About the mistake number 1 (everybody speaking with perfect grammar), it's interesting because the opposite can also happen - that is, all the characters speaking with slang and imperfect grammar. And in any case, we are faced with the same problem, because in real life each person has a certain way of speaking, and different approaches to grammar when they speak.
A tip for dialogue is in the writing phase, don't stress too much about it. Just write. And if you want to info dump or have characters say things way too candidly, the writing phase is the perfect place to do that. It helps a lot in the editing phase. When you edit, you can look at the clunky parts so much easier because they're glaring at you and then you can ask yourself "how can I convey this with another technique?" or even "how can I convey this emotion or this thing about the lore or this thing about my characters backstory without coming out and actually saying it in black and white?" and that'll help a lot. Let the writing phase be a messy draft. The bigger the mess the better sometimes. You might cut stuff and put in somewhere else later. But sometimes it helps to have that stream of consciousness be put out there so you can tell future you (the editor) what message you're trying to convey in that scene or piece of dialogue or whatever it is you were writing. Gives future you a sort of blueprint to use. Write anything. Especially if it's messy. You can't edit a blank page.
You are such a gem. One thing i disliked about the last couple of season of Game of Thrones was that all the characters started acting out of character, AND they all had the SAME LINES and their voices just merged into one glob of a GOT "vibe". It felt lazy and rushed and hurt my heart. (I've been looking at a lot of plays/screen plays lately.)
A bad habit that tend to do. Is to let the main character talk the most. I really need to shift focus from other characters. Because it reduces them to listening boards that don't have their own voice, just agreeable for the main.
Hey Kate, questions: 1. How old are you and what's the age difference between you and your sister, 2. HOW, HOW do you actually settle into writing, like long-term cause I can't do that, some guidance please
Yes!!! Dialogue is also my favourite part of writing! Also that challenge sounds absolutely amazing! Really really hoping I'll be able to attend!!!! 🤞🤞🤞
I'll be doing an entire teaching on how I work with dialogue in my own practice! It will be available via the first Muse Challenge meetup, which you can find on my Patreon page :) www.patreon.com/c/kaemmons
For number 3. That’s actually a thing I will do. I will sometimes speak far more candidly with people i barely know and will likely barely speak to again about my problems than I will speak with someone in my family or someone I love, so it is 100% a think that at least one person in the world does. Lol
One of my characters has a very bad stuttering issue from brain injury, so I would suggest everyone stay consistent with their character, don't start writing stuttering and then just stop. I actually caught my self doing that.
This was great. Thank you. I have a dialogue that is “political correct “ but feels so unauthentic to the character regarding introducing his ethnic cuisine to a tiny town. I plan on nixing it and just focusing on the flavor instead of the culture part of it. It won’t be politically correct but neither is my character bc well, he’s so “Miami”.
This was such a helpful video! Thank you :) I definitely need to give my characters more vernacular and phrases that are unique to them - I think that's the aspect my dialogue may be missing.
I recently received a review copy of a book, and the book was just full of perfectly speaking characters (that all sounded the exact same) with paragraph long chunks of dialogue that had almost no characterization or body language descriptions. It was so hard for me to read, and I didn't care about any of the characters. Literally 3 characters get killed at one point and I didn't even bat an eye.
"that had almost no characterization or body language descriptions." - no surprise there. Many people advice to avoid dialogue tags and I personally add them, when I want to indicate with what kind of voice they use, their reactions to what's been said, but I hear/see/read this advice over and over and over - avoid dialogue tags. And then we end up with what you described.
@@marikothecheetah9342yeah that is so true. I’m drafting my first novel right now and I’m letting myself put them in as much as I want because I don’t think dialogue tells everything in a scene. I do plan to come back and make things more vivid in my first revision, but when you’re reading and it just seems like a bunch of talking heads, it’s boring to me.
A very helpful video. I write using Google Docs. It sometimes corrects my grammar. If it's in the main text I tend to go along with it, sometimes even when it contradicts my own experience of English. I try not to correct dialogue. That said, there is very little colloquial speech in my dialogue. Apart from one character calling androids droids. I'm an English person writing sci-fi set in a future New York but that's never mentioned. I wouldn't have a clue how to introduce NY speech into my dialogue. I do info dump but that's either an expert explaining a technical issue or a detective laying out a case. All that said, I do hope my characters come to life through their personalities.
Confession of "love" too soon. Yes, it's a romance story. But, the characters have known each other for a finite amount of time. A week to a month usually. Put simply, you don't have to use the word love to express a feeling of strong attraction. If anything it makes the connection feel disingenuous. And shows how one or both characters still need to grow and mature as people before getting into a relationship. Yes, I'm aware it's fictional. The characters aren't real. But, it just seems like a cop out to just start throwing around the word "love." I forgive it, regardless, but it's still frustrating when I see it happen.
I LOVE Yogi Tea, too!)) And love dialogs) My readers often mark them to be alive and in-characted, I usually enjoy myself writing them actually. But the most terrible thing for me in dialogs is a conversation where characters speak out loud something they BOTH know, but a reader is not aware of. So it looks kinda lazy for an author who could manage to get a reader know some facts anyhow but to make two poor characters to speak it to each other and look like idiots repeating the fact they BOTH already know and remember 🤔 "Hey, do you remember how we went camping that year?" "Sure, you got ill that day, didn't you" "Right, and you brought some tea for me" "Yeah..." Seriously?? 🤔🤔
I'm an aspiring narrator looking for an author who wants a recording of their novel. I have audiobook chapters on my channel as well to hear how I sound.
@KAEmmons The reason why I'm asking u is because I can't afford to join her Patreon, and I can't afford to join her TH-cam community. Can u also ask her if she can make a Live Trainings for both her TH-cam and Patreon?
No, um...I disagree..um...ahhhh, that's what I was going to say...we don't necessarily want our...um dialogue to sound realistic...we just want to write it well enough to add to the story. In my book, story is king.
JOIN THE MUSE CHALLENGE! ✨ www.patreon.com/kaemmons
Reading Abbie's Otherworld right now and after I finish it I got Blood Race to read
@@fallabeaufaebelle I would LOVE to have you at the first challenge! Thank you so much for your kind words - I hope you enjoy The Blood Race!🙏💗
About the mistake number 1 (everybody speaking with perfect grammar), it's interesting because the opposite can also happen - that is, all the characters speaking with slang and imperfect grammar. And in any case, we are faced with the same problem, because in real life each person has a certain way of speaking, and different approaches to grammar when they speak.
Very true! The key is creating a unique vernacular for each character that makes sense to you.
A tip for dialogue is in the writing phase, don't stress too much about it. Just write. And if you want to info dump or have characters say things way too candidly, the writing phase is the perfect place to do that. It helps a lot in the editing phase.
When you edit, you can look at the clunky parts so much easier because they're glaring at you and then you can ask yourself "how can I convey this with another technique?" or even "how can I convey this emotion or this thing about the lore or this thing about my characters backstory without coming out and actually saying it in black and white?" and that'll help a lot.
Let the writing phase be a messy draft. The bigger the mess the better sometimes. You might cut stuff and put in somewhere else later. But sometimes it helps to have that stream of consciousness be put out there so you can tell future you (the editor) what message you're trying to convey in that scene or piece of dialogue or whatever it is you were writing. Gives future you a sort of blueprint to use.
Write anything. Especially if it's messy. You can't edit a blank page.
When in doubt, JUST WRITE :) I agree
You are such a gem.
One thing i disliked about the last couple of season of Game of Thrones was that all the characters started acting out of character, AND they all had the SAME LINES and their voices just merged into one glob of a GOT "vibe". It felt lazy and rushed and hurt my heart.
(I've been looking at a lot of plays/screen plays lately.)
A bad habit that tend to do. Is to let the main character talk the most. I really need to shift focus from other characters. Because it reduces them to listening boards that don't have their own voice, just agreeable for the main.
Hey Kate, questions: 1. How old are you and what's the age difference between you and your sister, 2. HOW, HOW do you actually settle into writing, like long-term cause I can't do that, some guidance please
Yes!!! Dialogue is also my favourite part of writing! Also that challenge sounds absolutely amazing! Really really hoping I'll be able to attend!!!! 🤞🤞🤞
Me too, it's SO much fun! I hope to see you there, my friend!! 🙏📖
can you give some tips on how to reveal things naturally rather than infodumping a character's soul? ive really struggled with that!
I'll be doing an entire teaching on how I work with dialogue in my own practice! It will be available via the first Muse Challenge meetup, which you can find on my Patreon page :) www.patreon.com/c/kaemmons
For number 3. That’s actually a thing I will do. I will sometimes speak far more candidly with people i barely know and will likely barely speak to again about my problems than I will speak with someone in my family or someone I love, so it is 100% a think that at least one person in the world does. Lol
You're awesome Katie! ❤
thank you, friend! Grateful for your presence here 🙏
One of my characters has a very bad stuttering issue from brain injury, so I would suggest everyone stay consistent with their character, don't start writing stuttering and then just stop. I actually caught my self doing that.
This was great. Thank you.
I have a dialogue that is “political correct “ but feels so unauthentic to the character regarding introducing his ethnic cuisine to a tiny town. I plan on nixing it and just focusing on the flavor instead of the culture part of it. It won’t be politically correct but neither is my character bc well, he’s so “Miami”.
This was such a helpful video! Thank you :) I definitely need to give my characters more vernacular and phrases that are unique to them - I think that's the aspect my dialogue may be missing.
Yogi Tea is so delicious fr.
it is!!💗
I recently received a review copy of a book, and the book was just full of perfectly speaking characters (that all sounded the exact same) with paragraph long chunks of dialogue that had almost no characterization or body language descriptions. It was so hard for me to read, and I didn't care about any of the characters. Literally 3 characters get killed at one point and I didn't even bat an eye.
"that had almost no characterization or body language descriptions." - no surprise there. Many people advice to avoid dialogue tags and I personally add them, when I want to indicate with what kind of voice they use, their reactions to what's been said, but I hear/see/read this advice over and over and over - avoid dialogue tags. And then we end up with what you described.
@@marikothecheetah9342yeah that is so true. I’m drafting my first novel right now and I’m letting myself put them in as much as I want because I don’t think dialogue tells everything in a scene. I do plan to come back and make things more vivid in my first revision, but when you’re reading and it just seems like a bunch of talking heads, it’s boring to me.
@@marikothecheetah9342it’s interesting how in film, an over-reliance on dialogue is a mark of bad writing. I’m trying to find the right balance.
@@marenomorgan It's not easy, but trying to strike that balance is, indeed, crucial to the story.
this video was so helpful, especially because sometimes i get stuck in dialogues!! thank you so much
so happy to know this could help!
A very helpful video. I write using Google Docs. It sometimes corrects my grammar. If it's in the main text I tend to go along with it, sometimes even when it contradicts my own experience of English. I try not to correct dialogue. That said, there is very little colloquial speech in my dialogue. Apart from one character calling androids droids. I'm an English person writing sci-fi set in a future New York but that's never mentioned. I wouldn't have a clue how to introduce NY speech into my dialogue. I do info dump but that's either an expert explaining a technical issue or a detective laying out a case. All that said, I do hope my characters come to life through their personalities.
Me: My main characters' names are Rya and Canaden.
Google docs: Ryan and Canadian, got it
Confession of "love" too soon. Yes, it's a romance story. But, the characters have known each other for a finite amount of time. A week to a month usually. Put simply, you don't have to use the word love to express a feeling of strong attraction. If anything it makes the connection feel disingenuous. And shows how one or both characters still need to grow and mature as people before getting into a relationship. Yes, I'm aware it's fictional. The characters aren't real. But, it just seems like a cop out to just start throwing around the word "love." I forgive it, regardless, but it's still frustrating when I see it happen.
I agree, there's so many different ways to express what a character is feeling without just blurting it out!
Great video.
#1 reminded me of Aaron Sorkin.
I LOVE Yogi Tea, too!))
And love dialogs) My readers often mark them to be alive and in-characted, I usually enjoy myself writing them actually.
But the most terrible thing for me in dialogs is a conversation where characters speak out loud something they BOTH know, but a reader is not aware of. So it looks kinda lazy for an author who could manage to get a reader know some facts anyhow but to make two poor characters to speak it to each other and look like idiots repeating the fact they BOTH already know and remember 🤔
"Hey, do you remember how we went camping that year?"
"Sure, you got ill that day, didn't you"
"Right, and you brought some tea for me"
"Yeah..."
Seriously?? 🤔🤔
I'm an aspiring narrator looking for an author who wants a recording of their novel. I have audiobook chapters on my channel as well to hear how I sound.
Hey Kate,
Did u pass my message to Abbie?
Yes, I let her know!
@KAEmmons The reason why I'm asking u is because I can't afford to join her Patreon, and I can't afford to join her TH-cam community. Can u also ask her if she can make a Live Trainings for both her TH-cam and Patreon?
Hello, interesting video.
❤
No, um...I disagree..um...ahhhh, that's what I was going to say...we don't necessarily want our...um dialogue to sound realistic...we just want to write it well enough to add to the story. In my book, story is king.
At least it should be readable.
What a shocking revelation.
Great content.
Any beta readers out there?