Dialogue

It’s tough to write dialogue to make it sound like people actually talking. It’s one of those things I struggle with during the editing process.

When I hired an editor to give me feedback on the First manuscript, one of her suggestions was to review the way the characters spoke. She suggested going to a coffee shop and listening to conversations. As a person who’s been talking for several decades and listening plenty, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of how human beings converse. But as my editor pointed out much nicer than I would, putting it on paper is a different story.

That’s one of the main reasons I read my books out loud to myself as part of the editing process. Hearing myself speak the words pokes plenty of holes in the way the words are written. If it doesn’t sound right when I say it aloud, I change it so it does.

I also try to keep a few things in mind as I’m writing. People don’t tend to speak in long expositions. In a good conversation there’s a lot of back and forth, prompting each other or inserting comments. When I follow those guidelines I feel more like the characters and their words jump off the page at me.

I think those are good rules but tough for me to follow. When I edit my manuscript I still find long paragraphs of explanation that help advance the story but don’t sound like someone talking. In those moments I tell myself it’s okay; that’s what editing is for.