Writing Outside the Box - Writing Dialogue

Scroll to the end of the blog to watch the video tutorial for this session or read on for a full transcript of the workshop.

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Introduction:

Many writers find writing conversation between characters one of the hardest things to get right. Literature is full of examples of terrible dialogue: characters who sound unbelievably posh and polite or like comical caricatures of different stereotypes. We’re often taught that good dialogue looks like writing down exactly what people say. There’s a certain amount of truth in this. Having a good ear and listening in on other people’s conversations, might well make you unpopular with your mates, but it’s a really good skill to develop as a writer. Learn how to listen to people talking. Tune your ear to pick up on specific words and phrases commonly used in different areas. Often it isn’t the colloquial words speakers use which identify them as being from a certain place, so much as the way they structure and shape their sentences. Listen to the shape of a conversation. It should sound a little like verbal ping pong with thoughts, questions and answers bouncing backwards and forwards between the speakers. When one person speaks for more than a few sentences it will begin to sound a bit like a sermon.

The writer DBC Pierre in his book “Release the Bats” includes an excellent chapter on writing dialogue. He claims that real people don’t speak realistic dialogue. When he says this, he means it’s not as simple as setting a tape recorder in front of two people and then transcribing everything they say. Real life dialogue is full of confusing references to things the speakers already know, half-finished sentences, interruptions and repetitions. When we come to write conversations, we have to find a kind of half-way house; a dialogue which reads as both authentic and understandable. It’s not always as easy as it sounds. In this workshop we’re going to have a go at writing an imagined dialogue between two people. As always with writing dialogue it’s essential to get a feel for how the words sound both on and off the page. Make sure to read your work aloud. Reading’s great but you’ll always be able to hear what sounds like believable dialogue much quicker than you’ll spot it with your reading eye.

If you have time you might like to read the work of some writers who employ dialogue creatively and authentically in their work. I suggest reading a section from one of the short stories in Raymond Carver’s collection, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” or a passage from Miriam Toews’s excellent novel “Women Talking,” (which is written almost entirely in dialogue) or any of the fantastic short stories or novels by the Irish writer, Kevin Barry. Pay special attention to how the writers pace their dialogue, the words and styles of speech they use to differentiate between speakers, how they build tension with speech and employ humour. If at all possible read these passages aloud as this will give you a much better understanding of how well they’ve been crafted.

Interactive Writing Exercises:

·      Set a chair in front or beside you.

·      Pick someone you know really well. It can be absolutely anyone -a friend or family member or even a familiar character from a TV show- so long as they’re not actually present. Write the person’s name on a Post-It note or piece of paper and place it where you can easily read it on the chair.

·      Spend some time thinking about the way the person you’ve picked conducts a conversation. Jot down some notes.

·      Are there particular words or phrases they often use?

·      How do they speak: loud and overbearing, quiet and hesitant, always joking?

·      Do they tend to be more of a speaker or a listener?

·      What sort of topics do they commonly talk about – a person in conversation will usually try to bring the chat around to a topic they feel comfortable with.

·      How do they sit, look and physically react when they’re talking to you?

·      What you’re doing is creating a miniature profile of this person as a speaker. Writers will often say that they don’t write characters. Characters write themselves. I find this happens most often with dialogue. A character will tell you the sort of things they would or would not say and how they’d say them.

·      You’re going to write a short piece of dialogue between yourself and the person who you’re imagining is sitting in front of you.

·      Most dialogue in stories is there for a reason. It helps to advance the plot. It allows us to learn something about the characters or provides explanations or key background information we didn’t know before.

·      For this dialogue let’s go with using conversation to reveal something new about a character.

·      Every conversation has a context. We’ll use a really simple one here. The person in front of you has come to your house to borrow something and you’ve invited them in for a cup of tea.

·      Jot down a few details about this context. What have they come to borrow? What time of the day is it? What are you eating or drinking? Where is the conversation is taking place? These details often find their way into a dialogue.

·      Now write down something about yourself -a fact, a secret, an ability or achievement- the person sat opposite you doesn’t already know. For the purpose of the exercise feel free to invent something.

·      You’re going to write a short conversation between the two of you. We already know the other person’s purpose for talking; they want to borrow something. You want to subtly reveal the thing they don’t yet know about you.

·      Keep your dialogue tight. No more than two file sides.

·      Remember it needs to read like verbal ping pong; keep it alternating between the speakers.

·      Think about how you weave your revelation into the conversation. Drop clues. Try to turn the chat towards a related subject. Build up to sharing the whole truth gradually.

·      Think about how the other person would react to this revelation. Remember the notes you took about their speaking style. Make sure they sound like themselves throughout.

·      Read your dialogue out loud to hear how authentic it sounds. If you’re working in a group, read it as an actual dialogue with someone physically sitting in the empty chair.

Example:

I’ve chosen this piece of dialogue from my second novel “The Fire Starters,” (Doubleday 2019), as an example of a written conversation where one speaker is trying to reveal a piece of information naturally. Dr Jonathan Murray has just returned to work after a long absence. He doesn’t want his colleagues to know the truth about where he’s been and so he’s invented a story about the sudden loss of his parents in a car crash. Jonathan is trying to convince everyone that he’s normal and fully capable of being back at work when in reality his life is spinning out of control.

The lady receptionists huddle round my chair, echoing her concern. They are like hens when hens are confined within a closed space.

‘I hear you’ve a wee one we didn’t know about,’ says the lady receptionist with the particularly solid hair. It’s a clumsy attempt to change the subject from dead parents to something more palatable and the rest of them take to it immediately, pecking at me for details.

‘Aye, you’re a dark one, Dr Murray. We’d no idea you were a daddy.’

‘Is it a wee girl you have or a wee fella?’
‘What’s her name?’
‘Have you any photos of her?’
‘Sophie,’ I say. ‘Her name’s Sophie.’ This meets with a round of approving nods.
‘Photo?’ asks the one with the large chin, clapping her hands in front of her chest, like a sealion swiping at its own excitement.

‘I’ve no photos with me, ladies,’ I say, and then I remember the photo Christine has just sent me. I take out my phone and pass it round the circle. There seem to be more lady receptionists than there were when I left. It’s possible they’re multiplying behind the photocopier and the other doctors haven’t noticed.

‘The nanny took that this morning,’ I say.

‘Is her mammy back at work already?’ asks the lady receptionist with the Ballymena accent.

‘No, she doesn’t have a mother.’

‘What happened to her?’ all of them ask at once. The lady receptionists are not known for their tact.

‘She died,’ I say.

‘In the car accident with your parents?’ asks the original lady receptionist. For a moment I don’t understand what she’s talking about and I’m confused. Then, I remember and realize I’ll have to tell another lie.

‘No,’ I say, ‘she died in childbirth,’ and quickly add the bit about an underlying heart condition to make my lie sound a little more believable.

‘Uch, you poor thing, Dr Murray,’ says the original lady receptionist. ‘You’ve been through the wars this past year. It’s little wonder you went a bit mad.’

Then, all of them are trying to pat me at once as if I’m a kind of dog, a sad-faced dog, like a Golden Retriever. I enjoy this immensely.

Developed, written and presented by Jan Carson

Produced by Alan Meban

Funded by Arts Council NI