32. Writing Great Dialogue: How to Make Sure Your Characters Sound Right for the Story

THE TOP TEN PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE – PART 3

EPISODE 32: How to make your dialogue sound just right for your character & story

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:     

Last week’s episode gave us number 5 of the top ten principles for writing great dialogue. This week, we dive into two more principles. 

Principle #6: Good dialogue sounds just right for the scene, story, or movie; 

1. Dialogue should not "stick out" with brilliant dialogue that your characters would not say, or otherwise detract from the story moving forward. Vocabulary is varied by education, upbringing, regionalism, favorite words or expressions, and the syntax of the character (how they put the words together: Will you close the door, please? vs. You will close the door, please. 
2. Anytime your character says something that doesn't fit with the characteristics they've been given, you undermine the integrity of the story and risk alienating your audience.
3. At the same time, you want to come up with at least one gem of dialogue per act. This should be a concise, character-relevant "soundbite" that succinctly expresses a primary idea or the character's inner emotional state in a memorable, quotable way.
   
   

Principle #7: Good dialogue sounds just right for each character. 

1. The concept here is called "orchestration," where each character sounds different, yet adds to the overall "sound" of the story (like a single instrument in an orchestra).
2. One of the best ways to help accomplish this is to understand who your character is in conjunction with the other characters in the piece. How much power do they have? What is their status? Status determines a lot about how people speak and behave.

UP NEXT

Next week, we will go over principles #8, 9, and 10.

Principle #8: This is not real life speech. Watch the hesitaters.

Principle #9: Good dialogue should be short and compressed, and contain appropriate familiarity between characters.

Principle #10: Good dialogue should include subtext.

QUESTIONS OR TOPIC REQUESTS? 

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SPECIAL THANKS

The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe would like to thank composer Carla Patullo for the original music she graciously permits us to use in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com

TAGS: Artist, Artists, Dialogue, How to write good dialogue, characters, Writing tips, Writing, Writers, Story, Storytelling, Storytellers, Zena Dell Lowe, Mission Ranch Films, The Storyteller’s Mission, The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe

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