Carefully constructed conversation choices concerning characters

Who else has trouble making small talk?

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“How is the weather over there, Teresa?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful Vira, you should come to visit soon.”

*Me with absolutely no intention of visiting anytime soon* ”That sounds absolutely amazing, I would love to!”

*cue awkward silence* “So Vira… How’s your dog?”

“My dog died last year, Teresa.”

“…Oh”

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You get the picture. Small talk sucks, especially when you’re reading it. Unfortunately, this creates a problem since small talk is a crucial part of getting to know someone. Communication is key in a relationship, and unfortunately for us writers, that means *dramatic organ music* Dialogue *dun dun duuunnnnn*. Many writers struggle with their dialogue sounding two dimensional; it’s flat, flabby, and very dull. In essence, it’s predictable.

“But V, didn’t you say that your writing seems predictable because you wrote it?”

That I did my young Padawans!

Sometimes your writing seems predictable to you because A) you wrote it. And B) you’ve read it. However, there is a difference between your writing feeling predictable to you and predictable to your reader. Your writing feeling predictable to you is common and is nothing to be afraid of, my guess is that no one would even notice if they read it at that very moment. However, writing feeling predictable to readers toes the very same edge of that thin line. When dialogue is predictable to readers, they zone out.

Have you ever read a scene where the guy and the girl are just starting to get close, or have just started dating, and suddenly the guy’s old ex or a very attractive girl shows up. His girlfriend/almost girlfriend catches him kissing the new girl and runs off in tears. Yeah, you know the scene I’m talking about. Now, frequently after such an instance, one of two things happens.

1) The boy runs after the girl shouting her name and claims that the new girl came onto him and that she kissed him! It wasn’t his fault! He never meant to hurt her! etc. etc. etc.…

2) The boy admits to making a mistake and claims that he never wanted to hurt her but got scared and fell back into his old ways. He asks for another chance and plays a sob story card.

I can’t tell you how many of these I’ve read. So so so so many. The conversations are predictable and boring. The book isn’t over, and we know that she’s going to take him back because it’s taken half the book to even get to this point, the author isn’t going to waste their remaining chapters with the girl pining over the loss of this boy. We’ve seen it so many times before that we’ve almost begun to accept it. That’s how you know that your dialogue is predictable.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for clichés. In fact, (little side trail here) I’m such a sucker for clichés that my best friend had me listed in her phone as “cliché monster” for years (she probably still does). So why do clichés harm our reading?

Have you ever heard of a love triangle? Yeah, I can already hear the groaning. If done carefully, where romance isn’t the main focus, love triangles can be fine. After all, it’s not a bad thing to have a crush on two people. The only time it becomes a problem is when it is used as a source of conflict. *1920’s jazz music begins to play. Femme fatal places the back of her hand against her forehead.* “Oh, I love them both!. I can’t choose!” *record scratch* Yeah yeah we get it. Clichés hurt your reading because your reader has already seen how it plays out. They don’t pay attention anymore. In fact, many people, including myself, will actually stop reading a novel if the cliché becomes too apparent.

This same idea with cliché tropes also feeds directly into conversations. We all (at least I hope it’s not just me) imagine how we want conversations to go in our heads. Maybe it’s an argument, and the other person says something that gets on our nerves, and we instantly shut them down with the perfect comeback, or perhaps it’s the perfect way that our crush is going to confess their undying love for us, etc. etc. etc. The problem is things never exactly go as planned. And guess what? Readers know that. They can always tell when a conversation is set up.

The other day Thane and I were talking with our friend Fiona, and she made an excellent point about how to create a non-cliché conversation. She said, “It’s a real conversation. Not just a scene. These two people, real people, with dislikes and likes and flaws, are having a conversation. Don’t force it. it’s natural, or it’s not happening.”

(Side note: I don’t think I’ve told you guys much about Fiona yet. Disclaimer: she is an amazing author, probably better then I am, and you are all fools if you don’t go check out her work. You can find her at Firestorm17.wixsite.com, or find more information on my Associated Authors page)

Fiona makes an excellent point; these two people you have created have a fantastic amount of backstory behind each and every word. Like us, they don’t say the perfect thing or have the perfect comeback. They aren’t always fluent in sarcasm or have thick enough skin to keep from crying during an argument. They play favorites and take sides, and their voice has an edge when it shouldn’t, or they weren’t listening when it was important. They zone out, goof off, say things they shouldn’t. The characters we create are fallible. They make mistakes. They aren’t perfect. But that’s what makes a good character.

The Bible tells us that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. Their words, their voices, everything comes back to who they truly are. A little misplaced word here, a strange comment there, a vague hint at something more. As writers, we must learn how to write between the lines to give these characters the conversational depth and realism they deserve.