How to write snappy dialogue
Do you ever reread your dialogue and think holy crap, I'm so bored? Or why do all my characters sound the same?
Writing catchy dialogue is an art form unto itself like crafting pottery and hoping a sexy ghost shows up to help.
So, let's dig into what makes dialogue entertaining and how to write conversations that keep readers hooked.
The golden rule of dialogue
Dialogue in a story has to serve one of two purposes: convey character (personality, feelings, or thoughts) or move the plot forward. Ideally, it does both at the same time. If it does neither, cut it or rewrite it.
Apply this rule to every line of dialogue you write.
You probably noticed that half the golden rule is character
Dialogue that inspires a reader to mentally save lines to use later starts with your characters. After all, dialogue is just a type of character action.
You should be able to tell which main character is speaking just from what they say and how they say it (and the said tag is more for flow and clarity).
Part of this comes from weaving your characters' backstories into what they say.
Think of how farm boy Luke describes the Death Star trench run as "shooting womp rats" like he did on Tatooine. When Princess Leia confronts Vadar, she talks about the Imperial Senate and her diplomatic mission. She'd never think to mention shooting rats and Luke, at that point in his life, has never thought of the senate.
What a character decides to say is shaped by their background. So is how they say it.
Someone from a haughty upper-class family might speak in full sentences and use long words. Someone from a rough background is likely to use shorter sentences and swear.
The farmer will use metaphors related to weather and crops. While the royal raised in a palace will likely use metaphors about politics and racehorses.
This is an oversimplification, of course. The royal might be obsessed with farming and the farmer might be a political expert. This is just an example, which goes to show you need to know your characters well to write good dialogue.
(If you need help understanding your characters, The Essential Character Creation Workbook teaches you how to go beyond the surface of your characters to create vibrant, 3D people.)
Show don't tell
I know, I know, that line is repeated so often it's almost a cliché (and sometimes, telling is the right choice). But it's rehashed because a story that shows is more fun to read than a story that tells.
With dialogue, avoid your characters stating what they think or feel directly. Instead, have them show their thoughts and emotions through concrete details and metaphors.
For example, "My big brother always looked after me" becomes "When I had a bad day at school, my big brother cooked mac and cheese to cheer me up."
The latter conveys the same info--the big brother raised him--but it's more interesting to read because it focuses on an event we can see and imagine.
A general rule of thumb is to ask yourself: Can I envision a specific event from the character's words? Can I feel a specific sensation from their dialogue?
"My brother looked after me" could mean anything. His brother could tuck him in, fight a bully, or read to him. You can't imagine a specific scene.
There's no emotion behind it either. The speaker might be grateful for his brother caring for him or angry or sad or a million other emotions.
"My brother cooked mac and cheese to cheer me up." With this, you can imagine a literal scene. A kid stirring a pot. A younger child excited for a treat. You get the sense the speaker is grateful for his brother.
Speaking in specific, concrete details shows an emotion or thought more powerfully than simply stating it. For example, "I feel sad" becomes "My bones feel hollow" or "This is just like when my dog went missing."
Aim for specific details, metaphors, and concrete events.
Again this all comes back to knowing your characters well.
Finally, your characters can be direct in their speech! Use directness (aka telling) for effect such as an emotional reveal or a character who is candid to a fault.
In other words, dialogue that simply states a feeling or thought should be a conscious choice you make to convey that character's mental state.
Write how real people talk but better.
You might have heard people criticize dialogue as being crap because "nobody talks like that."
We want dialogue that sounds real, but there's a catch: If you transcribed a real conversation and slotted it into a book, most people would find it boring.
What we really want is dialogue that is better than real conversations while still sounding like something that a real person might conceivably say. We want dialogue that is the best parts of conversations: The quips, the clever comebacks, the emotional reveals, the surprises, and the important info.
Have you ever thought of the perfect thing to say AFTER leaving an argument? You want your characters to think of those things at the right time. The vibe for dialogue is real people would say this if they thought of it in the heat of the moment.
So, cut everything boring about real conversations like the small talk, the repeated topics, and the filler we use to avoid silence.
Make sure every line of dialogue meets the golden rule: it shows character or forwards the plot.
Check for flow.
Finally, read your dialogue out loud and see if there are any spots where your tongue trips up. Good dialogue flows like smooth jazz.
Like all rules, you can break this if you have a reason to! For example, a line of dialogue might be awkward or stilted to show that a character is uncomfortable. All rules can be broken in writing, just make sure you're aware you're doing it and have a good reason for it.
It's a lot to remember! Here's how I manage it.
For each main character, decide how they speak before you write another scene. Do they favor proper grammar or sentence fragments and slang? What kinds of metaphors do they use? What topics interest them? Do they have any favorite phrases?
Make notes for how each main character speaks and make sure they're different from each other in some way.