Dialogue as Part of Characterization

[ubiquirk]

A recent comment about the frequent use of suss instead of its synonyms in my HP story ‘Conspiracy Theory’ gives me the perfect opportunity to get swotty about a subject I love. Dialogue

Comments

[joanwilder]

You're right on. I was just talking with someone recently about a little conversation I had with an author I was beta-reading for. Her characters all 'sound the same', and she refuses to use contractions in dialogue because they're not...writerly! Actually, I believe that if you're writing your dialogue well, it should be so characteristic that you wouldn't even need speech attributes, for the most part.

[ubiquirk]

Heh - there's only one character in all the fandoms that I write who doesn't use contractions (SS), but let's face it - when speaking, everyone uses them. It's so artificial not to.

And I agree on the attributes thing too - I've written entire stories without them and then asked anyone if they noticed something strange. No one admitted they did, so fingers crossed.

[atypicalsnowman]

I absolutely agree. Grammar rules and a thesaurus are well and good for narration, but dialog is another story completely. Can't stand people who try to write certain characters (ex: Ron, Harry) the way they write Severus. Dialog should be full of "Er- Um, what I meant was." People have called me out on Harry saying 'who' when he should have said, 'whom.' I can't see Harry obeying such specific grammar rules, so that's out. You have to write the character realistically.

Thanks for your writing. Excellent little essay.

[ubiquirk]

Can't stand people who try to write certain characters (ex: Ron, Harry) the way they write Severus.

I agree - when I see a story like that, it's an instant turn off. It's like the writer has no idea that they're supposed to be producing dialogue instead of narrative.

Thanks - I'm glad you liked it!

[laiksmarei]

I knew I wanted her to swear a lot, but also that she’d do so with a few favorite words she’d use over and over. Again, because that’s what real people do.

Exactly!! I think in the rush to be different and distance ourselves from word repetition, we forget this very thing, often becoming thesaurus happy.

Great insight, my friend!

[ubiquirk]

I'm glad you found it useful. Thanks!

And the more I write, the less I use a thesaurus and see why authors say not to use them.