by Raelene Gorlinsky
Conversation is the way people really talk, their exact words. It may be realistic, but it is repetitive, slow, often hard to follow, often boring to others.
Dialogue is what you should put in your book - snappy, interesting, conveying important information or defining the character, moving the story along.
From You Can Write a Novel by Geoffrey Bocca: "Of all aspects of novel writing, none plays a greater con job on the reader than dialogue. The art of dialogue lies in leading the reader to think that the characters are speaking as they do in everyday life, when they are doing nothing of the sort."
Important tip: Read your dialogue aloud. Does it flow, or does it halt the movement of the story?
Dialogue must contribute to telling the story. So if your characters are talking in your head, be sure to convert their "conversation" to "dialogue".
What happens in the Cave doesn't always stay there... Conversations and news from Ellora's Cave Publishing, an erotic romance publisher.
2 comments:
You're very right. Dialogue is an art that needs to be mastered. Reading it aloud is the best way to figure out if it flows right or needs a bit of reworking to be just right.
Great post! Very useful for writers both new and experienced.
I LOVE dialogue. I often wonder if I should have tried script writing when I was younger and writing fan fiction. The irony is - I'm a crap conversationalist. I only think of the right thing to say once the moment as passed. Writing at least gives me time to think!
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