Writing Meaningful Dialogue

One of my favorite parts of writing has always been writing dialogue. Even when I wrote stories in grade school, I enjoyed writing dialogue the most. When my husband helped me edit my current work in progress, he commented that I write dialogue really well. Of course, that does not mean that everything else came out quite as smoothly. I do struggle in other areas, but as for dialogue, I feel I have a pretty good handle on what makes good dialogue. Even though I do feel like I write dialogue pretty well, I am still continually learning better techniques and tips. That’s the best thing about writing; you can always learn and improve. Here are some tips on writing meaningful dialogue.

The “How To”

As for the “how to” part when writing meaningful dialogue, it really isn’t all that complex. Write as you would speak. For example, if your character is a teenager, they probably wouldn’t use fancy words — they’d go the more direct route. Think contractions. Also, less formal words like, nah, ya, and dunno are good ones. This also depends on what time period you are writing in, but for current pieces, this works well.

Now, I know I said to keep things short and direct when writing dialogue for teenagers, but… not always. It all depends on the character. If your character is a know it all, or just really smart, they may be more apt to use fancier…