The most important thing for writing good dialogue is to make it sound natural, and reading it aloud is the way to find out if what you've written sounds natural or not. But really clever dialogue, dialogue that speaks far more than the words and that deepens the characters, uses subtext. This post follows on from 4 tips for writing dialogue. Subtext in dialogue People don’t actually say everything they think. In dialogue, less is often more, and is usually more realistic. If you want the reader to know what a character is feeling, you can write the character’s thoughts as thoughts, if you’re in their POV—they don’t have to express them to the other character. Of course, if you’re not in the POV of the character whose thoughts you want to communicate, then you don’t have the option of writing out their inner thoughts; but in either situation, you can use their expressions, actions and gestures to communicate how they ‘really’ feel about the conversation. I say ‘how … [Read more...]
OMG! My Book is Terrible!
Writing a novel? Feeling overwhelmed? Get new insight and inspiration with my FREE Novel Revision Checklist. DOWNLOAD IT NOW. You'll also get weekly articles on writing sent to your inbox. I remember the moment I handed the manuscript of my first book over to my husband for his feedback. I asked him to give me the truth while hoping he'd like it and only say nice things. But that would have been too easy! I hovered as he read it, watching his face for any expression. My heart leapt when he laughed and plummeted when he frowned. I kept wanting to ask him what he thought of it, but I was scared to because he said nothing - not a single thing as he read through. I knew then that the feedback wouldn't be good. I was right. The best thing he said was, "Well, I finished it." 'OMG,' I thought, 'my book is really terrible." And I felt really terrible. All that work, hours and hours of it! My disappointment felt pretty crushing, and yet, I'd never really thought that it … [Read more...]
