Comments on: Dialogue Out Loud

By: E.v.R.

E.v.R. — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:30:48 +0000

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. :)

By: Kathleen Bolton

Kathleen Bolton — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:56:15 +0000

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.

By: MiWi

MiWi — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:15:34 +0000

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

By: Therese Walsh

Therese Walsh — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:10:43 +0000

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!