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Tips for Dialogue by Patricia Gilliam

The following are some general tips that I´ve found helpful when using dialogue in short stories:

1) Picture your characters as if they were on a TV show or in a play.

Ask yourself if anything seems awkward or out of place. There are situations where your dialogue may be grammatically correct but won´t resemble what someone would say in real life. Mentally playing out a scene can also help you catch dialogue that does not fit with a particular character’s personality.

2) Keep in mind the age, education, and geographical region of your characters.

Children (usually) are going to have a more limited vocabulary compared to adults. Unless the story calls for it, do not write them as if they are small adults. Along a similar line, not everyone in your story has to have the same vocabulary or education level.

People of different generations also have different slang terms. An example of this is the word "thong"--which to some people means a shoe, a flip-flop. This can sometimes provide humor for you: For example, the reaction of a granddaughter when her grandmother asks her if she´s seen her thongs anywhere.

With regional accents, be careful of writing phonetically to the point it’s a distraction to your reader. At least, it will annoy them. At worst, they will quit reading.

3) If you´re writing something you want to be long-lasting, be sparing on slang.

In some cases slang may help you as a historical marker, but you also run the risk of a future reader not knowing what you mean. Some readers have fun figuring words out though, so it´s basically a personal decision.

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Written by: Patricia Gilliam
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