So, you've fully expressed the glory of a red delicious with all its crimson decadence and sweet juice, and you've reached the dialogue and you write "This is good", and realize, you don't actually know how to write dialogue. You begin questioning if you've ever actually listened to anyone in your life, and begin trying to speak to yourself, to start talking in Shakespearean tongue and end in an existential crisis.

Now, you've finally gotten a hang of writing your own speech, but all your characters are now just talking like you. And, hey, you are pretty awesome, and might be the coolest person you know, but not everyone is graced by your immaculately enticing diction. So, you are back to square one.

Luckily, with just a few tricks and practice you'll soon be able to have your protagonist flaunt their sass to the other characters.

Writing It Down

Creating something from nothing is not always possible. As a muggle myself, I find the best thing for me is to find reference.

So, my first challenge for you is to go to a coffee shop or the mall and write down little bits of dialogue from each person. You could even use a little recorder and document it later, as long as you keep it to yourself.

What to look for:

Make sure you actively find people who are very different from each other: the more reference, the better.
Note body language (it is half of dialogue).
Pay attention to where dialogue isn't there. Where people decide not to speak says just as much as where they do speak.
Do not fill in missing words. People naturally miss words.

Thesaurus's are Your Best Friend

Dialogue needs to be shaped by tone of voice. Saying 'he said', 'she said' can make well sculpted dialogue be flat. If you can think up a more descriptive word readily, then that is suggested, but eventually it's good to get help with vocabulary ideation. That's where a thesaurus is your best friend. To get you started, here is a list of more descriptive words for talking:

Accused
Explained
Mumbled
Muttered
Rambled
Ranted
Shrieked
Shouted
Spat
Teased
Whimpered
Whispered
Yammered

Want more words? Try this list

Bringing it Together

Dialogue is a strong expression of a character, but to figure out what dialogue truly matches a character, you want to look at their motivations (socially and otherwise). The amount a character leaves out, or the amount they stop themselves, or keep rambling will be dependent on what is important, or not important to the character.

What to ask yourself:

Would this character ramble?
Is this character more private or open?
Is this character well educated / high or low class?
Is this character more self-conscious or confident?

Documenting

There will be times you have to step away from your writing, and coming back, it will be hard to get back into a voice of a character.

Create a document for each character, with a monologue in their voice along with a list of common words and phrases for that character, along with a few focused descriptive words to help you remember their common tones of voice.

EXAMPLE

Name:
Manny

Descriptors:
Giggling, Nagging, Assured

Common Phrases:
"Of course", "Why not", "Well..." "You'd/You'd'a"

Avoidance / Quirks:
Avoids in-depth personal information about self, uses giggling to evade, minimal breaks in speech (constant stream)

Body Language:

Arms crossed, Good posture, Limited Full Eye Contact

Speech Sample
"Of course you'd do that. Really any doubt?" she confessed.
"Well... if you'd'a listened to me, as you should have, she'd still be yours, and I'd be in my bath with a good book right about now." she nagged.
"You know I don't really mind, weirdo" she giggled.

My final bit of advice (that has helped me more than I expected) is to define myself as I would a character from a story, to help define what speech patterns and word choice I make due to my own voice as the character, me.

Project

Document 6 different people's dialogue, writing out a character voice sheet for each
Create 3 distinct characters, writing out a character voice sheet for each
Write an excerpt with minimally 2 characters speaking with conflict from their difference in speaking

Aleksina Teto

Illustrator, Designer, Writer.

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