History SoYouWantTo / WriteDialogue

* Having your character's voice fit their archetype is not bad. Having their voice fit their stereotype ''is'' bad. Not all black men talk like [[Film/RushHour Chris Tucker]], and most computer nerds don't use [[LeetLingo 733T 5P34K]].

%%To do: add folders for screenplays, video games, etc.

Fanfic/MyImmortal is basically a list of everything you should never do with dialogue... or storytelling, for that matter.

Dialogue is about more than giving your characters good stuff to say. You also have to communicate it so that whoever reads what you wrote understands what's going on. This section will deal with how to format your writing for clarity.

Any time two characters get dialogue, they must have separate paragraphs for it. That's how your audience expects it to be formatted, and if you don't follow it, they'll have a harder time following your story. Examples:

* It's okay to say "said". It's not a bad word. The tag "said" just acts as a label to explain which character spoke which line. It will be all but invisible to the audience.
* Use words other than "said" - like shouted, cried, whispered, or asked - when it adds something that wasn't already obvious from what was said.

** Those sentences say different things.

* You can use body language cues or actions instead of speech tags if you want. For example:

--> "Well, why don't you just tell me?"
--> "Because ''you'' made this mess in the first place!"

Dialogue is about more than giving your characters good stuff to say. You also have to communicate it so that your audience can understand who said what and how. This is particularly important in literature, when your audience's only source of information is words on paper.

-->"I don't know!" Bob whispered.

--> Bob gulped and took a step back. "I, uh... I don't know?" he said weakly.

-->"What's going on?" said Bob. "What do you mean?" said Alice.

-->"What's going on?" said Bob.
-->"What do you mean?" said Alice.

-->"And she was all, 'I don't get it!', and I just wanted to smack her!"

-->"I don't know," said Bob.

-->"I don't know!" said Bob.
-->"I don't know?" said Bob.

-->"I don't know!" Bob said anxiously.

-->"I don't know!" Bob whispered softly.

-->"I don't know!" Bob said confusedly.

Creator/DavidMamet is famous for his [[MametSpeak quick, clever dialogue.]] Want an example of awesome script dialogue? Check him out.

[[SoYouWantTo/SeeTheIndex So you want to]] write {{dialogue}}? Of course you do. Dialogue is an essential tool for most storytelling genres. It is one of the most important ways to [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establish]] and [[CharacterDevelopment develop your characters]]. It also lets you convey information to your audience in a way that makes you invisible. Having a condescending KnowItAll express his distaste for the people he has to explain the plot to, while the DeadpanSnarker [[LampshadeHanging points out that]] [[AsYouKnow everyone already knew that]] is much more fun than an {{infodump}} from the narrator.

First things first. You gotta have {{characters}}. They are the ones that will make your dialogue happen. Their [[BackStory backgrounds]], [[CharacterTropes personalities]], and archetypes will all influence how they talk and to whom. The more you understand your characters, the better you will understand how they talk. Check out the SoYouWantTo/DevelopCharacterPersonality page to get started.

It's okay to have your characters use poor grammar... to an extent. If it's difficult to read and understand, then rewrite it. Along those lines, if your character has an accent or dialect, that's fine. [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Bet ah dun lahk reedin' dis mass, an' needer well yer awdiance.]] Less is more. A ''lot'' less.

In general, just make sure that what your characters say is consistent with who they are and what they do - in other words, it's gotta be in character. The EmotionlessGirl will speak differently than the ManicPixieDreamGirl. Bob's LoveInterest, Alice, will see a different side to him than his [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]], Jan. If you have an OutOfCharacterMoment, be sure that it's on purpose and that you do it for a reason.

* You can use body language cues or actions instead of speech tags if you want. For example: "What are you talking about?" Alice crossed her arms.

As for the technical stuff...

* It's okay to have your characters use poor grammar... to an extent. If it's difficult to read and understand, then rewrite it.
* Along those lines, if your character has an accent or dialect, that's fine. [[SelfDemonstratingArticle Bet ah dun lahk reedin' dis mass, an' needer well yer awdiance.]] Less is more. A ''lot'' less.
* Any time two characters get dialogue, they must have separate paragraphs for it. That's how your audience expects it to be formatted, and if you don't follow it, they'll have a harder time following your story.
* Dialogue inside dialogue goes double quote outside, single quote inside. Like this: "And she was all, 'I don't get it!', and I just wanted to smack her!"
* If your character's sentence ends with a period, and you have something to add after that, use a comma. For example: "I don't know," said Bob. If that sentence ended with something other than a period, don't change it: "I don't know!" said Bob. "I don't know?" said Bob.
* Notice how I didn't capitalize "said" in that last point? Don't capitalize "said" if it doesn't start a new sentence.
* Speaking of "said", when to use it and when not to:
** It's okay to say "said". It's not a bad word. The tag "said" just acts as a label to explain which character spoke which line. It will be all but invisible to the audience.
** Use words other than "said" - like shouted, cried, whispered, or asked - when it adds something that wasn't already obvious from what was said. "'I don't know!' Bob snapped." says something different from "'I don't know!' Bob whispered."
** Adverbs will bog down your "said" tags if you use them too often. Avoid "said loudly" when "shouted" will do. Like the words that replace "said", adverbs are generally good when they add something new, and not good if they don't. "'I don't know!' Bob said anxiously." That works just fine. "'I don't know!' Bob whispered softly". Not fine - [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]]. "'I don't know!' Bob said confusedly." Still not fine - [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment still redundant]].
** You can use body language cues or actions instead of speech tags if you want. For example: "What are you talking about?" Alice crossed her arms.

* How about her enemies? Is she defensive? Does she avoid them? Does she [[DeapanSnarker snark at them]] until they leave her alone? Is she aggressive or antagonistic?

[[SoYouWantTo/SeeTheIndex So you want to]] write {{dialogue}}? Of course you do. Dialogue is an essential tool for most storytelling genres. It is one of the most important ways to [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establish]] and [[CharacterDevelopment develop your characters]]. It also lets you convey information to your audience in a way that makes you invisible. Having a condescending KnowItAll express his distaste for the people he has to explain everything to, while the DeadpanSnarker [[LampshadeHanging points out that]] [[AsYouKnow everyone already knew that]] is much more fun than an {{infodump}} from the narrator.

* How doe your character talk to young children? Does she act like they're adults? Does she boss them around? Coddle them? Avoid them?

Where your character comes from, and where they are, will also have an impact. For example:

* Read your dialogue out loud. Always, always read it out loud. If it doesn't sound natural to you, it probably won't sound natural to your character. Of course, [[AlienTropes there]] [[StrangeSyntaxSpeaker are]] [[CloudCuckooLander exceptions]].

Creator/JossWhedon is generally fantastic at writing fun, snarky dialogue. ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' and ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' are great examples.

!!'''The Epic Fails'''

* In general, just make sure that what your characters say is consistent with who they are and what they do - in other words, it's gotta be in character. The EmotionlessGirl will speak differently than the ManicPixieDreamGirl. Bob's LoveInterest, Alice, will see a different side to him than his [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]]. If you have an OutOfCharacterMoment, be sure that it's on purpose and that you do it for a reason.

Creator/JossWhedon is generally fantastic at writing fun, snarky dialogue. ''{{Firefly}}'' and ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' are great examples.

[[SoYouWantTo/SeeTheIndex So you want to]] write {{dialogue}}? Of course you do. Dialogue is an essential tool for most storytelling genres. It is one of the most important ways to [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establish]] and [[CharacterDevelopment develop your characters]]. It also lets you convey information to your audience in a way that makes you invisible. Having a condescending KnowItAll express his distaste for the people he has to explain everything to, while the DeadpanSnarker [[LampshadeHanging points out that]] [[AsYouKnow everyone already knew that]] is much more fun than an {{infodump}}.

Creator/JossWhedon is generally fantastic at writing fun, snarky dialogue. {{Firefly}} and BuffyTheVampireSlayer are great examples.

So you want to write {{dialogue}}? Of course you do. Dialogue is an essential tool for most storytelling genres. It is one of the most important ways to [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establish]] and [[CharacterDevelopment develop your characters]]. It also lets you convey information to your audience in a way that makes you invisible. Having a condescending KnowItAll express his distaste for the people he has to explain everything to, while the DeadpanSnarker [[LampshadeHanging points out that]] [[AsYouKnow everyone already knew that]] is much more fun than an {{infodump}}.

* What are your character's {{verbal tic}}s?

* Read your dialogue out loud. Always, always read it out loud. If it doesn't sound natural to you, it probably won't sound natural to your character. Of course, [[AlienTropes there are]] [[CloudCuckooLander exceptions]].

* How does she [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry talk]] [[TranquilFury when]] she's [[ForeignLanguageTirade angry?]]

* How does she [[ThatMakesMeFeelAngry talk]] [[TranquilFury when]] [[Angrish she's]] [[ForeignLanguageTirade angry?]]

In general, it's a good idea to match your character's speaking pattern to their archetype. SesquipedalianLoquaciousness would work well for a BrainyBrunette, while an IdiotHero is more likely to engage in BuffySpeak. A GeniusDitz might wind up doing both at once. A PluckyComicRelief character and a SnarkKnight are both funny people, but for different reasons.

* Is he honest? [[BrutalHonesty Even to an off-putting extent?]] [[BadLiar Is he really bad at lying,]] [[CannotTellALie or incapable of it?]] Maybe he's [[ConsummateLiar really good at lying.]]

So you want to write {{dialogue}}? Of course you do. Dialogue is an essential tool for most storytelling genres. It is the way you, the author, can communicate with your audience through your characters. It is also one of the most important ways to [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establish]] and [[CharacterDevelopment develop your characters]]. Great dialogue will enrich your story and your audience's experience. Badly written dialogue is a great way to alienate your audience.

In general, it's a good idea to match your character's speaking pattern to their archetype. SesquipedalianLoquaciousness would work well for BrainyBrunette, while an IdiotHero is more likely to engage in BuffySpeak. A GeniusDitz might wind up doing both at once. A PluckyComicRelief character and a SnarkKnight are both funny people, but for different reasons.

Dialogue serves the extremely important purpose of conveying information to your audience in a way that makes you invisible. Having a condescending KnowItAll express his distaste for the people he has to explain everything to, while the DeadpanSnarker [[LampshadeHanging points out that]] [[AsYouKnow everyone already knew that]] is much more fun than an {{infodump}}.

* Take caution when writing a CharacterFilibuster. For one thing, it's not easy to sell as in-character. For another, most of your audience will suspect that you're the one preaching. If your character's speech actually is an AuthorFilibuster in disguise, [[PaperThinDisguise the audience will know]]. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
* One use for dialogue is avoiding [[Infodump infodumps]]. Please don't make dialogue an infodump. Unless your character [[MotorMouth actually talks like that]].

** That being said, even being OutOfCharacter [[LogicBomb has to be in character]]. Your character must have some kind of internally consistent reason for acting out of character, even if it doesn't look like it. Otherwise, you're risking CharacterDerailment.

* Take caution when writing a CharacterFilibuster. Most of your audience will suspect an AuthorFilibuster. If your character's speech actually is an AuthorFilibuster in disguise, [[PaperThinDisguise the audience will know]]. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
* Try not to use dialogue as an Infodump.

Playing with your audience's expectations can be really fun and introduce HiddenDepths to your characters.

** That being said, even being OutOfCharacter [[LogicBomb has to be in character]]. Your character must have some kind of reason for acting out of character that makes sense, even if it doesn't look like it. Otherwise, you're risking CharacterDerailment.

In general, it's a good idea to match your character's speaking pattern to their archetype.

* In general, just make sure that what your characters say is consistent with who they are and what they do. The EmotionlessGirl will speak differently than the ManicPixieDreamGirl. Bob's LoveInterest, Alice, will see a different side to him than his [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]]. If you have an OutOfCharacterMoment, be sure that it's on purpose and that you do it for a reason.

* In general, just make sure that what your characters say is consistent with who they are and what they do. TheStoic will speak differently than the ManicPixieDreamGirl, unless perhaps they are having a NotSoStoic moment. Bob's LoveInterest, Alice, will see a different side to him than his [[MyBelovedSmother overbearing mother]].

First things first. You gotta have {{characters}}. They are the ones that will make your dialogue happen. Their [[Backstory backgrounds]], [[CharacterTropes personalities]], and archetypes will all influence how they talk and to whom. The more you understand your characters, the better you will understand how they talk. Check out the SoYouWantTo/DevelopCharacterPersonality page to get started.

Got characters? Great! Now you need to give them a reason to talk.

* Read your dialogue out loud. Always, always read it out loud. If it doesn't sound natural to you, it probably won't sound natural to your character. Of course, [[AlienTropes there]] [[Shakespeare are]] exceptions.
* On the flip side, don't make your dialogue resemble your narration, unless you want to SoYouWantTo/MakeTheNarratorACharacter. No two people speak exactly the same way, and your character's voices need to be distinct from your own.