Writing good dialogue

Writing dialogue that sounds natural while moving your story along and setting your tone can be a daunting task, and rightfully so. Quite simply, it's hard. Don't let poor dialogue hold you back. Looking at several articles on the subject, I've composed a list of things that will help you bump up your dialogue.

If you want to write naturally, the way people talk, then you have to listen to people talk.

Use dialogue "economically." Make sure that everything you write has a purpose- Does it develop the character? Does it give information that forwards the plot? If it's just taking up space, cut it out. This applies to things like pleasantries, too. Even though they would be in normal speech, they're tedious in writing. Find a balance between natural-feeling and concise.

Use actions to break up long stretches of dialogue, and sometimes in place of speech tags. Show what your characters are thinking or feeling, don't just tell. For instance, tacking adverbs onto speech tags is jarring and unnecessary.
Instead of this:
"I like it," she said happily.
Try this:
She grinned at him, eyes twinkling. "I like it."

While we're on the topic of speech tags, don't put them all in the same place. With experience, you get an ear for where to put them, and when to omit them, so read your sentences and decide where it sounds best. If you decide to omit one, make sure it's obvious who's speaking.

A good way to make it obvious who's speaking is by varying the voices of your characters. Every person doesn't have the same speech pattern- make sure this is evident in your work. You can give characters various accents, speech patterns, or even sayings that they use, just be careful not to overdo it.

Especially watch your use of slang. Not only does it date your work, it can feel awkward to readers. Also limit use of "um," "well," and pauses. Again, if it's just taking up space, leave it out, even if it would make sense in a real conversation.

Finally, don't be the grammar police with dialogue. People don't always speak in complete sentences. Characters shouldn't either. Trailing off or being interrupted can give a conversation depth. Maybe one character tends to misuse words or make mistakes. That's one way to give them their own voice. So ease up on the rules, and don't make it sound good; make it sound real.

If you'd like to read the articles I read, here are their links:
Writing Is Hard Work
Whoosh Editing
NY Book Editors

Thanks for reading to the end of this super long post. Happy writing! -Abby