Resources for Writers

Sticking with the idea of advice to new writers, I thought I’d go over some  useful hints for writing dialogue.

Consider the following:

“How do you feel?” she asked concernedly?

“Rotten,” he said dejectedly.

“That’s terrible,” she said unhappily.

“I’ll get over it,” he said sadly.

Now, before you go all postal on me, yes, I know that is terrible dialogue.

Or is it?  Perhaps it isn’t so much the dialogue as the adjective-style qualifiers.  All those “ly” words.  Are they even necessary?

Let’s try it again.

“How do you feel?  She asked.

“Rotten,” he said.

“That’s terrible,” she said.

“I’ll get over it,” he said.

Hmm… OK, not too bad.  But what about all those instances of “he said” and “she said”?  Are those bad?

Actually, they’re not.  He said and she said, and in fact the word said in and of  itself, is pretty much invisible to the average reader.  It is only to you and me, as writer, that it sounds (feels) repetitive.

Now, if we can’t modify the saids, is there another way we can pepper up this dialogue?

Sure.  How about this:

“How do you feel,” she wondered.

His face twisted painfully, “rotten,” he said.

Her face fell.  ”That’s terrible.”

“I’ll get over it,” he said, a slow gleam lighting up his face.

Dialogue is how you move your story, it is how you increase pace, ensure flow.  How you make your characters speak, however, makes all the difference.

What will you use to spice up the way your characters speak?

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