A mysterious-looking man in a trench coat and fedora...the Dialogue Spy

One of my earliest college writing assignments involved a little espionage.

Having spent plenty of time playacting the part of spy in my youth and, in later years, transplanting such imaginative adventures to written page, I eagerly embraced the challenge my professor put forth.

My mission: to choose a random conversation between two people, eavesdrop and write down every word.

Later that day, I lingered in a classroom building’s lounge where fellow students were wont to while away time between classes, catching up on reading assignments, cramming before quizzes, or just chatting with classmates.

Today, I couldn’t tell you much about my marks other than the fact that they were young women. I recall even less about subject of their conversation. Their gossip meant very little to me because I knew nothing about them or the people they discussed. Nevertheless, I surreptitiously jotted down every word.

Every false start. Every verbal crutch. Every grammatical violation.

When reviewing my transcripts later, I came to a few conclusions. For one thing, most people are far from eloquent. When engaged in casual conversation, we interrupt one another. We even interrupt ourselves. Occasionally, we use the wrong words. And if counted how many “ums,” “ahs,” and “actuallys” sprinkled throughout our speech, we’d be amazed.

In other words, if a writer were to accurately capture human communication and translate it to the written word, he/she would end up with a string of fragments and incomplete thoughts through which a reader would inevitably struggle. Most of the time, the result would be an incoherent mess.

Which, of course, was the point of my top-secret assignment.

This lesson was reinforced in later years when I worked as a reporter. Oh sure, some people are capable of providing the perfect quote, a sequence of phrases that succinctly sums up their perspective on a given topic. But most of us use far more words than we need to. We ramble. We utter copious pronouns because, in the context of an interview, the reporter understands what is meant by “he,” “she,” and “it.”

Yet when the reporter goes back to his/her desk to rearrange the interviewee’s answers and evaluate which quote belongs where in the article, it becomes obvious that there is often a chasm between what people mean to say and what they actually say. It’s truly a treasure when a reporter gets that perfect, impactful quote. More often than not, however, the phrases and clauses between quotation marks remain rough-edged, unrefined.

When I made the switch from journalism to public relations, writing press releases allowed me to do something I never dared to do as a reporter: I reworked spokespeople’s quotes. Quite often, I was encouraged to create such quotes from scratch and later run them past my “sources,” who might add a thought here or make a word swap there. But the finished result was almost always a clear, coherent (if, at times, clearly artificial) collection of clauses that efficiently and effectively communicated the point.

Unlike how people actually speak…

In fiction, nothing takes a reader out of story quicker than stilted, sterile, and/or sloppy dialogue. The good news is that you have full control over the words that come out of your characters’ mouths. Here are some tips for how to handle the infuriating idiosyncrasies of human speech and deliver effective dialogue:

1. Shorten, streamline, then slash some more

Even though people in real life prattle on and on, a writer must be mindful of his or her “word economy.” That doesn’t mean every sentence has to be reduced to a simple, subject-predicate construction, but short and snappy does wonders for pacing. A reader’s attention has to be earned, and once you lost it, you might not reclaim it.

Consider each situation. If two characters are passing each other in the hall at work, they wouldn’t likely engage in a twenty-minute conversation. But if they’re unwinding at the local waterhole after hours—while imbibed a few alcoholic beverages—then a few run-on sentences might be just what the doctor ordered.

A common error I’ve encountered in rough drafts are conversations that simply go on too long. Not only do the characters say in three sentences what they could have said in one, but also the subject itself circles back on itself again and again. The chances of this happening increase dramatically if these artificial people are having an argument. Real-life bickering is repetitive, but no reader wants to endure page after page of repetitive back-and-forth.

When in doubt, err on the side of fewer words.

2. Intersperse action

Dialogue can be like swarm of locusts, hungrily devouring a scene or even an entire chapter. That might not be the worst thing in the world, just as long as it doesn’t leave the rest of the narrative desolate and devoid of life.

When a writer really gets into a verbal exchange between two (or more) captivating characters, it’s easy to lose track of everything else. However, if the result is several consecutive pages of pure quotations, you end up with what I like to call Voices in a Vacuum.

Readers want to experience the story through as many senses as possible. If a long conversation is needed, remember to plant some action in between speech tags so that the reader has something to” look at.” And don’t forget the setting. Where are these people? Have they really been sitting perfectly still on a couch this whole time? Is the rest of reality on pause while they bear their souls to one another? Not likely.

Unadulterated dialogue appeals to just one of the five senses: hearing. And when we speak in real life, our mannerisms convey meaning as well. Indeed, body language often says more than our mouths!

Sometimes it can be difficult to silence loquacious characters, but unless their words are moving the story forward in a significant way, get ready to press the backspace key.

3. Replace action

Bad dialogue bogs down the pace; good dialogue encourages momentum.

In an effort to smooth out transitions between straightforward action and dialogue (because dialogue actually is a kind of action), it can be helpful to replace an ordinary description of motion with a voiced reference to an action.

Take this (admittedly ridiculous) excerpt for example:

Professor Improbable laughed wildly. “With a few minor adjustments, the Chrono Cruiser will finally be ready for its maiden voyage!”

He turned to his slump-shouldered assistant, Rogi, and asked, “Bring me the thermal calibrator at once.”

Rogi reached for one of the many tools scattered on the table and handed a gadget to the scientist, who curtly informed him that he asked for a thermal calibrator, not an infrared coupler.

Rogi tried again and, luckily, got it right.

“Thank you, Rogi. I don’t know what I’d have done without you these past five years…”

Here’s an alternate approach:

“Mwahahaha!  With a few minor adjustments, the Chrono Cruiser will finally be ready for its maiden voyage!” Professor Improbable turned to his slump-shouldered assistant. “Rogi, bring me the thermal calibrator at once. No, no, no! That’s the infrared coupler. Ah, yes, that’s the one. Thank you. I don’t know what I’d have done without you these past five years…”

The action is implied in the dialogue, and Professor Improbable—whom we suspect always monopolizes the conversation—can recap his master plan without needless interruptions. Just make sure you don’t waste the reader’s time by having the dialogue and the narration convey redundant information.

4. Develop voice

Dialogue is perhaps the most intuitive element through which one can execute characterization. A person’s vocabulary and delivery say an awful lot about him or her. Casual chats, heart-to-hearts, quarrels, exchanges with random strangers—all of these present opportunities to add dimension to a character.

The goal is to give each character an individual voice, a strong voice that will inform the reader who is speaking even before they get to speech tag (e.g., “said Professor Improbable”). Consider your character’s culture, education level, disposition, etc. when determining which words ought to come out of his or her mouth.

Just don’t get carried away. Even if Rogi ends up having a speech impediment, a reader isn’t going to w-w-w-w-want to h-h-h-h-h-have t-t-t-t-t-t-to n-n-n-n-n-n-n-navigate a-a-a-around too m-m-m-m-m-many v-v-v-v-v-v-v-visual h-h-h-h-h-hurdles. The same goes for representing accents. Put in an affectation here and a native word there. Please don’t pump each paragraph full of apostrophes to imply clipped sounds or otherwise butcher perfectly good words. Subtlety is key.

Dialogue should round out your characters, but rarely can talk-heavy scenes exist solely for character development. Every word needs to move the story forward, including quotes.

5. Read it out loud

The best way to gauge whether your dialogue rings true is to read it out loud. Better yet, have someone else read it to you. Listen for tongue-twisting syntax and garbled semantics. Listen for flow. Are the transitions logical?

Listen for sentences that are just too tidy. Unless your protagonist is a grammar teacher, he or she is going to end a sentence with a preposition now and then. For that matter, the rules of proper grammar don’t apply within quotation marks. Awkward, unconventional sentence structure in dialogue won’t reflect poorly on you as a writer (if the rest of your sentences are grammatically sound), though it will send a message about the character in question.

Every good spy knows the best lies contain at least an ounce of truth. The trick with dialogue, as with any aspect of fiction, is making something artificial come off as natural. To become adept at writing dialogue, listen to how the people around you really talk and then make it better.

But not too perfect.