Dialogue between characters can make or break a story. Well crafted dialogue offers readers a window into the mind and heart of a character and adds layers to the story. Bad dialogue makes the reader wish they were doing anything else.
What are some tips and tricks you know of to create good dialogue?
To be honest, I have no idea to write dialogue and I try to avoid it as much as possible. So, I could use all the tips I can get! Writing dialogue is really intimidating to me, but sometimes it helps if I analyze other great examples of dialogue in some of my favorite movies, books, or TV shows, and see what works and why, and try to apply this to my writing.
Dialogue is also very difficult for me, but I've found that listening to real conversations around you is a really good way to hear how a conversation naturally flows between people. Giving each character a unique way of speaking also helps with consistency and personality I think. I also agree with Julianna that watching interesting movies or reading good books helps you start to see what works and what doesn't in a scene.
Sometimes I'll read it aloud, sometimes I'll read only one character's dialogue. I have been known to mouth words as I write because the way the mouth forms a set of syllables will tell me whether the words are in the right order for my goal.
I usually come up with sort of character voices in my head and I try to keep their dialogue similar to my own as well that those of the people around me. But I also wrote a story with pixies who had very unique dialogue that I pulled from a mix of media sources like Alice in Wonderland and Gollum to make them sound whimsical and creepy. I'm not sure where all of the inspiration came from though as it's just sort of a form of speech that I've got tucked away in my mind.
An example of some of their dialogue:
“Met the other you, did you?” They cackled hysterically. “Took her place, you did. Yep.” More cackling followed. “Sneaky little changeling swapped with the hyumun! (what pixies called humans in this story due to their pronunciation)” The pair rolled around clutching their sides as they howled with laughter.