Sneaky preview of a work-in-progress I’m hatching this year. Two characters talk about how to get characters talking…

‘Rachel?’

‘Yes?’

‘Is dialogue complicated?’

‘God no.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Dialogue isn’t complicated. Dialogue is easy. People are complicated.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The mistake new writers make is expecting their characters to say very articulately exactly what they truly think. In GCSE-English-Essay-worthy sentences. Which is about as realistic as a flying hamster.’

‘Oh. Okay. But we were talking about paragraphs, right?’

‘Paragraphs. Right. Where was I? What do you want to know?’

‘Um… How to write dialogue?’  

‘Okay. How about paragraphing for dialogue?’

‘Err, okay?’

‘Right. You already know you start a new paragraph for TPTP, right?’

‘Sure. TiPToP. Time, Place, Topic and Person. I did that for Eleven Plus.’

‘Great. Basically we start a new paragraph when a new idea takes over.’

‘Right.’

‘Right. So, that’s paragraphing. Now, characters.’

‘Characters?’

‘Characters talking to each other. That’s dialogue, in a scene.’

‘Us?’

‘Well, yes. But we’re not a proper scene right now.’

‘We’re not? Why not? How is this not a proper scene?’

‘We’re what’s called “floating dialogue”. No gestures, facial expressions, sensory details to tie what’s happening to the real world. Floating off. Like an escaped balloon.’

‘So how do we stop floating?’

‘We add a few clues.’

‘Clues? You mean speech tags? All that “he said, she said” stuff?’

‘Yes. But no.’

‘Okay, what do you mean?’

‘Speech tags are so much more than speech tags. Every speech tag is an opportunity to clarity the image. Not by looking for adverbs but by letting sensory detail do the work: facial details; physical actions; when the character leans in, how overpowering their perfume or aftershave become. Senses tie us to the world. Prioritise what you want to show the reader. Oh, and the great thing about dialogue is aural punctuation.’

‘Aural what?’

‘The punctuation is based on what we say. And how we say it. Not formal grammar. Punctuation that shows how dialogue sounds. Shows how the characters are speaking. Sometimes it’s the same as written punctuation – you know, commas and full stops and parentheses and all that stuff – but other times it’s not. Like when you have a fragmented sentence. Which you never do in formal grammar. Ever.’

‘Ever?’

‘Ever.’

‘But in dialogue…’

‘You can totally do that. You show how people sound.’

‘Hmm.’

‘You don’t sound convinced.’

‘Well… I mean, I just don’t find it that easy.’

‘Writing isn’t easy. But it’s possible. And rewarding. Try it.’

‘Okay… what shall I write about?’

‘Why decide? Why not just let two characters talk to each other? Go on. I dare you…’

Thank you for reading this preview of my creative writing guide work-in-progress. If there’s a particular area of writing you want to understand better, or have more fun with, let me know with a Substack message or by joining a Writers’ Gym workout.