Summary

The provided content discusses the nuances of writing effective dialogue in fiction, emphasizing the importance of understanding characters, utilizing subtext, and considering the setting and relationships to create engaging and believable interactions.

Abstract

Effective dialogue in fiction is a critical element that can make or break a story. It is not merely a tool for conveying information but serves to reveal character depth and motivations through subtext. The article adv that writers should deeply understand their characters and plot to craft dialogue that feels natural and compelling. Additionally, the setting of the dialogue should complement the conversation's tension, and the history between characters should inform their exchanges. The author, Aigner Loren Wilson, encourages writers to use arguments strategically, ensuring that readers are emotionally invested in the characters before introducing conflicts that will have significant impact. The article also offers a resource for writers seeking to improve their dialogue and narrative construction through a newsletter that provides guidance on designing a writing practice.

Opinions

Dialogue should not be used solely to feed information to the reader; this approach can result in stale and unengaging writing.
Writers must know their characters and story intimately, akin to knowing a best friend or an ex-partner, to write authentic dialogue.
Subtext is crucial in dialogue; it allows for the expression of what cannot be directly stated, adding depth and complexity to character interactions.
Characters in fiction speak more like actors portraying a role than real people, which requires an understanding of their motivations and objectives within a scene.
The setting of a dialogue should be chosen carefully to enhance the tension and believability of the conversation.
The relationships between characters significantly influence how they communicate with each other, affecting the dynamics and stakes of their dialogue.
Arguments in stories should be placed at points where readers have enough emotional investment in the characters to be fully engaged and surprised by plot developments.

What is Dialogue in Fiction?

Writing dialogue made simple.

In our stories, we use dialogue to convey to our readers what our characters say to each other. It is the building block to making believable characters and is one of the hardest things to write.

I’ve come across stories in my line of work as an editor and judge, where it is clear that the writer didn’t know what dialogue was or how to use it to enrich their story.

Common misconception about dialogue: It’s a way of feeding information to the reader in a subtle way.

That is the quickest way to write stale dialogue and lose your reader. If you want to write dialogue that feels organic to character and story, you’ll need to know your characters and story like a best friend or a hated ex-. Don’t stop there, though, to make your dialogue truly phenomenal, you need to use subtext to say what can’t be directly stated.

When writing your dialogue, think about what the character speaking:

wants from the other person
thinks is going to happen in the situation
what they are hiding

If you’re confused about subtext, the best way to think about it is as an actor reading lines. Good actors that sell a line or script, ask the fundamental question of: “What is this character’s motivation?” This is how they channel the correct emotion into the lines they are saying.

That is how you must think about each line of dialogue.

Pro Tip: Characters in a story don’t really speak like real people, they speak like actors.

Tips and Tricks

Here are some things to keep in mind when writing dialogue that will help your characters and stories come to life for the reader.

Use the Setting

Depending on what type of story you’re telling, your characters will be having their discussion in a space of some sort, whether physical or not. Make sure that the space that the dialogue is happening in makes sense for the argument, so that it quietly heightens the tension of the scene.

Subtext

What are the characters within your scene avoiding saying? What are their inner motivations, secrets, and desires? If one of the characters is using this time to manipulate the other character into doing something they want, make them go about whispering their intentions through what they say and don’t say.

Use Character Relationships

Dialogue between two exes and a child and parent will have different stakes and power struggles. Knowing how your characters are related and what their histories are will help you in understanding which each would say to the other to get what they want out of the argument. And I mean really knowing. Truly examine your characters and their histories, shared and personal.

Use Reader Emotion

It may be tempting for some to put arguments at the beginning of their story or to introduce characters, but at that point, readers don’t know enough to care about why there is an argument taking place to actually be engaged in it. Arguments are best saved for moments when the reader knows the characters and believe they’ll know the outcome of the argument (this leaves room for you to pull a reversal or a big reveal that makes the reader fall out of their seats).

Join my newsletter subscriber list for a free guide at designing your writing practice and learning ways to use argument and character development in relation to dialogue.

Aigner Loren Wilson is a queer Black SFWA, HWA, and Codex writer. Her work has appeared in Arsenika, Terraform, Rue Morgue, and more. She was listed on the honors list for the Otherwise Fellowship award for 2019. She also writes or edits for Strange Horizons, Nightlight Horror Podcast, Oly Arts, Discover Pods, and more.

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