funny thing i’ve noticed about my system is that we don’t have super different voices while thinking—different mannerisms, sure, but our voices are fairly similar. However. When talking out loud? Super different 😂

Crash Course in Dialogue, Part I

Writers tend to stress a character’s actions as the most important way to show who they are, but creating effective, interesting dialogue is just as important to a great story. Good dialogue can illustrate interpersonal relationships, reveal fears characters don’t even know they have, show development, and so much more. At the same time—and maybe more importantly—bad dialogue sticks out like a sore thumb, making readers uncomfortable and unwilling to get invested in your narrative. Your prose might be amazing, but if your characters can’t communicate, it’s going to put people off.

But never fear! Here are a few handy tricks to writing amazing dialogue that will get your characters saying what they mean or misdirecting like a pro, all while drawing your reader successfully into the story.

Creating Unique Voices

When you start writing dialogue, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that your characters should all sound different from one another. Just based on their words alone, a reader should be able to tell whether your character’s personality is bubbly or gloomy, if they feel comfortable with the people around them, if they’re in pain, what kind of education they have, and so much more. You want these factors to be unique for each character, even if they were raised together or come from a similar background.

A great test is to write down only the spoken part of your dialogue, without any speech tags (he said/she said, etc.). Does each character sound distinct? Can you tell whose lines are whose just based on what they say, without the surrounding context clues?

If not, try some of the techniques below. There are so many ways to say the same thing differently—and reveal your characters’ history, personality, and quirks at the same time!

Techniques

Using lots of big words like abysmal, paramount, satiate, ubiquitous, etc.

This can make a character sound more educated, imply a wealthier upbringing, or show the care he puts into communicating. Or, it can make him sound pretentious, and become a trait that annoys your other characters. Just be careful your character doesn’t come off like a weirdo carrying around a thesaurus in their pocket (unless that’s what you’re going for, of course!)

Character 1: His rant was just the shameful rambling of a crazy old man. Character 2: The display was simply the ignominious drivel of a deranged geriatric man.

Using clipped speech—only a few words at a time, monosyllabic answers

Quiet characters, characters who don’t like their companions, characters who are in pain, and characters with something to hide might not want to have long conversations where they bare their soul to others.

Character 1: I really don’t think so. I’m sure I’d remember an intense reaction like that. Character 2: No.

Using terms of endearment or pet names—babe, sweetheart, bro, dude, pal

Depending on how these are used, your character can come across as warm and fuzzy, sarcastic, flirty, or evil and taunting.

Bonus: if your character is angry or distracted, they can leave off the pet names they usually call their friends. This is a good way to reveal to a reader—and other characters—that something fishy is up.

Character 1: Can you toss me that pencil? Character 2: Hey babe, be a sweetie and toss me that pencil? Character 3: Uh, that’s my pencil, pal. Character 4: Toss me that pencil, bro!

Speaking formally versus informally with contractions

Is your character uncomfortable around present company? Are they trying to act extremely professional to prove they’re qualified for their job, or still recovering from a strict, affectionless upbringing? If so, making their speech more formal can help convey what’s going on.

Character 1: Admittedly, I have been wondering much the same thing. I will look into it. Character 2: Yeah, I’ve been wondering that too. I’m gonna check it out.

Swearing

Depending on context, characters who curse can sound meaner, rougher, cooler, more laid-back, and even funnier than the people around them who don’t.

When using curse words, be aware of your audience. If you’re writing for kids or younger teens, you may get some pushback.

Remember that these words are sometimes at their most powerful when they’re not overused. When your sweet character finally snaps and mutters something really strong under her breath, you’ll know she’s at the end of her rope.

Think of Simon finally confronting Martin in the movie Love, Simon—if Leah (who swears all the time in the book’s sequel) told Martin to f*ck off, it wouldn’t have anywhere near the same impact.

And yet, in The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater, Ronan’s glee at swearing is one of the things that sets him apart from the more polite Gansey and Adam.

Try this:

Sit in a public place where people talk—a coffee shop, a food court at the mall, a break at school—and listen to a conversation. Write down what you hear—every little um or ah, pronunciations, pauses, stutters, repetitions. How do words, fillers, and phrases shape the distinct voices of the people you’re listening to?

Using Accents and Dialects

Another great way to make characters sound different is to give them accents or let them speak in dialects. If your character is from the South, he’d have a Southern drawl; if she’s from the India, she’s not going to sound like your classmates from Connecticut. But how can you capture a voice like that without making your writing sloppy or distracting (or exaggerating it into an offensive caricature)? Passages like the following, from Huckleberry Finn, certainly take a lot of concentration to read:

“Oh, Huck, I bust out a-cryin’ en grab her up in my arms, en say, ‘Oh, de po’ little thing! De Lord God Amighty fogive po’ ole Jim, kaze he never gwyne to fogive hisself as long’s he live!’ Oh, she was plumb deef en dumb, Huck, plumb deef en dumb—en I’d ben atreat’n her so!”

A general rule, using features other than phonetic spelling to show how characters speak differently can communicate the same information in a less distracting way:

Diction/word choice: Taylor from New York eats fries for lunch and chips as a snack, but Henry from London eats chips for lunch and crisps from the vending machine during his break at work.

Syntax/word order: Someone whose native language is English will likely say “the brown shoes” or “the white fence,” but if your heroine was born in France and learned English not long ago, she might say “I was wearing my shoes which are brown” or “the fence that is white stands behind the house”

Idioms: Different places have different expressions that mean more than what they look like. While you’d say you’re “buttering someone up,” someone who speaks Spanish might say they’re “stroking his beard.” Research idioms that would be a natural part of your character’s speech—or, make up your own!

Some phonetic spellings and slang, every once in a while, do a great job of signaling a continuing accent: s’pose, ain’t, ya, dahlin’. But if what you’ve written takes any amount of real concentration to decode, it’s going to be annoying, not helpful or cool. In other words, if your main character has a lisp, tharting every thentence like thith ith going to get really fruthtrating, really fatht. An’ writin’ an o’er-exaggera’ed Cockney accen’, owr a loooong Suthen draaaawl, is sure to get on your reader’s nerves as well.

If your protagonist’s baby sister with three lines has a lisp and says, “Thamantha, read me a thtory” or her great-auntie from Georgia bemoans, “Lawdy-me, it shaw is hawt in hea today” once in 300 pages, though, you’re probably good.

If you want an example of dialects and pronunciation done really well, check out the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness. Protagonist Todd Hewitt grew up in a primitive settlement and can’t read—while always completely understandable, he does say “ain’t” all the time, and occasionally throws in misspellings like “creacher” and “recognishun.” The sections narrated by his friend Viola are more grammatically correct, because while Todd was doing farm work, she was attending school. And people Todd meets with even less schooling than him talk like this: “Ah kin give y’all a ride thrus. If ya want.” (But these characters don’t pop up very often, so the style doesn’t become distracting—instead, it highlights the differences between outsiders and the protagonists.)

A note of caution:

Remember that African American Vernacular English, American Sign Language, and other variations/translations of English have their own complex rules. If you aren’t familiar with a dialect you’re writing, don’t just simplify standard English, throw in an extra “be,” or take out some helping verbs. If your character uses one of these, do some extra research to make sure your dialogue is accurate.

Include the Right Kind of Content

So now you’ve decided how your character talks—but what should they say? Here are a few things to avoid: small talk, excessive info dumps, drawn-out background information, and background conversations. (Like most rules of writing, these can and should be broken if you have a good reason, but in general, they can be helpful in moving a story along and keeping it interesting.)

Instead of the characters taking up valuable space and audience attention on pleasantries, focus on the real meat of the conversation. Alfred Hitchcock once said something to the effect of, “Drama is real life with all the boring parts cut out.” Which would you want to read about? A character describing her brunch of thick, fluffy pancakes to her mother in mouth-watering detail?* Or the moment she asks her mother for $500—the third time this month—to cover her outrageous credit card debts? As the writer, you have the privilege and responsibility to pick the important moments to pass on to the reader—the ones that are important to the plot later, that develop the characters, that are memorable and exciting. Be kind to them—and yourself—by carefully judging what’s worth everyone’s time.

This then gives you an opportunity to work something else essential into your conversation—conflict. It’s very hard to make a compelling conversation where each character agrees with everything said before them. Just because “yes, and” works for improv, doesn’t mean it’s the best strategy for dialogue in fiction—instead, put your characters against each other. If they have opposing goals, or even slightly different takes on a situation, you’ll be able to flush out both viewpoints and push them to an interesting breaking point much easier than if they simply build on whatever the other says.

It can also be tempting to save long, detailed explanations for dialogue—especially when it comes to worldbuilding in sci-fi or fantasy. If you have a physics professor who’s perfected time travel or an old witch who’s worked out everything about magic, it would be easy to give them a few pages to give the specifics to your clueless protagonist. But unless you can’t get your story to work any other way, try not to do this—long descriptions tend to end up pretty boring, and hard to follow and remember. Instead, let your reader pick up fewer details at a time from different people, or see how things work for themselves. In the first Harry Potter, Hagrid doesn’t explain everything about being a wizard to Harry—readers get to experience the many magical details firsthand through Harry’s eyes in Diagon Alley, and then later at Hogwarts.

*Note: If your character is a cook and criticizes the pancakes because he could obviously do better, or if she grew up in poverty and is promising her mother she’ll move back home and take her to brunch every morning once she gets one more paycheck, this is obviously fine. So is her describing how great she thought the pancakes were if it turns out they were actually poisoned, and next thing she knows she’s waking up from a 10-year coma. And so on... Find exciting exceptions!

Try this:

Listen to a scene from your favorite movie and think about what’s included and what’s not. Do both characters greet each other and ask how the other has been, or do they jump right into the deal they need to make? Does one character agree with everything the other says, or do they disagree frequently?

Have more questions about writing dialogue? Leave us comments for Part II, coming soon!

PHYSICAL !!

1. Describe the character’s height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy? He’s 5′11. He’s got an athletic build. Muscular but has been losing weight due to his injury. 2. How old is he? Twenty-five 3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch? He has a slight slouch. 4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities? Completely healthy other then the healing left wrist that was shattered and the torn tendons and broken tibia in his right leg. 5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid? Usually fluid, lately he’s clumsy. 6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror? He’s handsome. He thinks he’s alright. 7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred? Light and clear. 8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style. Light brown, wavy hair that he keeps short. 9. What color are his eyes? Green-Hazel 10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features? Straight teeth with sharp canines. 11. What are his chief tension centers? His shoulders. 12. What is the character’s wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does she have six of the same suit? Very casual wardrobe made up of jeans and t-shirts. Sweatpants and hoodies in the summer. Very neutral colors and some reds and blues. He borrows suit for any fancy events. 13. Do her clothes fit well? Does she seem comfortable in them? His clothes fit perfectly. He hates baggy clothes or tight shirts. He does have a pair of sweatpants that are very baggy that he loves. 14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences? He has to wear a racing suit when he’s racing but he still wears his other clothes underneath it. 15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando? Boxers.

SPEECH !!

1. What does this character’s voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse? Smooth voice that’s not too deep. If his voice is loud, he’s angry. 2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate? He’s a very even speaker and words come easily. He tends to speak quickly and stutter if he’s nervous. 3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics? He has a southern twang sometimes that he’s picked up from spending most of his time in the south. 4. What languages does he speak, and with how much fluency? English and Italian that he speaks fluently though he holds back on his Italian because his accent isn’t too good. 5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations? Nope. 6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does she have to think about his words? Very impromptu. 7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change? He’s not exactly eloquent but he’s only inarticulate when he’s anxious.

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL !!

1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart? He’s intelligent even when he doubts himself. He’s a good mixture of both. 2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate? He’s very good at thinking on his feet  but lately he’s been taking time to deliberate lately. 3. Describe the character’s thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical? He’s very logical and practical. Though he is also intuitive and a bit idealistic. 4. What kind of education has the character had? He’s working on his degree in mechanics. 5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about? He’s a car expert. He could fix any car and take apart most machines and put them back together. He’s also a good cook but wants to learn more recipes and be able to create his own dishes. 6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert? Extrovert. 7. Describe the character’s temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven? He’s very evenly tempered but he does struggle with his PTSD left over from his accident and an abusive relationship so he can be melancholy but he is very driven.

8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic? He’s relaxed. He loves meeting people and learning new things. 10. Which is his default: fight or flight? fight. 11. Describe the character’s sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks? He loves puns and loves pranks. He doesn’t over do it. His favorite jokes are ones that don’t hurt other people’s feelings. 12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them? He has post traumatic stress disorder with episodes of depression. He’s going to therapy and now has a therapy dog to get him through rough days. 13. What moments in this character’s life have defined him as a person? Meeting Doc Hudson and his family in Radiator Springs. Making friends on the track and going on the world tour. Entering and leaving a toxic relationship. His car accident. Reuniting with Francesco. 14. What does he fear? Failure and not getting the chance to prove himself. 15. What are his hopes or aspirations? To race because of his love for it. He wants to mentor new racers and help them like Doc helped him. 16. What is something he doesn’t want anyone to find out about him? He’s very honest but he does keep a lot of things bottle up. Like his past relationship and how bad it really was and who it was with. He’s trying to get past it by ignoring it happened. Not a great idea.

RELATIONSHIPS !!

1. Describe this character’s relationship with his parents. Lightning always had a great relationship with his parents. His mother was Italian born and spent her time loving her only son to death. His dad always treated him like he inheriting a fortune in the McQueen name. However, when Lightning came out as gay, his father turned his back on him. His mother is still loving and they talk regularly on the phone. His dad will come around, at least that’s what his mom says. 2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like? No, he’s an only child. He was very lonely but once he meet his Radiator Springs crew, he found a sister in Sarah and a brother in Mater. 3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can’t stand?Nope. He has cousins but he sees them very rarely and isn’t really close to them. 4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them? Radiator Springs crew! He found siblings in Sarah, Mater, Red, Luigi and Guido. Doc was like a father to him. Sheriff, Flo, Lizzie and Ramone are the crazy uncles and aunt who are always looking out for him. 5. Who is the character’s best friend? How did they meet? Lightning’s best friends are Mater and Sarah. He meet them when he trashed Radiator Springs and then fixed it. They’ve been inseparable since. He’s also very close to Francesco who he met during the World Grand Prix and reconnected with in LA. The Italian has gotten him through a lot and finally got him to go to therapy. 6. Does he have other close friends? He is very close to everyone else Radiator Springs. 7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?He makes friends very easily but he doesn’t necessarily trust them. 8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends? Friends are family to him. 9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once? He’s getting married to Francesco Bernoulli. It’s to help his friend out but they have to fake it until they make it so they’re believed. 10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse? No, he’s not a cheater even to his fake husband. 11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest? His first crush was a boy in sixth grade whose name he can’t remember. He currently doesn’t have a crush. 12. What does he look for in a romantic partner? Someone who is kind and sweet. He needs someone who is dedicated and passionate about their dreams. He’s been hurt so much that he just wants someone who loves him and will never make him feel like he’s not worth it. 13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any? No but he’d love to be a father. He wants a big family. 14. Does he have any rivals or enemies? Jackson. Storm. 15. What is the character’s sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?He’s a 4. He’s attracted to men but he wouldn’t be adverse to women if he really fell for her. 16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him? He thinks sex is something that should be with a person he trusts. It was used against him too many times for him to be that crazy about it. 17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits? Eh, sex has been ruined for him.

BELIEFS !!

1. Do you know your character’s astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type? His birthday is November 12th so he’s a Scorpio. He’s also a monkey he was born in 1992. 2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life? He’s Catholic. His dad held no beliefs but his mother was very Catholic. She baptized him and raised him going to church but he’s let it go since. He doesn’t feel a calling to it anymore but he’ll go to church when his mom visits. 3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it? He’s got very strict morals. It began with his dad who insisted that morals were important for a man. Lightning sticks to them because they’re a part of who he is. It takes a lot for him to break away from them. 4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from hers? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent? He is very tolerant of others. He doesn’t care what others believe as long as it doesn’t hurt others around them. He likes to learn about different beliefs though. 5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them? He hates people who are abusive. He can usually pick on them quickly and will not associate with them if he suspects it. Sometimes he steers away from people if they’re too loud.

DAILY LIFE !!

1. What is the character’s financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?He’s rich. He wasn’t growing up but now he’s loaded due to a very successful career. 2. What is her social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected her? He’s popular due to his career and he has a lot of fans. He’s attractive too so that helps. He wasn’t the most popular kid in school but he knew everybody. His popularity had dipped since the accident but it doesn’t really bother him. 3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others? He lives in his dorm room and since his roommate hasn’t arrived he pretty much does whatever he wants. 4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on? He really doesn’t spend his money on anything besides food. 5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else? He’s a racecar driver and he’s very good at it. He loves so racing so much he can’t see himself doing anything. He’ll probably race until he absolutely can’t anymore. 6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time? He loves to cook. so he tries out new recipes whenever he can. He also likes to read so he spends hos free time doing that. He enjoys mysteries.   7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods? He is a very good eater. He likes cooking for himself so he tries to be healthy as possible. He sometimes skip meals because he gets distracted. He doesn’t drink alcohol unless he’s feeling very down.

ASSOCIATIONS !!

1. Color? Red. 2. Smell? Gasoline. 3. Time of day? Twilight. 4. Season? Summer. 5. Book? American Gods 6. Music? Everything. 7. Place? Radiator Springs. 8. Substance? Cheese.   9. Plant? Cactus. 10. Animal? Dogs.