I could swear that I’ve written about writing dialogue in the past, but I can’t find it in the Substack backlog and I don’t feel like searching through the pre-Substack Dispatches, so here goes, from Ferles: “Writing realistic dialogue is something I find hard and intimidating. I read a lot of books and that has helped me detect dialogue that seems unrealistic, but hasn't really seemed to help me create dialogue myself.”
(Additionally, from FlatFootFox: “In a similar topic to Ferles' question, do you had any tips on making sure your characters have a unique voice? It can be tricky to not just sound like author-jokey, author-serious, or author-grumpy when writing less established characters.” These are similar enough that I can cover them both.)
There are a few elements that make dialogue distinct: word choice in general, favorite phrases in particular, areas of interest, and cadence of speech. These are all areas to look at when you’re trying to make your dialogue sound realistic or unique.
Word choice in general is shaped by a character’s background: the words their parents used, the words their friends used, their environment. At a very basic level, this means things like whether you call Coke Zero a soda or a pop. But it also means a thousand other word choices. Maybe your character likes to punctuate their dialogue with profanity because they feel a need to be noticed. Maybe they love the word “awesome” and use it for everything. Pay attention to the less common words your characters use: there is a lot of opportunity there to make them unique. In furry worlds, there is a lot of room to use words associated with a character’s species or senses.
Along with word choice comes favorite phrases. Be sparing with these, but they are a good way to make a character feel unique. Overused, they can feel artificial, so be careful, but giving a character a phrase that becomes associated with them can be a good way to establish them, especially if the phrase is something significant to their background. Curses are good ones (like “god dammit,” not like “I curse you to be thinner”) because they can be grounded in a character’s background or religion, and they only come up sparingly. Furries with a strong sense of smell might have a curse around a bad smell, for example.
A character’s area of interest will determine what their dialogue focuses on. Someone with a strong visual sense might notice color and form in their dialogue, while someone more attuned to sound will talk more about how things sound. These are basic examples, but people notice clothing, smells, patterns, temperature, and many other things. Some people are focused inward and some on other people (so a response to “Do you want to go to the movies?” might vary from “Nah, I’m not feeling a movie” to “Is Fox coming along?” to “Sure, I’d be glad to keep you company”).
Lastly, cadence of speech is something you can vary to make someone’s speech distinct. Do they speak in long, rambling sentences or short, clipped ones? Do they organize their thoughts well or do they keep thinking about one more thing? “Sure, I’d be glad to keep you company” could be, “Sounds good” or “That sounds great! What’s playing? Is that new superhero movie out yet? I’d love to see that new Clooney movie too.”
Now, the trick: how do you come up with new variations on the above? There are a couple ways, and as you’re going through these exercises, think about the above areas and note where the dialogue you’re observing differs from the way you would talk.
One exercise is to sit in a public place and listen to people talk. Bring a notebook and make sure to write down the exact wording of the people talking around you. Do it quickly, because the more you let it sit in your head, the more you will turn the words into your own dialogue. This method is good for getting realistic dialogue, but it’s not as good if you’re looking to build a specific kind of character.
For that, I’d turn to movie scripts. Pick movies whose dialogue you admire with the kind of characters you like. This is less realistic because they’re movies, but you’re using this for fiction anyway, so it shouldn’t matter that much. Study the way that dialogue is written and see what tricks you can steal for yourself.
Lastly, when you’ve written your dialogue and reviewed it, send it to beta readers. Often you can feel too close to your writing and that will make your dialogue feel artificial, because you can see the craft in it. Let the readers you trust tell you where your dialogue could use some improvement.
Hope this all helps! Dialogue is difficult but so rewarding when you get it right, because that’s where your characters really come to life.
I've never really had difficulty with dialogue... It doesn't seem to be my weak spot. When I have readers, I usually get compliments on that.
My difficulty is in plot. I've been writing (or rather, trying to write) since 8th grade (1979), and my biggest problem is always losing the thread of where I'm going. So after a chapter or two or three.. I just sort of peter out because I can't see where to go anymore. A no longer leads to B or C.