Hi, everyone! We had an opening in the October guest blogger schedule, so I decided to fill it with an article I recently published in the newsletter of my local RWA chapter, the Tampa Area Romance Authors. It’s about dialogue…read on and then let’s talk!
Cops Who Don’t Cuss
By Julie Leto
Recently, I was listening to the audio version of Stephen King’s ON WRITING: A MEMOIR OF THE CRAFT, read by the author himself. This is, in my opinion, a definitive work on writing popular fiction and if you haven’t read it—or better yet, listened to King read it—what are you waiting for? (If you followed my blogs, you know I consider this the bible of good writing!) The book is short and filled to the brim with brilliance. This is the fourth (or fifth) time I’ve read it and I pick up a new nugget each time.
This time, I was listening to the section on dialogue when King declared, I’m paraphrasing here, that fiction writers need to remember that their main objective is to tell the truth. We write fiction, but if our fiction is not based on universal human truths, then we will not reach the mass audience that we are aiming for. One way that we tell this truth is through the way our characters talk.
He argued that if a character hits their thumb with a hammer, chances are, they’re going to curse. A real curse. Not an “Oh, Sugar!” but an, “Oh, Shit!” This is true—for the most part. There are a few characters—King mentions a maiden aunt—who might say “sugar” instead of “shit,” but in the majority of cases, regular people are going to curse and loudly, too.
And therein lies the truth: if you want to write believable dialogue, the manner of speech has to match up with the character you’ve created.
If you chose to write about a jaded New York City cop, you’re going to have to write some harsh language. I remember reading an except of some particularly bad dialogue on the Internet a while back that was purportedly spoken by two modern-day street gangs—they sounded more like Jets and Sharks than Crips and Bloods. I’ve also read some dialogue that hinged so much on stereotype, it was offensive.
You can’t write about how you think someone talks—you have to know.
The key to good dialogue, therefore, is creating characters about which you can write authentically. If you don’t have the skill or the ability to research (or the ear, which is a more natural ability to hear people speak and translate the word choices, cadence, rhythms and syntax to the page) then perhaps you’d be better served writing a different character.
If you are adverse to using colorful language in your work, then you have two choices. First, you could make that New York City cop erudite and stuffy. Maybe then, he won’t cuss when he finds out that suspect he’s pursued for the last five years has escaped once again. Or you can write his dialogue in a gruff manner, but leave out the words that you don’t feel comfortable with, replacing it with phrases like, “He cursed” or “He dropped the f-bomb, though in the squad room, no one flinched except the little old lady who’d come in to report her missing Pekinese.”
But don’t, please, replace his curses with mild oaths like, “Oh, farts! I can’t believe he got away!”
See what I’m saying?
The best way to get a handle on dialogue is to have a handle on your characters. Create characters you can write about with believability. Listen to people who are similar to the character you’ve created. And if you don’t know anyone like that character, go searching!
I recently wrote a character who was Australian in my June release, KISS OF THE PHANTOM. I am not Australian. I’ve never been to Australia. I don’t know anyone (personally) who is Aussie and I did not want my character to sound like a caricature—not everyone (if anyone) in Australia talks like Crocodile Dundee.
The first thing I did was establish that she’d lived in the United States for ten years. This allowed her to be familiar with American expressions and references. Then, I started trolling the Internet for blogs written by Australians. People tend to write their blogs in their natural voice. I also emailed a few writer buddies who lived in Australia (love the Internet) and asked them about expressions I read during my research, to find out if they were regional, slang, etc, overly young or spoken by people my age. I also watched films produced in Australia—not American films, but actual films made by Australians for Australian audiences. I love Netflix.
Yes, I did research. Quite a bit, actually. But I had to do this in order to hear my heroine. Once I could hear her voice, I could write about her believably.
I created a character I could handle and I did my research. Just a few weeks ago, a reader complimented me on the way I portrayed that character. She noted the dialogue. For her, I’d succeeded in creating a believable character. Yeah!
Dialogue drives a story. Readers tend to seek it out and focus on it. They might skim through description or narration, but they rarely skim dialogue. It’s set off my nifty punctuation and everything—it says, “Look, here! Read me!” Oftentimes, dialogue makes or breaks a book. As a writer, you’d be well served by studying dialogue and seeking to improve it—even if you think you’re already good at it. One way to do that is to listen to King’s book.
So, have you run across some dialogue dilemmas in your writing? Dialogue triumphs? Please share! If you’re a reader, which authors do you think handle dialogue particularly well? One poster gets a $10 gift card from Amazon!
By all reports, Julie Leto was a sweet child once, somewhat shy, preferring to play quietly in her room making up stories. However, being raised with three brothers in a loud, primarily Italian household did have its influences and Julie discovered her inner tough girl. That’s probably why most of her heroines kick serious butt. Writing sassy heroines has worked out, as she’s sold over forty books to four publishers featuring strong, confident women. Julie lives in Florida with her daughter, a spoiled dachshund, a haughty lynx-point Siamese and a wide range of relatives all within driving distance.
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Hi Julie I just recently joined the Tampa Chapter a few weeks ago actually. I find dialogue hard it seems like it is working in my mind then when I put it down on paper it turns into a mess I find my self having to change and take out things. some maybe that I’m too tough on myself and most of it is I’m still learning and that is why I love Saturdays here and why I’ve joined RWA and love to listen to what others say.
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Hi, Michelle! Guess I’ll see you in a bit at the meeting!
Dialogue is tough. Some people have an ear for it and other people have to work on it. I highly recommend you get King’s book and read this section. I only touched on a small portion. I’m much better at dialogue now than I was when I first started, so I know that improvement is possible! Thanks so much for stopping by!
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Julie unfortunatley since I just joined I didn’t know when the meetings were and today is hectic my daughter has softball pics at 9:20 son tball at 11 daughter softball at 12:30 son pizza party for end of tball daughter softball practice for travel softball at 4 I tried to get my mother in olaw to take my son but she couldn’t or wouldn’t I will be at the next one. I’m actually crushed that I can’t go I’m so excited about joining and taking this step I’m going to get the Stephen King book it sounds great. I love to hear that others have had to work at the stuff that I’m having issues with and that they just didn’t sit down and write great books easily gives me lots of hope. you all have been so great with your advice and helpfulness. When I first had the light bulb go off that I wanted to write and I emailed I think it was Carly after reading one of her books I never expected a reply let alone advice on writing and I got both. This seems to be a tough industry but I already love it.
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I ran into a major problem with trying to write realistic dialogue in an inspirational story I submitted to Christian publishers a while back. The hero wrongfully ended up in jail. In one scene he was involved in a fight with other prisoners. The editors freaked out over the other character’s language, which I had toned down as much as possible. There were no f-bombs.
What were hardened criminals supposed to say, “Phooey! He hit me?” I ended up changing the dialogue to the generic “curses flew from his mouth”, etc.
It’s so frustrating to have to censor your characters …
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It is frustrating, Chicki, but you have to think about the market. What I write in a Blaze is so different from what I’d write in an American or Presents, if I wrote for those lines. That’s one reason I love Blaze…very little censorship, LOLOL!
But the way you handled it is exactly what I would have recommended!
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Wonderful post! As a reader I believe Nalini Singh handles dialogue really well. I feel as if I am there witnessing it in person and like I should be actively involved.
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I have Nalini’s book on my TBR. I need to get to reading her as I’ve heard nothing but praise for her books!
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Since I’m a reader I never thought about dialogue in particular, I just get the feeling sometimes that the character the author is telling me exists is different from the character’s behavior. I enjoy Nora Roberts characters and their dialogue. She really brings them to life for me.
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Good call on Nora. I love her characters as well as her J.D. Robb ones.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Maureen, that’s interesting…but very true. I find that sometimes. The author “tells” me the character is one way, but the actions and dialogue say something else. Those are generally the books I don’t finish.
I love Nora’s JD Robb books. Those have particularly great dialogue, IMO.
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As a reader, I enjoy dialog that is realistic and just flows with the story. If I tried to write a story myself, I really think that dialog would be my biggest stumbling block. Nora Roberts and Susan Elizabeth Phillips do a good job with dialog.
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I think Loretta Chase and Lisa Kleypas handle dialogue well.
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I love Lisa Kleypas and Elizabeth Lowell, I don’t care for a book that all it is is foul language to me that means the author couldn’t develop the characters enough.
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I’m just finishing up Lord of Scoundrels by Lorette Chase–my first LC book–Fabulous btw. Great dialogue in this book. I think Julia Quinn, SEP, C.S. Harris, James Lee Burke…and a host of others handle dialogue very well.
I’ve read Stephen King’s On Writing once. I should listen to the audio book.
I think dialogue is one of my strengths. That said, way back when characterization used to be a weakness. I took a whole year and a half to work on nothing but building character. I took every on-line class I could, read every how-to book on building characters I could get my hands on and of course I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote some more. But my hard work paid off. I turned a weakness into a strength–a negative into a positive. I started finaling in contests and even winning a few. But along with learning to build characters I learned dialogue.
Hope everyone has a great day. We’re off to a wedding–next door. It’s also very cold here in Denver and snowing!
Cher
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Snowing? It’s so weird…95 degrees, blue skies, little fluffy clouds…and 150% humidity. It’s like summer. It’s actually worse than summer because we’ve had NO RAIN.
Characterization and dialogue go hand in hand, I think. You can’t have great dialogue without strong characterization. The reverse, however, isn’t necessarily true. IMO.
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As a reader it would be hard for me to pick any one writer who makes their characters pop with dialog. I know thats why I have my favorites and why I always buy their books the day they are released. If I can’t believe in the characters how can I enjoy the book?
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Being a reader I enjoy the writing of Monica Wood and Diane Chamberlain. The interesting and deep conversations and dialogue makes it a pleasure to read their books.
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Also as a reader I enjoy many authors and have not thought of dialouge before, just know I love to read certain authors and find new ones, just to enjoy them, but I have read a few that I didnt’ like, so I guess they had bad dialouge.
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I enjoyed your post today, Julie.
I actually have King’s book and have been putting off reading it. Now I know I need to pull it out of my digi-TBR pile and load it to my reader and get to it!
I find dialougue and character building still a weakness in my writing but with time I know it will improve.
One writer I really enjoy is Maureen Child. I am reading Janelle’s Wild For Him an I think she is a great author. I love her voice and her dialogue really pulls me deeper into the story. In fact all the plot monkey’s create great dialogue. I wish I could have just one day in the midst of all four of you and a tape recorder. I would walk out with a knowledge to fill a book or several! *wink*
Have a great weekend everyone
~Talina
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LOL, Talina! We all love to talk…as evidenced by the audio files that come out of our plotting sessions. We really should have those encrypted or something for all we discuss that isn’t related to the book we’re plotting, LOLOL!
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As a reader I enjoy many authors but like everyone else I have my autobuys! I haven’t thought much about the dialogue, but I guess this is what draws you to the author. I just finished one by Jennifer Ashley that drew me in on the first page! Lorette Chase, Lisa Kleypas, Elizabeth Hoyt, Constants O’Banyon to name a few!
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Hey Jules, love the blog for today. Love the analogy of having a jaded NYC cop use words like fart…laughed actually, because the image that popped up in my head of that jaded cop was so opposite of someone who would talk like that. As a reader, I have been fortunate enough to find authors like you and the rest of the monkeys, Robyn Carr, Hank, Gena, and others who write great dialogue that sucks me in. I am one of those people who is largely influenced by great dialogue. A great narrative paragraph that gives enough info and a good dialogue makes the stories so much more real for me. That said, as a writer, I struggle with writing good dialogue, IMO, because I want it to be right, and I think I may try to overthink it all instead of letting the words flow. I want the dialogue to be believable because any character I come up with has to be real. I am sure that you and others know what I am talking about. Great topic. I tell you, I have been learning so much from this series. I think the fact that I am allowing myself to read these blogs more as an author now, rather than solely a reader, plays a big part in how much I get from the series.
Jules, you don’t have to count me in for the gift card, okay. I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb handles dialogue really well!
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Never really thought about dialogue… as a reader I have my fav authors that seem to always bring their books to life…
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I’ve often been told that my dialogue is good, so I have to credit shows like Gilmore Girls, which I studied as a way of improving my dialogue skills. That show has some of the best dialogue around.
Margay
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I second that Margay….love GG!!
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Margay, that’s funny that you mention Gilmore Girls…when Leslie and I do our dialogue workshop, we use a scene from that show to illustrate our point. (Actually, Leslie does…she wrote that part!) I’ve yet to find a show that shows that deftness of words…Castle is good, but not nearly as rapid-fire.
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As a reader, I’d have to say that Lynn Kurland has some of the best dialogue around. :)
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I recently read a book which really had everything to be good : great characters, good storyline, good balance between emotional and light. But the dialogues were really horrible, uninteresting, boring… so disappointing. I agree it’s very frustrating. After reading it I was incapable to tell if I’d enjoyed it or not.
Some of my favorite writers are Jennife Crusie, SEP and Christie Ridgway. I love their dialogues (could even make me forget some weakness in the plot or otherwise).
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I agree! I just tossed a book aside because the dialogue was SO bad…just unbelievable in terms of who these people WERE. Very disappointing.
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I wouls have to say Maya Banks has some of the best dialogue because I feel like I’m actually hearing the individual boices of the characters and it’s hilarious some of the conversations they have!
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I do enjoy Nora Roberts and love her J.D. Robb books. Also like Maya Banks and Linda Howard.
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BTW, everyone…in an example of kismet, I just got home from a workshop with Rachel Hauck on dialogue. Trust me when I say that I’ll be inviting her to Plotmonkeys soon to do the workshop here on a Saturday. It was phenomenal. I learned some new ways of looking at things…and I love when that happens!
Leigh Duncan, a debut author, also gave a very inspirational talk about her journey to publication. I can’t wait until her first book comes out!
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Julie , I love your idea on inviting Rachel Hauck to Plotmonkeys to do a workshop.
~Talina
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Hi Julie :)
Thank you for the great post on writing dialogue.
Writers who I think are excellent at dialogue are Stephen King, Anne McCaffrey,
Mark Twain, and aspiring writer Natasha Hollerup (twitter: @NatashaHollerup).
:)
Love & Best Wishes,
RKCharron
xoxo
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Hmmm I have to admit :X I’m pretty critical so I expect good dialogue from everyone, so good dialogue doesn’t stick out in my mind. Bad dialogue, however, does – there are a few authors I can think of with clunky character speech.
However for good… recently I read a book by Maya Banks that had great dialogue. Entertaining, witty, fun, and what they were saying really matched the character’s personalities.
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Well, of course there’s Elmore Leonard, well known (deservedly) for great dialog.
I’ve love SK’s book on writing too. Great stuff.
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Hi Julie!
I think Maya Angelou is great with dialogue. I know she writes mostly poetry but in her other works her words seems to just flow. Steven King is a real pro. Even if you don’t like horror novels the man can write and write well he does. The Nicholas’ are great- Nicholas Sparks and Nicholas Evans. “A Walk to Remember” had great dialogue and oh, what a sad, sad story. Nora Roberts rocks in the field of romance. Great topic!
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The only thing that I can think of about dialogue right now (and as soon as I press submit, I’m going to think of plenty other things! LOL), but I know when I read historicals, even if a character is Scottish, or a more uneducated person, I really don’t want to read the accents or such for long periods of time. It just can give you a headache. So if the street urchin is on a page or two, then that’s okay, but if the Scotsman is the hero, please let him have a mostly English accent, but the occasional Scottish word or phrase is okay. Just whatever makes it easiest to read, basically. :)
Lois
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This is REALLY good advice to writers, Lois!!! I agree. I just need a taste or flavor, not a constant assault!
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Hi Julie!
I enjoyed your post! Gosh, I have read some really bad books and didn’t bother finishing them because the conversation was so stilted. Also, books that don’t have much conversation at all I personally do not like. I love when the characaters talk and less detail about the surroundings. Action, adventure, and conversation is what I look for in a great story!
Some authors who I enjoy, that I think have great dialogue are, Stephanie Bond, Julia Harper, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Gemma Halliday, and many others. I have so many favorite authors. I have collected all the plotmonkeys books for instance! Love you guys!
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Stephanie is one of my all time favorite writers! She’s AWESOME at dialogue!
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I agree with Lois on not needing a certain accent of a character throughout the whole book and not being able to read smoothly and flowiningly because one has a hard time reading it at all. If words are hard to pronounce it’s hard to read.
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It isn’t too much a problem in contemps, but poorly written dialogue can totally jolt me out of a historical novel.
In historicals, I think Eloisa James does very well.
In contemps, I really like the dialogue in Julie James and Shirley Jump books.
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I think Maggie Stiefvater writes awesome dialogue! I can almost hear her teens talking in my head!
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As a reader, I love dialogue. Some of my favorites are Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jennifer Crusie. Although, I am sure that there are so many more that I have not listed. There have been some really great choices listed here.
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Blogs and Netflix. What a cool idea for research! I have a character whose story I’ve been working on for a couple of years, and I am having a hard time with her voice. She is a middle class Brit living in the US since her late teens (now in her early 30s). Now I have some places to look for her voice.
Thanks!
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As a reader, I hadn’t really given dialogue much thought. I do know that I’m more sensitive to the dialogue of books set in NZ, since its where I’m from. For the same reason, I sometimes have no idea how realistic the dialogue in books I’m reading is – but I believe that regardless of whether you are familiar with the area/society the book is set in, there is still a gut instinct that tells you when the hero or heroine aren’t believable or something that doesn’t seem right as a reader.
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As a reader, I love it when dialogue is witty, smart, and just flows nicely. Some of my favorite authors when it comes to dialogue are Shirley Jump, Carly Phillips, and Stephenie Meyer.