Dialogue is a crucial element of every story, yet it’s not always easy to nail down. Here are five of the most common mistakes authors make when crafting dialogue.

1) Overstuff dialogue with information
You can use dialogue to pass on information without making it obvious, but if you stuff it with information, it’ll jar the reading. Overwhelmed by information, the reader will pause to take it all in. Trying to remember all the information will take them out of the story and kill its flow. What is more, it’ll make the dialogue sound unrealistic.

After all, we rarely speak in this manner: ‘Remember our high-school teacher, Mr Harry Smith? The one whose wife died in mysterious circumstances a year before we graduated? Well, it turns out that he lost his house to gambling. He’s homeless.’

Both former classmates would have been well aware of Mr Smith’s wife dying and wouldn’t likely refer to him with his full name. If you’re unsure how much information to convey, ‘less is more’ is a safe bet.

2) Convey the information only for the sake of the reader
Sometimes the author needs to convey information that the characters already know, but the reader doesn’t. Avoid doing it through dialogue. Your characters shouldn’t discuss the things they already know because it will make the characters and the dialogue less believable. Say, if two cousins are talking about the third one, they wouldn’t need to clarify whose son or daughter they are, because they know it. Find another way to introduce this information in a more credible way.

3) No switch in the language register

Language register is a sociolinguistic term that suggests we speak differently depending on context/situation. For example, our language, choice of words and tone will differ when we speak to a potential employer from when we talk to a friend or a family member. The same is true for characters: how they talk will depend on whom they are talking to and in what context.

You don’t want your dialogue to sound the same as your exposition. Likewise, your protagonist might speak more freely and use colloquial language around the people they’re close to. If not, the dialogue will sound stiff and unrealistic. In the same manner, switching the dialogue to more formal language will show the nature of the relationship between the characters.

When you’re unsure whether your dialogue passes the register test, read your work out loud. If the words flow well and slip off the tongue, then you’ve done a good job. If they sound like a paragraph from a research paper or a news article, then it’s time to rewrite it.

4) All characters sound the same

How we talk reflects who we are and the same is true in fiction. Your characters’ speech will have distinctive characteristics. Some might uptalk, ending every statement in the same intonation as a question. Others might use certain words very often (think of ‘old sport’ in “The Great Gatsby”).

When all characters sound the same, this creates confusion: not only is it hard to distinguish who’s talking, it makes the characters less believable.
You can test your dialogue by removing the dialogue tags (he/she said) and see whether you can still tell who’s speaking.

5) The characters don’t react to what’s being said

As the authors and creators of our stories, we know much more than our characters. This can lead us to move on too quickly from what was said without giving the characters a chance to process the information.
Think of dialogue as an exchange of words and reactions. We listen to what’s being said, process it and react. This gives the reader time to do the same. Someone receiving bad news might pause, swallow hard, be at a loss for words or ask follow-up questions. They wouldn’t simply move on to the consequences of the bad news unless they have a good reason for that.

For example:

‘I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.’ Mary paused. ‘Your father passed away.’
‘When is the funeral?’ William asked.
‘This Wednesday.’

This short exchange indicates that William was either estranged from his father or hated him. If he was close to his father, then the exchange would look different.

‘I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.’ Mary paused. ‘Your father passed away.’
William shook his head. ‘That’s not possible. I’m meeting him later for lunch.’
‘He died in his sleep. I’m so sorry, Will.’
Wiliam stared at Mary, his mouth open.
‘We’ll arrange the funeral for Wednesday.’
‘No!’

Characters’ reactions are vital because they tell the reader about the meaning of what’s being said for that character. Without it, they can’t step into the character’s shoes and feel for them.

Want to learn more about dialogue? Check out my earlier post on dialogue in storytelling.