pregnant before, and pretty much every woman my age I know seems to be pregnant right now, so ...
- 3,537
25
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to explain how a character said a word sarcastically without dialog tags?
You have already conveyed sarcasm perfectly well in the dialogue. And that is the best place for it. If you can convey emotion through dialogue without having to add tags like, derisively, ...
- 9,923
24
votes
How do I say that a character said something without resorting to "said Character" every time?
"Character said" really is one of the best ways to tag dialog.
When we write we are hyper-aware of our word choices and sentence structure. We don't like to repeat ourselves and we hate seeing all ...
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