Now you’ve had a go at fashioning a human being out of thin air. It feels a bit like making a new friend, doesn’t it? But in novels in general, and crime novels in particular, you can’t just have a crowd of people walking around doing things. They have to talk too. And this is where dialogue-writing comes in. If you put some time into really practising this assignment, you’ll have made great progress towards becoming a crime writer!
Dialogue
Well-written dialogue not only helps to flesh out your characters, it also drives the plot forwards. Poorly written dialogue can have your readers tossing the book away into the nearest recycling bin. Writing dialogue is undeniably an art, but it’s also very much a question of practice. It’s really worth putting a lot energy into learning how to master dialogue. Some things to think about:
Remember that each person has their “own voice”. Does the character speak in this way? Would he or she respond with a comment like that? Factors that can affect how a person speaks include:
• Age
• Sex
• Social status
• Culture
• Profession
• Education
Create a dynamic in the text by starting a section with a dialogue. Instead of writing: “Patrik knocked on the old woman’s door and waited for her to open it...”, you can throw yourself straight into the dialogue and let that say where the character is, whom he meets and why he’s there.
Try to find other ways to indicate who’s talking than simply writing “said Patrik” all the time. It’s often not even necessary for the readers’ understanding to indicate in writing who’s doing the talking, as it’s usually obvious in a conversation between two people who says what.
Don’t sprinkle the text with too many adverbs either. Be sparing with them. What I mean is things like: “He said hoarsely”, “she whispered softly”, “he shrieked angrily”. Trust in the readers’ own ability to read between the lines.
Consider, for example, the following dialogue from “The Preacher”:
“‘Linda?’
Typical, even here in the stall she couldn’t be left in peace.
‘Linda?’ The voice was more urgent. He knew that she was here, so there was no use pretending she didn’t hear him.
‘Don’t be such a bloody nag. What is it?’
‘You really don’t need to speak to me in that tone of voice. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you show a little courtesy.’
She muttered a few curses in reply, but Jacob let it pass.
‘You’re actually my brother, not my father, did you ever think of that?’ she told him.
‘I’m well aware of that, but as long as you’re living under my roof, I actually do have a certain responsibility for you.’”
Here, I’ve tried to give the people engaged in this dialogue their own characteristic tone. The teenage girl, disrespectful, coarse and foul-mouthed. As for her brother, I deliberately gave him a very formal and affected idiom to mark that he’s much older the she and rather stiff. It’s hopefully a fairly realistic dialogue.
So what’s a realistic dialogue? Real people use, for example, a lot of polite phrases, such as “How are you today, then?”, “How nice of you to come”, or “How’s the wife?”. Don’t have more than what’s necessary in your dialogues. The idea is for dialogue to drive events and too much small-talk can get repetitive and boring, and puts an unnecessary brake on the pace of the narrative.
Finally: read the dialogue out loud to yourself when you’ve written it. It’s usually possible to ditch or rewrite some real hair-raisers after you’ve done so…
EXERCISE:
Eavesdrop on a conversation on the underground, at a café or in some other public space. Write down what you hear and then write a passage about these people using the dialogue you overheard. (Discretion recommended...)
Try rewriting the passage a couple of times, changing some of the dialogue-affecting factors I listed above (age, education, profession, etc.) and see what influence this has on the dialogue. (Even if you started with a real dialogue that you’ve overheard, you’re at full liberty to change it – after all, you are the author!)
EXERCISE:
Write a dialogue of at least two sides of A4 in length. Chose one of the following scenarios:
1. A police officer is interviewing a man who’s suspected of murdering his wife. The man claims that his wife walked out of the door three days earlier and that since then has gone missing.
2. A husband and wife are discussing their suspicions that their son is involved in the serial rape and murder of young girls. The father wants them to contact the police, the mother wants them to protect the boy and keep silent.
If you want/care/have time to, you can, of course, write a dialogue for both scenarios, but it’s not necessary. I’d be happy to get two side of A4 for one of the alternatives.
RECOMMENDED READING:
1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
One of the best thrillers ever written. Read it and learn most of what you need to know about how to generate and maintain tension in a book.
Suggested reading:
1. How to write crime novels by Isobel Lambot, pages 125-129
2. Writing mysteries by Sue Grafton, pages 101-109
3. How to write mysteries by Shannon O’Cork, pages 87-97