Here at West Lothian Writers, we believe that sometimes we all need a bit of advice from the experts so here is a three such examples all focusing on dialogue from writers such as David Mamet, James J. Kilpatrick and Anne Lamott from the Advice to Writers website
David Mamet – “Don’t write stage directions. If it is not apparent what the character is trying to accomplish by saying the line, telling us how the character said it, or whether or not she moved to the couch isn’t going to aid the case. We might understand better what the character means but we aren’t particularly going to care.”
James J. Kilpatrick – “Good writers do not litter their sentences with adverbial garbage. They do not hold up signs reading “laughter!” or applause!” The content of dialogue ought to suggest the mood.”
Anne Lamott – “Dialogue that is written in dialect is very tiring to read. If you can do it brilliantly, fine. If other writers read your work and rave about your use of dialect, go for it. But be positive that you do it well, because otherwise it is a lot of work to read short stories or novels that are written in dialect. It makes our necks feel funny.”
John P. Marquand – “Nouns, verbs, are the workhorses of language. Especially in dialogue, don’t say, “she said mincingly,” or “he said boisterously.” Just say, “he said, she said.”
Bill Pronzini – “Dialogue which does not move the story along, or add to the mood of the story, or have an easily definable reason for being there at all (such as to establish important characterization), should be considered superfluous and therefore cut.”
William Sloane III – “To write successful dialogue the author must have access to the mind of all his characters, but the reader must not perceive any more than he would in real life.”
Anne Lamott - “Remember that you should be able to identify each character by what he or she says. Each one must sound different from the others. And they should not all sound like you.”
Of course there are many more examples of Advice about Dialogue over at Advice to Writers. Go and check them out.