What makes a character in a novel memorable? The author’s description of the character, the character’s actions, or the character’s voice? Probably all three. The interesting and compelling conversation between the characters in the novel keeps you interested and makes you want to read the entire novel. The uniqueness of the character’s voice makes the character come alive. Take, for example, a character from the Deep South. To make the character ring true, it’s probably a good idea to give it a southern accent. The same applies to a character of British descent. Talking like the British would make the character more real. For a character to be believable, the character’s voice has to be believable.
Interesting dialogue can break up a long and boring narrative and move the story forward. Through the use of compelling dialogue, his story is not just static. It is alive, lively and energetic. Engaging dialogue keeps the reader turning the pages of the novel, rather than putting the novel down, never to pick it up again.
As you begin to develop the characters in your novel, try these simple techniques for writing believable, realistic dialogue.
Pay attention to everyone around you
Listen to everyone around you. Go to your favorite restaurant, laundromat or mall and just listen. Notice how different people speak and write down anything interesting. Don’t be obvious with your listening. You don’t want people to think they’re listening to your conversation per se, but you do want to know how people are expressing themselves and conversing with each other. Listen to the different accents of the people. People from all parts of the country live in close proximity to one another, creating distinct dialects and interesting speech patterns. If you’re trying to make your character sound like a true northerner, focus on a person with those particular speech patterns and try to mimic how the person speaks. Your northern character will look more believable if the dialogue is authentic to the region in which he resides.
Watch your favorite TV show
TV shows are another way to examine the way people from different regions speak. Listen to the inflections in people’s voices and try to write your speech the way it sounds, not necessarily the way it would be spelled. A good example of a television station to listen to would be the BBC channel. Watch your favorite British sitcom and try to make your character’s voice match the TV character’s voice.
read your favorite novel
Read some of your favorite novels and pay close attention to the dialogue used in the novels. How is the dialogue structured? How does the author make the character sound believable? Rewrite the dialogue for a character in one or more of the novels and see if you can make the character sound like they are from another part of the country. Does your attempt to rewrite the dialogue sound more believable? More realistic? More authentic? If so, you are definitely on the right track to make your characters come to life.
Develop character voice
Now, taking stock of all the notes you’ve taken, start developing your character’s voice and see how well you can make your character’s speech distinct. You don’t want static characters. You want characters that come to life and keep the reader interested. Good dialogue keeps readers wanting to know what happens next, and believable dialogue gives your character authenticity.
Writing realistic dialogues is not an easy task, but keep it up. Making your character’s voice believable will make your novel stronger and will keep your readers asking for more.
