Writer's Advice and Feedback Group discussion

This question has been plaguing me ever since I've started writing creative stories... how do I make my dialogue flow? How do you guys deal with the awkward pleasantries that come up at the beginning of characters' conversations (like "Hello", she said. "How are you doing?" he asked. "Well, thank you," she said...)?

I know right. I've been having the same issue, but I usually look at other stories or writings and I try to follow the way they wrote their dialogue.

Think about how you talk to people when writing dialogue. It should sound like normal speech. If your writing thank you put thanks instead. For hello use hey, hi or what's up? People use a lot of slang in conversation, incorporate it in your writing. Think about how you start conversations with your friends and start them the same way in your stories.

Ask yourself does it sound natural? If no then think on how you can improve it using the above information. Is it awkward to read aloud? If yes think on how it can be more natural by again thinking about how you talk to people.

I think that for you to avoid the awkwardness from the conversation then put that in in the description.
For example; "Hello," he said casually, his eyes looking over the scene.
"Hey," she smiled, "you okay?"
"Fine," he returned her grin with ease.

From all the description you know that these two characters aren't awkward with each other. Alternatively you can skip over what the characters say until they get to the 'good part'.
For example; They exchanged a few words about the weather and then he finally said what was on his mind.
"What are we going to do?" He asked with his eye brows knitted.

Hopefully this has helped.

Yeah these all helped. Thanks so much :)

I am still finding my way with certain aspects of dialogue as well.

About those Hello's and How-are-you's that often kick off conversations....I think they can sometimes be skipped altogether.

One way to do this is to simply begin writing when the conversation's already in progress....

Heres an example. Lets say a woman is meeting a guy for a date....

Susan had barely touched her salad when the waiter took it away. She'd been completely absorbed in conversation with Todd. How nice, she thought, to have dinner with a man who she could have a conversation with.

BOOM, you could start throwing in some dialogue in quotation marks here about whatever. you would have skated right past the need to say Hello, how are you, i'm fine, etc

Another way is to summarize those bits and not making them part of the dialogue, you know, just moving through them as part of the prose:...

For example:

Susan dashed into the restaurant and made her way over to Todd, who was seated at a window table. They greeted each other. There was even a little hug between them. She sat down across from him and apologised for being late. "No worries!" he said.

Good advice Bobby. Thanks :D

Another thing about dialog is what's not said. Leaving things out, spacing a longer passage of dialog with "stage business":

"Mickey's runnin' books now." Walter's rag spread fresh grime on the counter while he scratched at the sling holding his arm. "To think, I smiled when they locked you up. Give me two of you anyday."

Probably not the best example (I just made it up) but in just that passage, what's left out, plus what's in context by the stage business (what Walter's doing) tells a lot more about the story than the dialog alone.

Also, people talk the way they want to project themselves to the people around them. I agree with a lot of the posts about speaking naturally, but each character will use different word/phrase choices, depending on who they see themselves to be in relation to who they're talking to.

Hope that helps.

That's really helpful. I think one of my major problems is actually laying everything out in dialogue, so thanks for the advice about the stage business Liam :)

Write the dialogue how you think that character would say it. For example, say you have a really preppy excited character in your book. As they're speaking, include little details that help define them.

Like:

She bounced giddily over to the table with a smile spread on her face. The tips of her mouth were tilted high up, and her mouth was apart, showing all of her teeth.

"Morning morning!" she cheered before hopping down in the seat.

Try to stay true to each character and their personality so that the dialogue they are saying, fits them.

And to avoid awkward situations, be sure that your dialogue has a purpose. Is there something that gets revealed during the conversation?

Most of the time, you can leave out conversations that are irrelevant to what's going on.

Hoped this helped a little! I have the same problem sometimes too :/

Here's something that I've discovered over the years, because I struggle with dialogue as well. Contractions are your friends! People rarely say "it is" when they can say "it's" or "they are" when they can say "they're".

Good reminder Roxanne.

I'm having the same problem with HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAID. I'm using a "SAID IS DEAD" cards online to help me with my dialogue for my characters.