In plays and in many novels and short fiction, dialogue serves as the beating heart of a story. It’s little wonder then, that there’s a lot discussion both in print and on line about how to write compelling dialogue and how to avoid mistakes that lead to sluggish-sounding speech that drifts and slows down a story. Here are six reasons why this aspect of writing matters so much.
Dynamic dialogue:
1. Enlivens a story: Concise, well-crafted dialogue snaps and sizzles. It adds personality, color, and drive to characters and events.
2. Reveals character: Strong dialogue offers readers priceless nuggets about characters’ desires, fears, dissembling, and loyalties. With each interaction, we learn more about what makes characters tick.
3. Creates a sense of real time: Strong dialogue immerses readers in the present moment and allows them to learn critical information and gain insights along with key characters (sometimes even before they do).
4. Engages readers: Great dialogue is fun to read — it’s an echo of real life, only it’s crisper, wittier, more winsome. It’s a fun way to show how characters think about their world, pivotal events, and each other.
5. Supports pacing: Strategically placed dialogue is a great tool for controlling a story’s pacing: the rhythm and speed at which it unfolds and information is released.
6. Adds forward motion: Muscular dialogue conveys a sense of situations and events unfolding, of momentum; it adds purpose and spurs action. It advances the plot and conveys a sense of time passing and impending decisions and developments.
Wow! When you look at all the benefits of energetic dialogue, it’s easy to see why investing time in sparkling up your characters’ speech is a smart move. So why not take a moment of interaction in a story that’s a bit lackluster and pump it up? Sharpen the language, make it more concise, create some conflict, reveal a juicy tidbit — or hint at one, simplify and streamline your dialogue tags, add some spice and snap — and see what happens. And then keep polishing as you write on.