Hi there, it’s me again! This time, we are going to talk about character dialogues. They are one of the most important aspects of writing in general, and it’s only right to do them good just like how you have built your whole plot and your characters. They reflect your character and impacts the story depending on the delivered words.
Dialogue is important. We think it’s easy hut sometimes it can be hard and tricky too. So, here is the thread for giving tips on how to ace writing dialogues for your character (and just in general).
Determine who is speaking.
Of course, you always know who you are writing this dialogue for… but do you actually know who that character is? I’m not asking this to make you question yourself and your capabilities. I know that, as the creator, it is you who knows your character the most… but it’s not always that you know your character well! So, read over the dialogue all over again and ask yourself—does it reflect your character’s being?
Every dialogue has a purpose.
Every relationship and story starts with a single word soon formed into lovely lines. Even small talks form a sparkle of something potential… though avoid small talks with basic lines that doesn’t guarantee something at all. As much as possible, make sure your dialogue have a purpose in the storyline you are following. Just ask yourself what your character’s motivation is in this dialogue.
The dialogue should sound like it’s actually your character speaking it.
When we know people for a while, we can immediately determine if that certain line or tone was spoken by them even without actually seeing them or even hearing them. This connects to my first tip.
Separate yourself from your character.
You may feel attached to your character a lot, but you are NOT your character. Don’t feel guilty about writing certain kinds of lines that might probably hurt others’ characters. There’s no limit to no possibilities… maybe inappropriate ones, but still, you get my point. Not only will it cause out-of-character incidences, but will also cause into just making all of your characters the same.
Conversations are made out of two people or more.
I also have characters that aren’t really ones to start or make a conversation with people, but the central point of RPing is interaction, so that is a problem. There are a lot of tricks you can do to still make it so that your dialogue doesn’t bring your fellow roleplayer to a dead end and get bored of your character. Dialogues that can trigger the other character (telling the other character to leave in a harsh way can possibly make the other character get offended, and depending on the personality, they might make it the motivation to talk to them further which can then escalate into something more).
Accompany your dialogues with necessary actions.
A dialogue, of course, is not complete without emotion or tone. Adding actions can hit really differently and can even make it easier for you co-roleplayer to RP with you.
Make sure the line sounds natural.
Remember that dialogues come in naturally, so do read them out loud and ask yourself if it is something a person says in real life in this situation.
Dialogues impacts your stories a lot, and it can not only continue it but also make it more interesting. @RPers, if you have more tips on dialogues make sure to leave them here : D