The following notes were taken at our recent writer's group meeting and assembled by Tammy Lough, author extraordinaire.
The speaker, Margo Dill, gave an excellent talk about using dialogue in your fiction, why you use it, how to use it effectively, and what mistakes are often made. There is excellent information so please read and take to heart the wealth below.
USING DIALOGUE EFFECTIVELY IN YOUR FICTION
NOTES FROM MARGO L DILL 5/28/2016
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DIALOGUE IN YOUR FICTION MANUSCRIPT?
1. Move the story forward- if the scene does not move the story forward, GET RID OF IT.
Always ask yourself, why did I put this dialogue in my scene? Remove extra words.
2. Characterization- reveal the person to your reader. In dialogue, you can really reveal
character through inner thoughts. Dialogue is always going to be, SHOW AND NOT
TELL to the reader.
3. Reveal crucial information- do not info dump
4. Back story. Work it into dialogue. Character study before novel, decide which back story is
important to tell THIS story.
5. Show and not Tell
6. Dialogue helps with the pace of your story. Read other novels in your genre and mimic
how other author’s use tags and such.
7. Foreshadowing- without being too obvious, talk about an upcoming event.
WHAT ARE COMMON MISTAKES WRITERS MKE WITH DIALOGUE SCENES?
1. Too much nonessential information. Ex: Hi, how are you.......
2. No dialogue tags or too many. “Talking Heads’” reader does not know who is speaking.
Have to go back and count from the last dialogue tag.
3. Dialogue sounds stilted. Sentences are too long, Young jargon for older character.
4. Too many extra words, Ex: Start a sentence with Mmm, or “Well, .... Using a
character’s name when only two people re talking
5. Info-dump in dialogue
6. Accents, dialogue, speech impediments- use just a bit for flavor. DO NOT try to spell out
slang. A southern speaker- it is okay to drop the g’s at the end of words. (In England
they do not call their lawyer, they ring their solicitor)
*Stephen King’s book, “On Writing,” absolute best book on writing.
Do not give JC Penney catalog descriptions of clothing worn.
Put your dialog scenes in ACTION. People do not sit and stare at one another while speaking.
Give them something to do.
*The conversation read is not as deep as the inner thoughts of the character. These inner
thoughts reveal TRUE CHARACTERIZATION. How the character really feels.
I hope the information you read here will help you in your future writing endeavors. I need to read and reread this again and then start in on my writing. Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a nice day!
 |
| Tammy Lough, author |
The speaker, Margo Dill, gave an excellent talk about using dialogue in your fiction, why you use it, how to use it effectively, and what mistakes are often made. There is excellent information so please read and take to heart the wealth below.
 |
| Margo Dill, author and speaker |
USING DIALOGUE EFFECTIVELY IN YOUR FICTION
NOTES FROM MARGO L DILL 5/28/2016
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF DIALOGUE IN YOUR FICTION MANUSCRIPT?
1. Move the story forward- if the scene does not move the story forward, GET RID OF IT.
Always ask yourself, why did I put this dialogue in my scene? Remove extra words.
2. Characterization- reveal the person to your reader. In dialogue, you can really reveal
character through inner thoughts. Dialogue is always going to be, SHOW AND NOT
TELL to the reader.
3. Reveal crucial information- do not info dump
4. Back story. Work it into dialogue. Character study before novel, decide which back story is
important to tell THIS story.
5. Show and not Tell
6. Dialogue helps with the pace of your story. Read other novels in your genre and mimic
how other author’s use tags and such.
7. Foreshadowing- without being too obvious, talk about an upcoming event.
WHAT ARE COMMON MISTAKES WRITERS MKE WITH DIALOGUE SCENES?
1. Too much nonessential information. Ex: Hi, how are you.......
2. No dialogue tags or too many. “Talking Heads’” reader does not know who is speaking.
Have to go back and count from the last dialogue tag.
3. Dialogue sounds stilted. Sentences are too long, Young jargon for older character.
4. Too many extra words, Ex: Start a sentence with Mmm, or “Well, .... Using a
character’s name when only two people re talking
5. Info-dump in dialogue
6. Accents, dialogue, speech impediments- use just a bit for flavor. DO NOT try to spell out
slang. A southern speaker- it is okay to drop the g’s at the end of words. (In England
they do not call their lawyer, they ring their solicitor)
*Stephen King’s book, “On Writing,” absolute best book on writing.
Do not give JC Penney catalog descriptions of clothing worn.
Put your dialog scenes in ACTION. People do not sit and stare at one another while speaking.
Give them something to do.
*The conversation read is not as deep as the inner thoughts of the character. These inner
thoughts reveal TRUE CHARACTERIZATION. How the character really feels.
I hope the information you read here will help you in your future writing endeavors. I need to read and reread this again and then start in on my writing. Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a nice day!
Comments
Post a Comment