Tip Tuesday #162 AND HOW TO BE ALMOST FAMOUS IN TEN DAYS GIVEAWAY

Tip Tuesday features writers' tips on craft, research, querying, blogging, marketing, inspiration, and more. If you'd like to send in a tip, please e-mail me at agentspotlight(at)gmail(dot)com.

Hi Everyone! Natalie here today. Today, I’m excited to share a tip by author Kathleen Allen about writing good dialogue. Her newest book, HOW TO BE ALMOST FAMOUS IN TEN DAYS, a YA contemporary novel, was released March 16, 2013. Details of the giveaway are at the end of the post.

Talking Heads or How to Write Realistic Dialogue 

Dialogue seems to be one of the writing skills writers love to hate. I’ve heard many writers bemoan how their dialogue feels stilted or unrealistic (or that’s what someone says about it). How do you make your dialogue realistic?

The first thing I would suggest if you are having this problem is to go to a coffee shop, bookstore or anywhere people congregate and listen in on conversations. Take notes only don’t be creepy about it or you may find yourself leaving the establishment before you’ve finished your coffee. If you write young adult novels, go somewhere teens hang out and listen in. You’d be amazed at what you hear. Or maybe not.

The next thing is to take a realistic look at the dialogue in your writing. Do your characters speak to one another without having any sort of action? This is known as the Talking Heads Syndrome. Even if you are clear who is speaking, your reader will not be. Add in some action to go with the dialogue. For example here is a bit of dialogue from a well-known book, see if you can figure out who is speaking.

“Hungry, are you?”
“Starving.”
“She always forgets I don’t like corned beef.”
“Swap you for one of these. Go on.”
“You don’t want this, it’s all dry.”

Now here’s the dialogue again:

“Hungry, are you?”
“Starving,” said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said,
“She always forgets I don’t like corned beef.”
“Swap you for one of these,” said Harry, holding up a pasty. “Go on---“
“You don’t want this, it’s all dry,” said Ron.

I added in the italics for emphasis. See how the second passage reads better than the first? That’s because the author put in actions to go along with the dialogue. And that’s my second tip. Make sure you use action along with dialogue.

The third thing you need to do in order to write realistic dialogue is to read your dialogue out loud. This is one of the best tips for any writer to know. Most computers have a text-to-speech function in your control panel. I downloaded a free software called Natural Reader (http://www.naturalreaders.com/download.php#freewin) but there are others out there you might want to try. The advantage of using a text-to-speech program is that even if you read your writing out loud, you may miss a word because our brains fill in especially if the writing is familiar. But if the computer is reading it to you, you can discover awkward pauses, misspellings or missing words and if the dialogue sounds realistic.

Another tip is to make sure each character has a different style of speaking. I recently read a book with two main characters and their speaking patterns were so much alike, I had no clue who was speaking.
Use dialogue to advance your story. Instead of doing an informational dump, use conversation to convey back story.

My last tip is to read a good screenwriting book because screenwriters have to have good dialogue. I recommend Save the Cat by Blake Synder , Save the Cat Strikes Back or Save the Cat Goes to the Movies.

http://www.amazon.com/Save-the-Cat-ebook/dp/B00340ESIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1364145678&sr=1-1&keywords=save+the+cat

There are others out there, find one that interests you.

Tips:

1. Hang out at a coffee shop and take notes on conversations you hear. Make your dialogue realistic.
2. Watch what people do when they talk, what are they doing with their hands? Write down how they gesture, what they hold and so on. Use action to go along with dialogue.
3. Read your dialogue out loud using a text-to-speech program. You can also read it out loud to your cat. I’m sure your cat would approve.
4. Use different styles of speaking to differentiate each character but be careful writing dialect. It can be hard for the reader to stay in the story. It can be done but it has to be done sparingly. Again, listen to how people talk. People don’t speak in long conversations and they don’t call each other by name every time they talk.
When I am talking to my friend I don’t say, “Hi John, how are you doing today? What are you going to order, John? I know the house special is always good here at Joe’s.”
A better example would be: I slid into the cracked, well worn red vinyl booth across from John. He always beat me to Joe’s no matter how much I hurried. The menu’s lay on the table in front of us. I shoved mine aside. “What’s up? I’m gonna get the house special, it’s usually worth getting. You?” I smiled. Well, you get the idea.
5. Use conversation to advance your story instead of doing an informational dump.
6. Read a good screenwriting book to see how screenwriters write dialogue.

What other tips do you use for writing realistic dialogue? Check out my new book, a YA contemporary: HOW TO BE ALMOST FAMOUS IN TEN DAYS released March 16, 2013 by Gypsy Shadow Publishing.
17yo Cassie wants to be “seen” so when she finds a book of rules on how to be famous in ten days she devises a plan---with the help of her BFF---to do just that. She has hilarious and sometimes serious, almost disastrous consequences. Cyrano de Bergerac meets Comedy of Errors with a teen girl.

BOOK TRAILER:

http://youtu.be/IIGB1EoXnLA

Buy Link on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Almost-Famous-Days-ebook/dp/B00BUX4FEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1363433820&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+be+almost+famous

Buy Link on Nook:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-be-almost-famous-in-ten-days-kathleen-s-allen/1114845002?ean=2940016184265

HOW TO BE ALMOST FAMOUS IN TEN DAYS BOOK BLURB:

My fingertips drifted across the dusty books stacked haphazardly on the shelf. I wasn’t looking for any particular book title—just wasting time while Rachel searched for a book in the romance section. I walked around the second hand books piled in haphazard stacks on the faded brown carpet in search of a science fiction. Closing my eyes as my fingers flitted over the books, I played a game I used to play when I was younger. If some book wanted me to read it, I’d know by the feeling the book gave me. Forgetting about the piles everywhere I ran into one—or two, I’m not sure—I opened my eyes just as I fell, sending the piles sprawling across the floor. Which, by the way, smelled and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in centuries.
Rachel called out, “You okay, Cassie?”
“Yes,” I mumbled, sitting up.
No clerk came to my rescue, so I began to restack the books. My elbow was a bit scraped a bit, but otherwise no damage. Sighing, I continued piling up the books until a small yellow book caught my eye.
“How to Be Famous in Ten Days,” I read aloud.
“What?” Rachel asked from the other side of the aisle.
“I found a book,” I yelled back.
###

FIND KATHLEEN HERE:

Websites:

www.kathleensallen.weebly.com

www.gaelicfairie.webs.comwith blog

On Pinterest:  www.gaelicfairie.webs.comwith blog

On Twitter: @kathleea

On Facebook: Witch Hunter  http://ow.ly/cWMFB 

Author Central page: amazon.com/author/kallen

Book Trailers on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/gaelicfaerie1?feature=mhee

Kathleen has generously offered an e-book of HOW TO BE ALMOST FAMOUS IN TEN DAYS for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on May 31st. I’ll announce the winner on June 3rd.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 or older to enter. International entries are welcome.

Hope to see you tomorrow when I interview one of our followers Lisa Gail Green about her debut novel, DJINN: THE BINDING STONE, a YA paranormal story about a genie. I’ve just started it and it’s fantastic. There will be a giveaway too.