“If your characters sound like they’re reading from a corporate manual, we have a problem. Real people interrupt each other, dodge questions, and say the wrong thing at the worst time. Let your characters do the same.”
— L.A. Walton, The Book Maven
Nothing pulls a reader out of a story faster than dialogue that sounds like it was generated by a committee. You know the kind: characters who say exactly what they mean, who explain things nobody would naturally explain, who speak in perfectly grammatical sentences with no interruptions, no pauses, and zero personality.
Real people don’t talk like that. Real people trail off. Real people dodge questions. Real people say ‘um’ and ‘you know what I mean.’ And real characters should feel just as messy and authentic.
The Bad Dialogue Diagnostic
| Problem | Example | The Fix |
| On-the-nose. | “I’m angry because you lied to me.” | Show the anger through actions, tone, subtext. |
| Exposition dump. | “As you know, we’ve been friends for 20 years…” | Characters don’t remind each other of things they both know. |
| All characters sound the same. | Everyone uses the same vocabulary and sentence structure. | Give each character a verbal fingerprint. |
| Too formal. | “I shall proceed to the establishment.” | Unless they’re a Victorian butler, relax the language. |
| No subtext. | Characters say exactly what they feel. | Let what they DON’T say carry the emotional weight. |
How to Write Dialogue That Sings
- Eavesdrop. Listen to real conversations. Notice the rhythms, interruptions, and non-answers.
- Read it out loud. If it sounds weird coming out of your mouth, it’ll sound weird on the page.
- Give each character a verbal quirk. A catchphrase, a speech pattern, a vocabulary level. Make them distinguishable without dialogue tags.
- Use subtext. The best dialogue is when what’s being SAID and what’s being MEANT are two different things.
- Cut the pleasantries. Skip ‘hello, how are you, I’m fine.’ Enter scenes late and leave early. Readers don’t need small talk.
Your Move, Creative
Take a scene from your current project. Remove ALL dialogue tags. Can you still tell who’s speaking? If not, your characters need distinct voices. Fix that, and your dialogue transforms.
Stop letting your stories stay stuck.
