the delphic expanse

How to Write Realistic Dialogue

One of the things I come across most often when I edit fics for the zine or beta them for other people is superfluous dialogue--anything that doesn't further the plot or develop the characters. This article gives great examples. Yes sometimes it's hard to cut something you wanted, but once you see it put this way, you understand why it's better for your story.

ETA: the obvous exception to people not talking in perfectly-formed, grammatically correct sentences: T'Pol. Again this is part of character development, and part of that other link about dialogue tags. Having T'Pol's sentences contrast with other people's in this way is a great way to let the reader know who's talking without repetitive or purple tags.

I actually read my dialogue out loud in order to "vet it" and ensure that it sounds realistic. As I've learned, I'm significantly more precise when I type, so my dialogue can sometimes be overly verbose and sometimes even unnecessary. Hence, the reading out loud. That actually helps me identify problems with flow and believability.

Neat link!

Great tip, Rigil! Thanks.

I read everything out loud before it goes to beta. I find a lot of mistakes that way--typos, sentences that don't flow right, etc.

Good link. Though I'm giggling right now because I'm doing everything wrong for Nano. LOL I only care about the word count. I have some major, major rewriting to do when all is said and done.