Dos and Don'ts of Dialogue - Comments

  • oh bear

    oh bear (100)

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    I put it as a pet peeve in my contest XD

    But yeah, 100% agree with you, if it's done well it's a "do", and if you can't then just Hand
    June 1st, 2016 at 05:38am
  • animal soup

    animal soup (100)

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    all the yes to this
    June 1st, 2016 at 02:08am
  • Alex Moore.

    Alex Moore. (100)

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    I like the don't section. Especially the first one: write out accents. Since I have read some major great novels as 'The color Purple' and 'Flowers for Algrenon' which are nothing but accent written stories and they are great.

    I do understand it doesn't always work, but I think there is a literary freedom to hold and not set down too many rules for it.
    May 31st, 2016 at 09:54pm
  • saeglopur

    saeglopur (350)

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    @ pavi largo
    @ domi823

    Yep, I was mostly referencing Mark Twain on the accents thing. I also think its more of a preference, because clearly lots of people enjoyed Huck Finn, but for me it was too excessive. Dropping the g's on words is fine, that feels more like a colloquial dialect thing for me and less of an accent?

    @ lungsmoke
    Yes! I genuinely can't read a story without properly punctuated dialogue. I can get past most grammatical errors but that's just one that sticks with me. And yeah, in regards to accent, like I said before its definitely personal preference. If its done really well I can totally be swayed but I mostly try to steer clear of it - writing and reading-wise.

    And for the formatting thing, I'm pretty sure you can do it either way. I've seen it done both ways. In your example, the way you cut the dialogue, that makes more sense in terms of breaking up the text. Like "If you aren't going to leave" is one thought and "then I will" is another, so they can be split with action in between.
    May 31st, 2016 at 06:04pm
  • oh bear

    oh bear (100)

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    Dude I love you. Dialogue is my biggest pet peeve, especially when people write "I'm not sure." He said XD I'm so anal about dialogue. But yeah I definitely so agree on adverbs, especially ones like "sinisterly" and "lovingly", though the last one might just be my aversion to fluff / romance.

    I disagree on the accent one, though. I think done right, it can really help with characterisation, and show vs tell things like age / socio-economic / educational background (point 6) and the last three Dos. The other thing is I think formatting when breaking up text, i.e. "If you aren't," he moved to the door, "going to leave, then I will." Just based on books, I think you're meant to use dashes, like "If you aren't going to leave" — he moved to the door — "then I will". But I got all my formatting cues from HP books so Coffee I'm ready to be wrong XD
    May 31st, 2016 at 07:03am
  • Dom.

    Dom. (170)

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    "Don't write out accents" is one I think depends on how you're using it. I've had characters that are like what pavi largo is describing and there are times where I write an "accent" just so the reader knows the character is saying the word differently than how you would normally read it. I totally get this if it's something like what Mark Twain did for Huck Finn, but it still can be done well.

    Other than that (sorry for the rant haha), this is incredibly helpful!
    May 31st, 2016 at 06:48am
  • Brittt

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    This is very useful. Thanks for sharing!
    May 31st, 2016 at 06:23am
  • hangsang.

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    Quote
    ↳ Write out accents
    I'm confused on this one. I have a character that never uses 'g' at the end of thing such as 'fucking', 'kidding', 'walking', etc. Instead, he says it like: 'fuckin'', 'kiddin'', 'walkin''. Should I not have that? I've been told it adds depth to the character because people can tell it's him speaking, but I'm not sure.Shifty
    May 31st, 2016 at 06:01am
  • Mr. Darcy

    Mr. Darcy (16090)

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    Adding onto your 'don't' list:

    - Don't constantly have names being said.

    I rarely mention people's names unless I'm referring to them when talking with someone else. Yet a lot of dialogue (mostly on here, not going to lie) has names mentioned all the time. It throws me off when names are overused past the point of realism.

    But I think most of your points are dead-on! Sometimes accents can work in dialogue, so that can be a tough one. I guess it depends on the writer.
    May 31st, 2016 at 05:49am