Usually when I finish reading books, I'm faced with the question: Keep it, pass it on to a friend or donate it to the local library's used book sale? But recently, I reluctantly threw away a book. It had many shortcomings that might have been alleviated with the help of a good editor but the thing that drove me absolutely bonkers was the dialogue.
It didn't read like a person taking. It read like...a robot. It was a combination of super short sentences(sometimes missing a subject), no contractions, odd word choices that people don't often use when speaking. Obsessed with the dialogue I began reading it aloud and found it awkward and stilted. Something was definitely...off. It was as if this author had never heard people talk.
Suddenly it occurred to me that we don't hear people talk that much anymore. Can you remember being a teenager and spending hours on the phone with your best friend? Meeting an old friend for coffee and having so much to tell them? Trying to chat up someone at an event hoping you might end up with a date?
Our phones have made all those scenarios a thing of the past. Our teenagers text(with mysterious abbreviations that seem to be constantly evolving) and seem intimidated by the idea of making an actual phone call, let alone staying on the phone for hours. Sure, we meet up with friends but thanks to social media they already know everything that's happening with us. Coffee might turn into showing each other photos or memes on our phones. And it seems there are a wide assortment of apps to connect us with romantic partners, no conversation needed.
No wonder this author had trouble with dialogue. Talking is on the decline. We may be communicating 24/7 but actually moving our mouths to make sound come out? Not so much. I used to spend time eavesdropping on people at the mall, in coffeshops, even in the office. It helped me get a feel for the give and take of conversations. Watching strangers I learned about when people lowered/raised their voices; how their body language changed depending on what they were saying, the words used by people in different age groups/geographic areas/professions. My poor author with the robot language probably never had a chance to eavesdrop to hone his ear for dialogue. There is no one to listen to anymore.
Despite many of us being introverts, I think as writers we have a responsibility to get out there and find places where people are talking. Join groups, attend events, start conversations with strangers. Anything to avoid writing robot conversations (unless, of course, your characters are actual robots).
I already have read many books set in the present that include texts, emails and other digital communications. But what about when we write something set in the pre-cellphone era? Will our cultural love affair with tech make it harder to write convincing language?
I have a habit of reading my dialogue aloud because my ear often has a better feel for authentic dialogue than my eyes. How do you check to see if your dialogue sounds like real people?
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Jodi M. Webb writes from her home in the Pennsylvania mountains about everything from DIY projects to tea to butterflies. She's also a blog tour manager for WOW-Women on Writing. Get to know her blogging at Words by Webb.
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