Getting Characters To Actually Talk To Each Other

This is an interesting thing I've noticed: When many characters are in conversation with each other, it often times sounds more like they're just thinking to themselves in a voice everyone can hear and other characters "respond" as if that was a thought in their own head. What ends up coming out of the conversation is one long thought. It's almost like a Hive Mind. Are there tricks and techniques to avoid this?

Realize that all the characters are individuals, meaning that they all have different goals and different reasons for being in that scene and in that conversation. Not all your characters should want the same things, thus in any given conversation, they should all be seeking something different out of it. You only get the hive mind effect if all the characters involved are all after the same thing. Set up your characters to clash at some points. Even if two characters have the same goal, they should have different ideas as to how to achieve that goal. If a character has a plan, have another character point out a flaw in the plan. The first character should speak with the purpose of trying to convince the other characters to go along with the plan, and the second character should speak with the purpose of trying to talk the first person out of it. This way, they both speak with a purpose and not just thinking out loud. And with this added conflict, you add interest.

OK, Hive Mind was probably a bad way of putting it. I mean, this sort of thing can also happen when they are having their own little issues. Like one person will say what she thinks of something, while another person says what he thinks of the same thing just from his perspective, yet not once are they actually engaging in a real discussion.

Either way, both characters need to want something. If the characters have something at stake in the conversation, then the chances increase that they will be engaged. The character could be trying to get information out of the other, or trying to convince the other of something, or trying to manipulate him in some way. The character must have a goal, and a stake, and if the other character has a different goal that keeps the first from achieving his, and vice versa, than you have two characters engaged in a conversation, both trying to "win" it.

Listen to real people talking. That's how I've been teaching myself to write arguments - every so often part of me will stop in the middle of me arguing with my parents to say 'I've got to remember to write this!' Don't literally quote people, just notice patterns. For example, often with an argument the two sides are both replying to a Strawman of their opponent, ignoring the other person, and saying the same thing over and over rephrased slightly. Oh, and raising the volume whenever their argument failed to convince the other person. (I kept accidently making them listen and come to an understanding like reasonable people, or else not talking at all.)