The seven deadly sins of dialogue (and how to fix them)
Dialogue isn’t just people talking together; the truth is, people talking together is infinitely boring. Dialogue isn’t merely conversation. What you have to remember is that your characters are, in a sense, just like you. When characters talk, they’re doing it for a reason. That reason may be conscious or unconscious, but it’s always there. Usually, it’s because they want something. Again, just like you.
When dialogue gets separated from the wants that motivate it, it’s almost impossible to make it feel authentic. The reason most writers have such a hard time writing dialogue is because what they’re really trying to write isn’t dialogue, but simply talk.
With that in mind, here are the seven deadly sins of bad dialogue…
#1 Repetition
Repetition is the fastest way to get readers yawning. And it’s difficult to see, because it comes in so many different forms. One frequent use of repetition is in direct question-and-answers. Yes, sometimes you want characters to ask and answer questions in a straightforward manner, but not all the time, and in fact not most of the time. And certainly never for an extended period of time.
This is where some books by beginning writers start to sound like lessons for people studying English as a foreign…