How to Write Dialogue With Distinction

You will find plenty of sound advice in these pages on how to write dialogue for your novel. But one skill you must master is to learn how to write dialogue with distinction.

Or to put it another way: how to stop all the characters in a novel from sounding the same.

Every character in a novel is unique. They all look different, they all think and act in their individual ways, and it should be no different with the way they speak.

Writing dialogue with distinction is all about giving each of the characters in a novel a unique voice. Here are four questions you must ask yourself when trying to find a voice for each of the people in a story...

1. Who Are They?

You will have already developed the characters before starting to write your novel. You will know who they are and what makes them tick. When putting words into their mouths, you must make those words fit their personalities.

• The kindly old lady won't say anything too mean.
• The mean old man won't be terribly kind when he opens his mouth.
• The big-head will brag.
• The joker will have everyone laughing.
• The optimist - well, you get the idea.

There is a big danger when writing dialogue in a novel of making the characters say what you want them to say, because it fits the purposes of the plot. Don't do this.

If you ever find yourself writing a line of dialogue for a character and experiencing a niggling doubt that you are putting words into their mouth that they would never say, stop. Honest characterization must always come first.

2. What Is their Personal Vocabulary?

But it is not just about making a character's words fit their personalities. We are all influenced by our environments, too, and so writing dialogue with distinction is also about making the words fit their backgrounds and occupations.

• An educated character will have more words at his or her disposal than a not-so-educated one.
• A dockworker will probably swear more than a school teacher - and won't care as much (or know as much) about grammar.
• A physics professor will likely throw the odd scientific term into his or her speech.
• An artist will have plenty of words to describe colors.

Note that it is perfectly acceptable to use bad grammar and poor word choice in dialogue. It won't reflect badly on you as a writer, because it is understood that it is the character speaking.

Just don't go over the top. If a character's natural way of speaking is to use a curse word in every sentence, for example, you don't need to include every single one. The odd expletive here and there will be sufficient to give the reader the idea.