Escribir dilogos.

Dialogue is a Skill
And skills can be learned. You may not write good dialogue now,
but that doesnt mean youre doomed to write bad dialogue
forever.
When I first started working seriously on my writing, I would go
into coffee shops, eavesdrop on conversations, and write down
everything people said.
This helped me begin to understand how real dialogue worked,
but it wasnt enough. Before I could write dialogue well, I had to
ask WHY. Why did this person say this thing? Why did that
person reply like that? How did they get on this subject in the first
place?
I eavesdropped on conversations for months. It was actually a
little creepy. But its taught me so much about how real dialogue
works.
Here are sixteen things Ive learned about realistic dialogue:
1. Real People Say Random
Things
As writers, we want our characters to talk about things central to
our plot, but humans are weird. They dont talk about important
things. More often than not, they talk about mundane things like
the weather.
To write realistically random dialogue without losing track of
your plot, have your characters begin a conversation about
something random, and then circle around to the important parts
of your plot.
2. Real People Bicker
Im sure some people manage to be nice to each other all the time,
but in my experience, the closer you are to someone, the more
you bicker. Bickering rarely turns into full arguments. Its more
like a constant buzz of tension.
3. Real People Dont Have
Long Monologues
I know you want to show off your exquisite writing skills with a
long speech, but in normal situations, real people dont like
making speeches. They feel uncomfortable when theyre the only
one talking for a long time.
If you want to write a speech, you need to create some kind of
excuse for your character to give the speech. Perhaps he just won
an award or hes about to go on a long trip or hes dying and
wants to share his last words or hes a priest and he gives
speeches every Sunday.
4. Real People Dont Always
Hear You
Real people are hard of hearing. Real people have lawnmowers go
by them in the middle of their conversations. Real people say,
Whats that? Huh? What did you say? Come again? Sorry,
what?
5. Real People Refuse to
Repeat Themselves
Sometimes, when the other person cant hear and says, Huh?
What did you say? real people dont repeat themselves. They
say, Nothing. Its not important. Never mind. Ill tell you later.
Forget it.
Sometimes, this leads to bickering.
This technique is especially effective if a character has just said
something vulnerable. People will rarely repeat something
embarrassing or hurtful or vulgar. You can draw attention to their
vulnerability by having them refuse to repeat themselves.
6. Real People Dont Always
Reply
Sometimes, someone will say something like, Man, its a
beautiful day, and then wait for the other person to respond.
Usually, the other person says, Yeah, gorgeous, right? But
sometimes the other person doesnt say anything. They just grunt
or roll their eyes or stare out the window.
People learn how to do this as teenagers, and its a good way to
show underlying tension.
7. Real People Use Nicknames
No one calls you by your first, middle, and last name. So dont
use whole names in your dialogue.
8. Real People Cuss
Some people are very sensitive to curse words, and I get it. But
real people pepper curse words throughout their speech, and if
you want to write realistically, you need to think seriously about
interjecting an occasional D-word in your dialogue.
9. Real People Speak in
Tangents
I know youre a grammar snob and you only speak (and write) in
complete sentences, but that doesnt mean your characters do, too.
Let the rules go when youre writing dialogue. Seriously.
10. Real People Lose Track of
Time and Their Surroundings
When They Talk
Dont intersperse your dialogue wit a lot of description or action.
Your characters arent noticing what theyre doing or what
theyre seeing. Theyre paying attention to the conversation. If
youre using any kind of deep viewpoint (i.e. third-person
limited), your narration should be paying attention to the
conversation, too.
11. Real People Exaggerate
Real people dont tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
They dont exactly lie either. They just leave things out and
exaggerate to make themselves look better. It might be morally
questionable, but its very human. (And youre writing about
humans, arent you?)
12. Real People Tell Stories
The only time you can write long speeches is when your character
is telling a story. People love to tell stories, especially stories
about themselves. Sometimes, people will even listen to them.
William Faulkner, Joseph Conrad, the author of Arabian Nights,
and many others have exploited this with the literary technique of
the Story within a Story. Heart of Darkness is basically one long
monologue about an experience a sailor had on his travels (in fact,
its a monologue about a monologue). The majority of Arabian
Nights is a woman telling stories to her murderous husband.
Often, in these situations, the author allows us to forget we are
actually reading dialogue. All the speaker tags would get really
old. Every once in a while, though, another character will make
an interjection and remind us.
13. Real People Have Accents
But remember, writing in an accent can be extremely annoying to
read, not to mention distracting. Feel free to experiment with
accents, but dont be surprised if your readers dont appreciate it.
14. Real People Talk When No
One is Listening
Even when people dont reply, real people keep talking anyway.
This is a great way to show annoyance, if your characters
lecturing someone, or insecurity, if he cant stand the sound of
silence, or even social awkwardness, if he cant pick up on social
cues.
15. Real People Dont Talk at
All
Sometimes, real people are too mad or too nervous or too sullen
or too much of a teenager to talk. Dont make your characters talk
if they dont want it.
16. Real People Say Less Than
They Feel
In the end, dialogue isnt the best tool for developing a plot
because real people are unpredictable. They rarely speak about
the things closest to them. They rarely speak about their
vulnerabilities. They often talk about the most superficial,
irrelevant subjects. Real people say less they feel, which makes it
very difficult to get emotion, sentiment, and transformation across
through dialogue.
The key is to get your characters into a situation where theyre so
broken, so destitute, so screwed up that theyll say anything. And
perhaps thats why we read fiction anyway, to hear people say
exactly whats on their mind.
What are your favorite observations about realistic dialogue?
PRACTICE
Write a piece of dialogue using the observations above.
Write for fifteen minutes. Afterward, ask yourself whether it
sounds like the way real people talk. Is it realistic or are you
trying to get your characters to say what you want them to say?
When youre finished, post your practice in the comments section.
And if you post, please give some feedback to a few other writers
about whether their dialogue sounds realistic or not.
TIP 1 - Show, Don't Tell
Remember that dialogue is part of the action of fiction. Dialogue
doesn't tell the readers about the characters, it shows who
characters are. Four key qualities of good dialogue are that it: 1
keeps the story or no!el going" # re!eals the characters" $ is
belie!able" % interests the readers.
2 - Listen To Yoursel
&he first and best source of the dialogue you write is your own
speech. 'ou'!e been practicing dialogue all your life. 'ou speak
in a range of emotions ( anger, fear, lo!e, loathing, )oy and
re!ulsion. 'ou speak in a !ariety of speech le!els ( formal and
informal, standard and slang, curses and e*pleti!es you ha!en't
deleted. 'our speech also includes a mi* of )argons reflecting
your work and interests ( baking, banking, bowling, gardening,
garage bands, plumbing and physics.
! - Listen To "thers
+se the dialogue of other people. ,ecome more aware of how
other people speak, how they emphasi-e certain words and
swallow others. .isten to the sound of their !oices. /re they
deep or high and piping0 /re they rough or syrupy0 /re they
questioning e!en when they're not asking a question0 or do they
chuckle though they're not saying anything funny0 .isten1
# - $e%d
+se the dialogue written by others. 2o, this doesn't mean you
copy out their dialogue. 3t means take a close look to find out
what it is that you particularly lo!e about the dialogue in
fa!orite books. &ry to achie!e that with the speech of your own
characters. &he same goes for dialogue in plays, films and &4
that catches your ear.
& - $e%d "ut Loud
/fter writing a scene of dialogue, put it away for a while. &hen
go back and don't )ust re(read it, read it out loud1 &hat's right:
read it out at the speed and with the emotional tone you would
as if you were the character speaking it. Reading your dialogue
out loud helps you to hear if it works.
' - Su((orti)e *%rr%ti)e
5ow much supporting narrati!e should you write for your
dialogue0 6nough. 3n other words, you can't decide before you
actually write it. 7upporting narrati!e is used for identifying the
speaker, indicating speech tone, describing the speaker or
listener's facial or bodily e*pression or action, stating unspoken
thoughts or e*pressing the narrator's reflections or
obser!ations. 7ome dialogue may ha!e no supporting narrati!e,
some may ha!e more narrati!e than there is dialogue.
+ - ,%r- .or/s
Dialogue can be used in other forms than in scenes and
narration to enli!en fiction. 3t can be used in monologues, that
is, a character's !ery long speech 8not first(person narration, in
which part of it can be shorter bits of dialogue. Dialogue can
also occur in thoughts, as when a character remembers or
imagines con!ersation. /nd dialogue can be presented in letter,
in diaries, as telephone con!ersations, !oice messages, e!en as
emails or te*ts 8she sd u r a fool bt u dnt fool me.
0 - Indirect S(eech
+se indirect speech, for e*ample ( 7he said that 3 was a fool ( as
a good way to shift smoothly from narrati!e to dialogue or from
dialogue back into narrati!e.
1 - .oreign Di%logue
9hen you present a foreigner speaking 6nglish, remember that
a little bit of accent, or odd grammar, or lack of idiomatic
speech goes a long way. /s for presenting foreign dialogue,
either be direct: 7he said in 6stonian, ''ou are a fool,' or write it
in 6stonian and ha!e a character translate it. 'ou can also use
character reaction and comment to gi!e your reader a good idea
of its general meaning.
12 - 3ew%re " Sl%ng
Remember that nothing dates as fast as slang. 7o if you're
writing a scene in which two fourteen year olds are talking to
each other and there's nobody around of that age, do a little
research. &he slang you used when you were fourteen in the
1:;<'s or :<'s is pretty much a dead language1
4rite 5re%t Di%logue is (ublished on !2 *o)e/ber, b-
6odder 7 Stoughton. 8oin the con)ers%tion %t9
:TY;4riting.