There’s nothing like cracking dialogue to keep readers enthralled by your story and nothing will throw them out as quickly as crappy dialogue. Clumsy, overwritten, Capt. Obvious dialogue is the hallmark of the beginner.
Writing gurus often recommend that writers read/watch the best movies or plays as a method for developing their ear for dialogue. While prose work has different needs and requirements than theater, that’s still great advice. In visual presentations of story, the audience doesn’t have the benefit of narrative or your characters’ thoughts. Everything must be on the page and your dialogue has to propel your story forward.
In a post on Lit Hub, Dan O’Brien (A Story that Happens) shares what he’s learned about writing dialogue for the stage. “I spend many of my days at my desk deleting dialogue,” he writes. “And by decluttering my speech of the words that don’t need to be spoken—that cannot be spoken—I find I am loosing, if you will, a more living speech.”
