08-14-2014, 11:10 PM
Okay a few ideas (some of which others have touched upon):
Read authors you enjoy who use dialogue well--watch how they make it seamless.
Resist the urge to get creative with your dialogue tags (he said, whispered, screamed, etc). Almost universally use said. Add reactions and body language of the characters to imply nuance. Said is mostly invisible; the reader reads past it. An overuse of tags comes off as self-conscious.
Resist the urge to use dialogue as a means of excessive exposition.
Have characters interrupt each other.
Don't go too linear in your dialogue. People don't do that.
Default toward short bursts of dialogue rather than speeches.
A few thoughts off the cuff.
Read authors you enjoy who use dialogue well--watch how they make it seamless.
Resist the urge to get creative with your dialogue tags (he said, whispered, screamed, etc). Almost universally use said. Add reactions and body language of the characters to imply nuance. Said is mostly invisible; the reader reads past it. An overuse of tags comes off as self-conscious.
Resist the urge to use dialogue as a means of excessive exposition.
Have characters interrupt each other.
Don't go too linear in your dialogue. People don't do that.
Default toward short bursts of dialogue rather than speeches.
A few thoughts off the cuff.
The secret of poetry is cruelty.--Jon Anderson