Loose Change

Dialogue tip 2 - Plant the character

Dialogue tip: When writing dialogue, remember that the primary goal, as with all writing, is to communicate with the reader. If the dialogue is incomprehensible, that goal is not met. But alternatively, if your dialogue could be said by anybody and sound exactly the same, you are also missing the opportunity to communicate. Thus, a strong secondary purpose of any dialogue is to explore the character's background, motivations, emotions and personality.

As an example, I have an Irish friend who veers close to both insanity and incomprehensibility, but in a delightfully Irish way. Another friend commented on Facebook about how well a recent trip they'd both shared had gone. He replied, "Aye well no-one got eaten by a dragon, fell off a cliff or suddenly took up holy orders ... we are improving."

The only Irish-sounding words in that particular sentence are "Aye", and perhaps that way of referring to "holy orders", but it is a line that fairly shouts out his sense of humor and his outlook on the world. (And unlike almost every other line out of his mouth, it contains no obscure curse words.)

Does it communicate a lot of information? Not exactly. But if he were a character (well, he is, but in a novel), and he used "Aye" at the beginning of a smattering of his sentences, his voice would come through. Part dialect, part mannerism, it plants that character firmly in the reader's mind. That should be one of your major goals with dialogue. If dialogue is just exposition shoved into the mouth of a convenient character, you do your reader a discourtesy, and lose yourself an opportunity.