Dialogue Out Loud
I’ve been saying my lines out loud as I type them. It helps a lot, like instant proofreading. More than that, it insures that the reader will believe a real person is talking. Dialogue I hate the most is when I’m watching a movie or a TV show and the character delivers some clumsy line. I wonder, “Who talks like that?” The answer is nobody. But I’m sure the writer thought it looked okay on paper.
It’s not about how the words look on paper. It’s about how they sound out loud. More so for a screenplay, but even for a novel. A lot of people mouth words as they read, or they hear them in their head as they track the lines across the page. Something that doesn’t work when you say it becomes instantly obvious.
An example peeve of mine is two characters who already know each other well addressing each other by first name with everything they say. “Hey Jack, hand me that screwdriver.” And then, “Thanks Jack.” or “Jack, later do you want to grab a beer?” Think about it. Do you use a friend’s name a lot when you’re around them? That’s the kind of thing that probably seems correct on paper but sounds wrong when you say it out loud.
The only downside to saying dialogue out loud as you type it is that you may want to refrain from writing in coffee shops. The staff and other customers might think you’re crazy. :)
I don’t have to worry about mumbling in front of my wife. She already knows I’m crazy.
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April 16th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I prune names out of my dialogue all of the time, for exactly the reason you gave, Eric. (hah.) But really, people rarely use names in face-to-face conversation.
I’ve had dialogue issues with male characters. Maybe reading the lines aloud as I write would help…or maybe I’ll ask my hubby to read them for me.
Thanks for the post!
April 16th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
That’s a rather common hint they give to writers when writing dialogue, too bad people often forget about that in the game developing area, because it’s really important.
I usually picture the dialogues in my head, and that’s usually enough, thought. But when I just write something down to sketch some ideas, sometimes weird dialogues appear ;p
And my boyfriend, too, already thinks I’m crazy. Go figure ;p
April 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Gah, over-naming in dialogue is a bad habit of mine, I admit. I had to cut out about 7 this morning.
I’ve tried reading my dialogue out loud, but it wears me out. I’ll give it another go, though. It’s a strong way to make it sound more natural.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Kathleen, I’m sure it’s tiresome if you do it as an editing process. These days I’m mumbling out loud as I type, my own form of text to speech.
I immediately correct anything that sounds wrong. I don’t think it counts so much as editing while I write, because I’m only ever backspacing a word or two, a turn of phrase, etc. If you type at a reasonable speed it doesn’t slow you down much to nail the dialogue more natural as you go.
And then you don’t have to do it during the painful process of editing. :)