Bad dialogue sounds like robots reading information to each other. Good dialogue sounds like real people talking while secretly doing the work of plot and character development. The difference is not just adding contractions or casual language. It is understanding what dialogue actually does in fiction versus what it does in real life. Real conversation meanders and repeats. Fictional dialogue must feel real while being much more efficient.
What Makes Dialogue Sound Authentic?
Authentic dialogue captures the rhythm and patterns of real speech without the boring parts. People interrupt each other, change subjects mid-thought, leave sentences unfinished, and speak in fragments. They use filler words, repeat themselves, and make grammatical errors. Your dialogue should include some of these elements selectively, not transcribe actual conversation word-for-word.
The key is creating the impression of natural speech while cutting everything that does not serve your story. Real people say hello, comment on weather, and discuss what they had for lunch. Fictional characters skip past pleasantries unless those pleasantries reveal character or create subtext. Every line should either develop character, advance plot, provide necessary information, or create mood. Ideally it does multiple jobs simultaneously.
According to analysis from literary agents, the most common dialogue mistake is characters saying exactly what they mean with no subtext. Real people rarely communicate directly. They hint, deflect, lie, and speak around difficult topics. Your dialogue should reflect this indirect communication while remaining clear enough that readers understand what is actually being said beneath the surface.
How Do You Create Distinct Character Voices?
Each character should sound different enough that readers could identify speakers without dialogue tags. This does not mean giving everyone exaggerated accents or verbal tics. It means understanding how education, personality, background, and current emotional state affect word choice, sentence length, and topics someone discusses or avoids.
Your professor character uses precise vocabulary and complete sentences. Your teenager uses slang and sentence fragments. Your anxious character talks in rushed, overlapping thoughts. Your careful character speaks in measured, chosen words. These differences should feel natural, not caricatured. Subtlety works better than obvious verbal quirks that become annoying after three pages.
- Consider vocabulary level based on education and background
- Vary sentence length reflecting how character processes thoughts
- Include subject matter character would naturally reference
- Show how emotion affects speech patterns in the moment
- Use repetition of specific phrases sparingly as character signature
What Role Does Subtext Play in Strong Dialogue?
Subtext is what characters mean versus what they say. Surface conversation discusses one thing while real communication happens underneath. Two characters argue about dishes while really fighting about respect and control in their relationship. Someone asks about weather while really assessing whether to trust their conversation partner. Subtext creates tension and depth.
To write effective subtext, know what your character wants from this conversation and what prevents them from asking directly. Maybe social norms prevent directness. Maybe fear of rejection stops honest requests. Maybe they do not consciously recognize what they actually want. Characters speak around their true desires, and readers engage by reading between lines to understand real meaning.
How Much Dialogue Tags and Action Do You Need?
Use said for most dialogue tags. It is invisible to readers, which is exactly what you want. Fancy alternatives like exclaimed, retorted, or queried draw attention to themselves rather than the dialogue content. Save alternatives for moments where how something is said truly matters and cannot be conveyed through the words themselves or surrounding action.
Break up dialogue with action beats showing what characters do while talking. These beats ground conversation in physical space, reveal character through gesture, control pacing, and prevent long exchanges from feeling like disembodied voices in white space. Someone fidgets while lying. Someone pours coffee to avoid eye contact. Someone clenches fists while speaking calmly. Action shows what dialogue hides.
When Should Characters Actually Answer Questions?
Real people frequently do not answer questions directly. They deflect, change subject, answer a different question, or respond with their own question. Characters should do the same when it reveals something about their personality, emotional state, or relationship dynamic. Someone who always deflects personal questions shows defensiveness. Someone who answers questions with questions shows control issues or insecurity.
However, readers get frustrated if no one ever answers anything. Balance evasion with directness. Have characters dodge questions that matter to them personally while answering neutral queries straightforwardly. This creates pattern readers recognize as character trait rather than author being difficult. When someone finally does answer the question they have been avoiding, the moment lands with power because you established the avoidance pattern first.
How Do You Handle Dialect and Accents?
Use dialect extremely sparingly. Heavy phonetic spelling frustrates readers and can feel stereotypical or offensive. Instead, suggest accent through word choice, sentence structure, and occasional modified spelling of common words. Someone might say gonna instead of going to, or drop the g in -ing words. This hints at accent without making dialogue hard to read.
Rhythm and word order often convey regional or cultural background better than spelling. Someone from the American South might say I might could do that instead of I might be able to do that. Someone whose first language is not English might structure sentences following their native grammar patterns. These choices feel authentic without requiring readers to decode phonetic spelling.
What About Exposition Through Dialogue?
Characters should never explain things to each other that they both already know just so readers can learn information. This creates obviously artificial exchanges where characters become vehicles for author exposition. If two doctors discuss medical procedures, they would not explain basic terms to each other. If they do, readers immediately sense the falseness.
Deliver necessary information through context where one character legitimately does not know what another knows. New characters, outsiders, or people encountering unfamiliar situations can ask questions naturally. Disagreement or teaching scenes allow explanation to feel organic. Or simply trust readers to understand from context without explicit explanation. Readers are smart. They do not need everything spelled out.
How Can You Improve Your Dialogue Right Now?
Read your dialogue aloud. Your ear catches rhythm problems and unnatural phrasing that your eyes miss. If you stumble while reading, your dialogue is too complex or awkwardly constructed. If it sounds stiff, you probably need more contractions and sentence fragments. If you get bored, it is probably doing only one job when it should do multiple.
Count how many lines each character speaks in extended conversations. Real conversation has uneven exchanges. One person dominates while another listens. Someone interrupts repeatedly. The quiet character finally speaks and everyone pays attention. Perfect back-and-forth exchanges feel artificial. Vary who speaks more based on power dynamics, personality, and emotional state in the scene.
Tools like character development profiles help you understand how each character would speak differently. When you know someone's background, education, fears, and desires, their dialogue voice emerges naturally. Flat character work produces flat dialogue. Deep character work produces dialogue that sounds distinctly individual.
Great dialogue is invisible. Readers should focus on what is being said and what is underneath rather than noticing the craft of your dialogue writing. They should forget they are reading words on page and instead hear distinct voices speaking in their head. This invisibility comes from understanding people deeply enough that their speech patterns emerge naturally rather than being constructed artificially. Know your characters completely, then let them talk.