How to use dialogue for character development in your novel or short story

Characters are the heartbeat of any great story. They’re our vehicle into the narrative world, driving the plot, making the story mean something beyond the abstract, guiding us through the emotional landscape, and, if we’re lucky, leaving an impression that lasts long after the final chapter closes.

And at the very centre of character development lies the art of dialogue. More than simply an exchange of words, more than communication, dialogue is the engine that lets your characters move the story forward, all while revealing the unique personalities, motivations, and inner workings of your fictional creations.

Character and dialogue go hand in hand, and that rule holds true whether or not your character ever utters a word in text. Dialogue, like character, is about voice. Let’s look at how we can use this fundamental principle to breathe life into words.

Understanding the Role of Dialogue in Character Development

Dialogue is a powerful tool in the author’s arsenal, serving as a window into the hearts and minds of your characters. Through the way they speak, the words they choose, and the emotions they convey, your characters’ dialogue reveals their unique personalities, motivations, and inner conflicts. Effective dialogue not only advances the plot but also allows readers to form a deeper connection with your characters, understanding them on a more profound level.

Authors often worry about whether or not their characters’ dialogue sounds “realistic.” While we definitely don’t want to write dialogue that sounds so outlandish it jolts the reader out of the story, “realistic” is not the primary goal of fictional dialogue. Over-focusing on “realism” is, in fact, a great way to miss out on the power of fictional dialogue to interact with character is some incredibly powerful ways.

When used skilfully, dialogue can accomplish a variety of crucial tasks in character development:

Revealing Character Traits: The way your characters speak, the tone they use, the language they employ, and the topics they choose to discuss all contribute to the readers’ understanding of their personalities, quirks, and idiosyncrasies.
Conveying Emotions: The emotional content of your characters’ dialogue – the way they express joy, anger, fear, or any other sentiment – helps readers empathize with them and understand their motivations.
Establishing Relationships: The dynamics and interactions between your characters, as expressed through their dialogue, can shed light on the nature of their relationships, and hint at a wealth of interpersonal history.
Advancing the Plot: Well-crafted dialogue not only reveals character but also propels the story forward, driving the action and creating a sense of momentum and urgency.
Hinting at unspoken details: What your characters don’t say, especially when paired with non-verbal cues or contextualizing prose, can be every bit as revealing as the words that leave their mouths.

Techniques for Writing Effective Dialogue

Crafting authentic, engaging dialogue can take a bit of practice, but the rewards are more than worth the effort. Here are some key techniques to help you get the most out of your dialogue writing:

Capture authentic speech patterns: Listen to how people speak in real life, taking note of the rhythm, cadence, and colloquialisms they use. Incorporate these natural speech patterns into your characters’ dialogue to make it sound more believable and relatable.
Avoid exposition dumps: While dialogue can absolutely be used to deliver large chunks of background information or explanations, this must be handled with care. Interjections, questions, and even non sequiturs will break up expository dialogue and make it much more readable. Keep your dialogue focused on back-and-forth, rather than exposition specifically, and use it to weave in relevant details and context organically throughout the conversation. Above all, avoid falling into the “As you know…” dialogue trope (even if your dialogue doesn’t literally incorporate the words “As you know…”)
Differentiate voices: It can be subtle, but each of your characters should have a distinctive manner of speaking that incorporates variations in vocabulary, sentence structure, and conversational style. Is your character the kind of person who would use precision in speech? Idiom? Slang? Long, complicated words? Why (or why not)? It’s these little quirks that often unlock the essence of a character for the reader, sometimes with the lightest of touches (consider, for example, a character who texts, “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re trying to say?” – complete with punctuation and capitalisation – versus a character who texts “lol wut” for a general idea of how effective this can be).
Create conflict and tension: Dialogue is most compelling when it’s driven by conflict, whether it’s a disagreement, a misunderstanding, or a clash of personalities. Use dialogue to create moments of tension and drama that propel the story forward.
Incorporate subtext: The true meaning of a conversation often lies beneath the surface. Incorporate subtext – the unspoken thoughts, feelings, and intentions of your characters – to add depth and complexity to your dialogue.
Employ dialogue tags judiciously and attribute wherever possible: Use dialogue tags (e.g., “he said,” “she whispered”) sparingly, relying instead on the content and context of the dialogue to convey the appropriate tone and emotion. Avoid overusing adverbs (grumpily, sorrowfully, excitedly, and so on) wherever possible in your dialogue tags – these can read as heavy-handed. Often, a stronger verb will do the trick instead and be less obtrusive (“‘No!’ he yelled” versus “‘No!’ he said forcefully“). In any case, an attribution is often tidier than a speech tag and can be used to add a great deal of context and nuance. (Consider: “‘I’m so sorry for your loss,’ said Sarah unconvincingly. ‘Your wife was a wonderful woman.'” versus “‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’ Sarah tried and failed to hide her smirk. ‘Your wife was a wonderful woman.'”)
Read dialogue aloud: As you’re writing and revising your dialogue, read it aloud to yourself or have others read it. This will help you identify any awkward phrasing, unrealistic speech patterns, or missed opportunities for character development.

“Consider: a character who texts, ‘I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re trying to say?’ – complete with punctuation and capitalisation – versus a character who texts ‘lol wut’.”

Using Dialogue to Reveal Character Traits and Motivations

One of the primary functions of dialogue in character development is to reveal the unique traits, quirks, and motivations of your fictional creations. Through the way your characters speak, you can shed light on their personalities, values, and the underlying drivers of their actions.

Consider how a character’s choice of words, tone, and body language can convey information about their:

Personality: Is your character witty and sarcastic, or earnest and sincere? Do they speak with confidence and authority, or with hesitation and uncertainty?
Emotional state: Does your character’s dialogue reflect their current mood, whether it’s joy, anger, fear, or something else? How do their emotions shape the way they communicate?
Background and experiences: The language a character uses, the references they make, and the stories they share can provide insights into their upbringing, education, and life experiences.
Relationships: The way your characters interact with one another, the dynamics they display, and the subtext of their conversations can reveal the nature of their relationships and hint at either a shared backstory or complete unfamiliarity with each other.
Desires and Motivations: The goals, dreams, and underlying drivers that propel your characters can be illuminated through their dialogue, as they express their hopes, fears, and the reasons behind their choices.

By using dialogue as a tool to uncover these facets of your characters, you can create multidimensional, relatable figures that resonate with your readers on a deep, emotional level.

What does great character development through dialogue look like?

Unique verbal style: Incorporating distinctive speech patterns, catchphrases, or mannerisms into your characters’ dialogue helps make them instantly recognisable. This could include the way they emphasise certain words, their use of slang or colloquialisms, or even physical gestures that accompany their speech.
Cultural and linguistic diversity: Let your characters’ dialogue reflect their diverse backgrounds, whether it’s through the use of foreign phrases, regional dialects, or references to cultural traditions and experiences. A word of caution, though: attempting to transliterate accents in fictional dialogue is a mixed bag. For one thing, it’s very difficult to arrive at a written diphthong that every reader will interpret in the same way. Our internal reading voice tends to follow the patterns of our spoken accent, or the accents we hear most often around us. This means that any attempt to replicate, say, a Louisiana accent through mimicking the diphthongs as they register to a Californian writer, for example, may well sound different inside the head of an Irish, Australian, or even Texan reader.
Subtext and ambiguity: A non-sequitur can be incredibly effective in dialogue. Have characters answer questions with questions of their own, skirt around difficult or contentious topics, reveal information in a way that the reader or other characters know or suspect to be inaccurate. Characters very rarely speak in perfectly choreographed back-and-forth dialogue and they can only operate from the information afforded by their own experience, worldview, knowledge, and relationship with the other speaker/s. Incorporating elements of subtext, ambiguity, and nuance into your characters’ dialogue allows readers to interpret characters’ true intentions and motivations, which promotes engagement between reader and text.

Things to Avoid when Writing Dialogue for Character Development

While dialogue is a powerful tool for character development, there are a couple of things you’ll need to watch out for if you’re going to get the full benefit:

Flawless delivery: Dialogue that sounds overly rehearsed (unless it’s supposed to be overly rehearsed) can pull readers out of the story. Ensure that your characters’ speech patterns reflect the way people actually communicate in real life.
“As you know”: Dialogue is a powerful tool for exposition, but having characters explain information to each other that they both already know is a sure-fire way to lose your reader’s attention.
Lack of distinct voices: If all of your characters sound the same, it can be difficult for readers to keep track of who is speaking and how they differ from one another. Develop unique speech patterns, vocabulary, and conversational styles for each character.
Overuse of dialogue tags: Excessive use of dialogue tags (e.g., “he said,” “she exclaimed”) can make your dialogue feel clunky and distracting. Trust your readers to understand who is speaking based on the content and context of the conversation.

Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Dialogue Writing Skills

Read widely: Immerse yourself in a diverse range of literary works, paying close attention to how successful authors use dialogue to develop their characters. Take note of the techniques and strategies they employ, and consider how you might apply them to your own writing.
Brush up on dialogue punctuation: Everyone gets this wrong at some point, but it is important. Yes, authors like Sally Rooney and Roddy Doyle are leading the charge for unconventional methods of formatting dialogue, but you have to know the rules inside out to know how to break them. This is a great resource for getting dialogue punctuation correct.
Listen to authentic conversations: Spend time observing how people interact in real-life settings, taking note of the rhythm, cadence, and nuances of their speech. This can provide valuable insights to inform the way you write dialogue.
Participate in writing workshops or classes: Seek out opportunities to receive feedback and guidance from experienced writers and editors, who can help you identify areas for improvement and provide tailored advice for enhancing your dialogue writing.
Practice, practice, practice: The more you write, the more comfortable and skilled you’ll become at crafting authentic, compelling dialogue. Set aside dedicated time for dialogue writing exercises, and don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks. Writing dialogue-only short stories is another useful method of exploring how powerful fictional dialogue can be.

“Remember, the journey to mastering dialogue and character development is an ongoing one, filled with opportunities for growth and experimentation.”

Mastering Character Development through Dialogue

Dialogue is a powerful tool in the author’s arsenal. By understanding the role of dialogue in revealing character traits, motivations, and relationships, and by employing a range of techniques to craft authentic, engaging exchanges, you can breathe life into your fictional creations and captivate your audience.

Remember, the journey to mastering dialogue and character development is an ongoing one, filled with opportunities for growth and experimentation. Embrace the challenges, seek out feedback and resources, and most importantly, keep writing. With dedication and persistence, you’ll hone your skills and unlock the full potential of your characters, leaving an indelible mark on your readers.

What are your biggest challenges when it comes to character development or dialogue? Let me know in the comments!