Writing Dialogue – No Wrong Answers

I don’t know about you but my life has been filled with ‘writing rules’ – turns out that there are no wrong answers when it comes to writing dialogue. Want to know why? Check out this Redditor’s explanation as to why there is no good way to follow “the rules” for writing dialogue:

“The problem,” he said, “is there really isn’t a way to do dialogue that isn’t considered wrong.”

“Just using said”, she said, “is boring and repetitive.”

“I know,” he said.

“But,” she said, “so are the alternatives.”

“Replacing ‘said’ with something else seems to fix that,” he stated.

“Except,” she replied, “it doesn’t it just makes it repetitive and boring in a different way.”

“Because,” he remarked, “it feels like someone has just looked up ‘said’ in the Thesaurus.”

“Sometimes it annoys me more,” she opined.

“Adding adverbs doesn’t solve the problem,” he said, authoritively.

“Beyond just the ‘don’t use adverbs’ ‘rule’,” she said, happily, “it falls into the same problem of over-using said, with the annoyance of the feeling like someone’s showing off their vocab,”

“And the form can seem just as lazy and repetitive,” he said, approvingly.

“It takes the natural flow of good dialogue and,” she said, sadly, “makes it feel stitled.

​”Of course,” he said, smiling, “It’s breaks the ‘show, don’t tell’ ‘rule.'”

“Yes,” she said, nodding, “But that has many of the same problems.”

“I know, I know,” he said, looking at his feet, “It’s like nothing can me done.”

​”You can, once the speakers are established drop the indicators altogether.”

“True, but that can get confusing. I often wonder, ‘Who is talking now?’ and have to go back to check.”

“And that ruins the flow.”

“Plus, it doesn’t work when there’s more than two in the conversation.”

“And turns the page into a wall of dialogue, it may as well be a script.”

​”Inserting prose doesn’t work,” he was firm on this point. She knew by his stance, his tone. They’d known each other for so long she got as much from his body language as she did from his words.

She continued his point, “The conversation can get lost in the descriptions,” she said, remembering every books she’d read that made the same mistake. And she’d read a lot of books. There’s nothing she loved more than a comfortable chair, a glass of wine and a good book. Reading made her feel safe, like she was back in the womb and the cares of the world no longer mattered.

He saw her point, “Although, sometimes the description is what’s important,” he looked at her, wondering how long they’d known each other, ten years? Was it closer to twenty already? And yet no matter how much they agreed with each other, how much they had in common, they’d never gotten together romantically. With that amount of time and that connection it wouldn’t be a tacked on love story like in bad writing, it would the natural organic outcome. He sighed.

​She spoke about removing quotes altogether and describing the conversation rather than using dialogue. He agreed that it was an option, and that it had a place but that it removed the reader from being part of the converations. She said he’d hit the nail on the head.

​”The thing about the ‘rules’ is,” he said, excitedly, “that they aren’t about never doing something. ‘Never, ever use an adverb” isn’t the rule.”

“Isn’t in more about being able to identify flaws in your writing and things you over do?” she asked.

He nodded in agreement, “And being able to choose from all the options available.”

“Exactly.”

So there you have it, folks – there are no wrong answers when it comes to writing dialogue. I hope you’ll find this useful in your own work, or in defending your work. This goes into the Free Author Tools file. Normalize people not telling you how to write. Unless they’re a walking, talking copy of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, they don’t know any more than you do.

Write on!