When my maternal grandmother was alive and living in a nursing home, I visited her just about every weekend. Although I couldn’t stand the smell of the place, (Lysol and urine) I truly enjoyed going there. Not only because I’d get to see my grandma (whom I adored), of course, but because of some of the other characters who lived in the home with her. There’s one woman in particular I still think about today. I’ll call her Nola for the sake of this story…..
Nola was in her late thirties, very young compared to the other residents, of average height and weight, and had dark brown hair streaked with gray, and no teeth. Aside from the no teeth part and the fact that she lived in a nursing home, she looked like any average woman you’d meet on the street. What really made her stand out, to me, was the one and only thing she always said . . .to everyone.
Every time I walked through those nursing home doors, I’d see Nola shuffling around the lobby. As soon as she’d spot me, she’d hurry over with a huge toothless smile, and say, “I know you!”
The thing was Nola said that to me the very first time I visited the place and every time afterwards. She also said it to any and everyone who walked into the building. The staff actually called her I-Know-You, because the name made her immediately identifiable to everyone in the place. Truth is, Nola didn’t really know me or most visitors who came there. It was just something she said. In fact, those were the only three words she ever spoke, and know one really knew why.
For some reason, Nola always comes to mind when I’m developing characters, especially their speech patterns for dialogue. I guess it’s because Nola’s was so unique. Although the woman was basically nondescript, those three words made her identifiable to everybody. As a writer, how wonderful a gift would that be? To create characters that, by dialogue alone, would remain in a reader’s mind for years.
To me, dialogue is like music in many ways. When done well, its rhythm can sweep you along with it and evoke certain emotions. When done poorly, it grates against your ear.
In that same context, consider that each musical artist has his or her own sound/rhythm…one wouldn’t confuse the BeeGees with Barry Manilow or Frank Sinatra with ZZ Top for example. I think main characters should carry that same distinction.
That said, I thought I’d include a few standard ‘tricks-of-the-trade’ for writing dialogue and would love to know what some of yours are……
DIALOGUE AS A WHOLE….
- Adds new information for the reader, be it to plot, characterization, setting, etc.
- Is NOT useless conversation:
- “Hello, John. How are you?”
- “I’m fine, Sam. How are you?”
* Should not be repetitive
- “How’s your new job going, John?”
- “My new job? It’s going well.”
* Should not contain colorful alternatives to he said/she said:
- “Go now!” he shrieked. (or exclaimed.—the exclamation point already tells us he’s exclaimed.)
- “Get over here,” she gesticulated.
* Should not contain excessive taglines.—he said/she said. Use these tags only when it’s absolutely necessary to clarify the speaker.
* Should contain occasional descriptive narrative to give more detail:
- “Yeah,” she said.
- She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Yeah.”
- She lowered her head. “Yeah.”
* Should not overuse direct address:
- “What are you doing, John?”
- “Well, Sam, I’m fixing my car.”
- “I didn’t know your car was broken, John.”
- “You know my car is always breaking down, Sam.”
UGH!
DISTINCT DIALOGUE . . .
*** Slang – use cautiously because it changes very quickly.
- Groovy
- Dig it!
* * * Make use of region, class, group or profession-specific language. If your character is a computer nerd, think about the terminology he/she might use even in play…
- “Now I’d let her defrag my system anytime!”
*** Dialect – avoid phonetic spelling whenever possible. If you must use the phonetic spelling, do so sparingly and consistently.
*** Speech patterns and vocabulary:
- “Yep” vs “Yes” vs “Yeah”
- Fragmented sentences
- Verbosity
- Demure/timid
*** Mannerisms, posture while speaking
Any points you’d like to add to the list? As a reader, when it comes to dialogue, what makes a character memorable to you?
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
Janet Berliner
Lots of good points there, Deb. –Janet
Feb 18th, 2008
Brian Hodge
Differentiating dialog … that’s one big bag of tricks, and it better be, because if the writer doesn’t mix them up, the tricks start to look obvious.
A few others that come to mind:
* Giving a character what amounts to, for lack of a better term, a catch-phrase. Say, he sometimes ends a passage of dialogue with “Am I right, or am I right?” It should be used sparingly enough to avoid become obnoxious, but frequently enough to provide some consistency.
* If you can tune in to the music inherent in an accent, that can be a great guide.
One of my favorite characters to write dialogue for was the proprietress of a pub/bed-and-breakfast in Ireland: “Well, it’ll not be the likes of you, so best you take your face and all three chins, and stick ‘em deep in that glass of yours, where you’ve forever found a more welcome reception.”
In my new crime novel, MAD DOGS, there’s a character from Montana who every waking moment pretends to be this German hipster, so he comes out with these wonky sentence structures. I also ran all his dialogue through what I thought of as The Dieter (pronounced deeter) Filter: I imagined it as spoken by Mike Myers’ SNL character Dieter, from the “Sprockets” segments.
* Content and attitude can create as much of a signature as rhythm. For another character in MAD DOGS, practically everything out of her mouth is an archly delivered insult.
* Out-of-character contrasts can, paradoxically enough, be used to delineate the character. In an earlier crime novel, WILD HORSES, a thuggish, low-rent casino enforcer was always trying to improve his vocabulary. So when he popped out with some uncharacteristic word, you just knew he’d been at the dictionary again. And he especially fell in love with the word ‘truculence.’ Which led to a twist in which you didn’t realize he was on the other end of a phone call, until he used that word.
Those are just a few off the top of the head.
Feb 18th, 2008
Dave Wilson
I’m not convinced that the rule about colorful alternatives to he said she said should be a rule. I know King said it, but that’s not enough for me. There are times it is appropriate. It’s when such things are a constant that they become distractions.
Interesting topic, though. I always enjoy seeing how others handle dialogue.
David
Feb 18th, 2008
Michele
I’d like to add that sometimes what is not said is just as important as what is said.
Feb 18th, 2008
Deborah LeBlanc
Thanks, Janet.
Great points, Brian, Dave, and Michele!
Feb 19th, 2008
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