Writing Dialogue

Hi, all! Happy Veteran's Day, and thank you to the men and women who have sacrificed for our country through their personal service or through the service of loved ones. So easy to forget the sacrifices many make for the freedoms it's so easy to enjoy.

Today's blog is all about dialogue. Have you ever reread your manuscript and gotten that bleh feeling from the dialogue? Maybe the character interactions feel flat or forced, or simply unrealistic. Dialogue is a big deal-breaker for me whenever I'm reading a new book. I don't know about you, but if the dialogue feels cheesy, I usually won't stick with the book.

So how can we avoid these pitfalls and keep readers hooked?

1) Avoid making dialogue too realistic. I think we all do this when we start to write fiction, but it's a habit we need to nix. Example...

"Hi, how are you?" She held the phone receiver to her ear tightly.
"Fine, how about you?"
"I'm okay."
"Yeah? Just okay?"
"Yeah, you know how it is. What's new?" She broke a piece of a chocolate chip cookie and dropped it in her mouth.
"Nothing. You?"
"Not much. Oh, except my job at the Godiva store."
"What about it?"
"I got caught stealing the truffles. They fired me."

All we really care about is the fact that she got caught eating truffles on the job and was fired, right? Obviously this is a silly example, but the reason we start caring at the end of this interaction is because that's the first time something actually happens in the conversation. If your dialogue feels flat, try going through and slashing all the extras. Yes, your word count might take a hit, but the conversations between your characters will be so much deeper, fuller, and more interesting.

2) Always end with a hook. Any time you're finishing a chapter or a section, cut the conversation short before it's resolved. This is my trick for hooking the readers to (hopefully) lead them into the next chapter. Think about it. When you're reading a book and it keeps you up into the middle of the night, why does it have that effect? Because you need to know what comes next, right?

Here's an example from one of my favorite books, Daring Chloe by Laura Jensen Walker. The chapter starts, "At 1:33 a.m., nine hours and twenty-seven minutes before my wedding ceremony, my fiance dumped me. By text message."

The chapter goes on to end with this hook:

Slamming the art book shut, I sprang from my seat. "He'll be praying for me? He'd better pray for his risk-taking, dare-devil friend, 'cause when I find him, I'm gonna kill him. Bet he won't find that boring."

Tess grabbed her literary purse. "Come on, Chloe. You're going on your honeymoon. And I'm coming with you, so let's go buy a bikini. I'm thinking red thong."

Who doesn't want to read the rest of the book with a setup like that? This is a chick lit novel, but the same principle applies to historical romance, suspense, etc. Give us the setup of the conflict, but just before you give the resolution, take the carrot away and tease the reader into turning one more page. Works like a charm. It's worked on me many times!

3) Make your dialogue character-specific. We should be able to tell which of your characters is speaking just based off the dialogue, even if you didn't use tags. This is something I struggled with when I first started writing fiction. But I've learned that if you take time to really develop your characters' personalities, the dialogue will shine so much more than if your characters are all coming across a bit vanilla. Work on the whole package. Yes, your plot should be fabulous. But who cares if the characters don't tug our hearts? Make them individuals. Really work on their personalities, and your dialogue will come alive. I have one character in particular in my last book who constantly surprised me with the things that came out of her mouth... it was really like I had no control over what she was going to say next, and that made her so fun to write!

4) Pay attention to pacing. When in doubt, make it snappy. No one likes to listen to someone drone on and on in real life. It's even worse if that person is fictional. Be conscious of your pacing when it comes to dialogue, especially if you're incorporating humor. Yes, some characters will be very chatty, but be intentional if you're going to write long diatribes. For instance, you may have a minor character who likes to hear herself talk, and the other characters are always cutting her off. A situation like that can work nicely. Otherwise, readers generally like the back-and-forth dialogue provides. When it doubt, especially if you're writing a male POV, make something short and sweet. Not only will it make your dialogue flow nicely, but it will also help your pacing as you work to clip off unnecessary details. Then readers will know where to put their focus rather than feeling weighed down by a lot of extra information.

What tips do you have for writing dialogue? Do you enjoy writing dialogue, or do you prefer the more narrative components of story writing?

Making Your Title Sexy

Got your attention, didn't it?

I have included for illustration's sake a photo of Justin Timberlake only because he did, of course, bring sexy back. To be honest, Lance was always my favorite NSYNC member, and well . . . you know how that turned out.

Today is all about--you guessed it! Creating titles that catch your readers' attention. Titling your manuscript can be so difficult, because you have to sum up the sentiment and all the layers of your book into a short little phrase. Some people will tell you not to spend too much time on your title because a publishing house will change it anyway, but I would disagree with that, because you need a good title to catch the attention of a publishing house or agent in the first place. Not to mention, wouldn't you rather have the chance to title it yourself, picking something that's consistent with your book's overall vibe? So here are some things to keep in mind when working on your titles that should increase your chances of getting to keep the original title when the book does sell.

• Your title is your first opportunity for marketing. So make it good.

• Use a consistent tone as what you use in the book. Have you read My Life As A Doormat by Rene Gutteridge? It's pretty much one of the best books of all time, and the tone throughout is as funny as the title sounds. What about A Grownup Kind of Pretty by Jocelyn Jackson? I rented this one from the library but couldn't get into it enough to finish. That said, I love the title and think it showcases Jocelyn's lyrical writing style so well.

• Create a hook that catches attention and makes us what to find out what this story's all about.

• Add layers of depth to the title's implications. Another one of my favorite books of all time is Miss Invisible by Laura Jensen Walker. At the beginning of the story, two main things drive the character: she is indeed a "miss" and it not exactly thrilled about that fact, and she prefers, at all costs, to remain invisible.

• Keep it relatively short.

• Create a title that will only become more interesting after someone has read the story. Examples of this are Pride and Prejudice, To Kill A Mockingbird, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Eats, Shoots, & Leaves, and Where the Wild Things Are.

• Keep the target audience in mind. 

• Irony, or a play off a name. A couple of my favorite examples of this are Love Starts With Elle by Rachel Hauck, and Savannah from Savannah by Denise Hildreth. Also, Laura Jensen Walker is a superstar at this. Reconstructing Natalie, Daring Chloe, and Becca by the Book are all other great examples. Can you tell I'm a Laura Jensen Walker fan?

A good title, like a good cover, can set you apart from other books as readers who may be unfamiliar with your writing browse through the bookshelves. In my opinion, it's one of the most important ways to catch the attention of readers. I know I've picked up many books based off their titles alone. Haven't you?

Okay, so now I need your help! I'm entering Family Fiction's short romance contest, and I need a clever title that will catch everyone's attention. Here's my setup. A woman is in an airplane, and she fingers her engagement ring, considering whether or not her fiance has found the note she left in his mailbox to break up with him. Then she gets off the plane and runs into her true love from the past--the man from the lake house. Need I say more? She sees him, and makes her confession. She is in town again for a reason. She is dying. He's clearly upset, but he tells her he's taking her back to the lake house, which she finds out he bought because he never did get over her. So it's in the discovery of terminal illness that she finally starts living.

Here are some possible titles: 

The Moment Life Begins

The Lake House

Love in an Airport Terminal

Sweet Memories: The Past that Wouldn't Stay Gone

Old flames, Baggage, and a Note in the Mailbox

Baggage Claim

The Sun Sets in Georgia

Which of these titles do you like the best? Or can you come up with another one? Also, would you be willing to give some examples of your own favorite book titles? I'm interested to see what everyone's interests are!

*Photos from http://www.dosomething.org/category/tags/justin-timberlake, http://revdavidh.blogspot.com/2012/05/family-ministry-where-wild-things-are.html

Hooks at Chapter Endings

Ever glanced at the clock, promised to yourself you'd read "just one more chapter," and then wind up awake for another hour? Two authors who always do this to me are Jenny B Jones and Denise Hunter, a couple of my favorites. Why does this happen? Well, apart from a really good story line, we have hooks to blame.

So what makes a good hook? How can we begin and end our chapters in a way that makes readers stay up late into the night, wanting to know more of the story so badly they'll risk sleep deprivation the next day?

1) Stop in the middle of the action. There's nothing like being in the middle of a scene when the chapter ends. We have to keep going so we can find out what happens to the character.

2) Make us worry. There has to be something important at stake for your character. If your character has just fallen out of a gondola in Venice, for instance, we are going to be worried.

3) Make us interested. Find a way to keep your reader guessing and wanting to know what comes next. Your chapters shouldn't end with your characters talking about a shoe sale or sitting around drinking tea. This is a problem I had early on in my writing, especially in my first novel.

Treat every chapter ending like it might be the last page a person reads. Strive that hard to keep them hooked, and you'll be pleased with what you come up with.

What are some strategies you employ to keep readers hooked?

Creating Hooks That Catch the Reader

So, you've got a great story. You're a really interesting person, and you have fabulous shoes. I have some unfortunate news you may have already discovered: no one cares.

I'm just kidding! But it can feel that way when you're trying to catch the attention of an agent or editor, can't it?

But think about it from the editor's perspective. They get a lot of material sent their way, and frankly, much of it (maybe even the majority of it, depending on who they are and where they work) is simply not very good. I'm talking "I've never heard of punctuation" not-good. So imagine that you're the one getting hundreds of these less-than-stellar pitches and proposals every single day. You want to find the diamond in the rough, but would someone just give you a brownie first, because sending so many rejections is exhausting! What is going to finally catch your attention? What is going to make someone stand out from the crowd?

A good pitch. A hook. Something that makes you say, "Wowsers."

I love writing hooks for my books as well as for chapter endings. I don't know why. I think something about it feels like a challenge to me, and I like the tease factor of it. You don't have to put every little piece of information into your hook. In fact, you don't want to. So ask yourself, "How can I make this idea the most interesting, even if that means leaving out some important information?" You don't want to be deceptive about the way you describe your book, of course, but it is okay to leave out the character's darkest secret or the seventeen jobs your character goes through in the book.

When you're pitching to someone, you've got about five seconds to make a good impression. Let's face it, we all have short attention spans. So while the details of the characters' lives--your character's favorite cheesecake flavor, for instance--may seem relevant, they're probably not relevant to an agent unless the cheesecake was poisoned. I struggle with this each time I write a pitch, because all the details seem so important! You've spent all this time crafting your characters, and you want your audience to know it. But don't despair. If you get the attention of an agent or editor, the details will come in the proper time. Giving away too much too soon would be like going on a first date and spending the whole time talking about your genealogical history.

So how do you craft a solid pitch?

1) Brevity breeds interest. Generally speaking, the shorter the better. Less for the listener or reader to process.

2) Use your voice. Your writing voice, that is. Whether it's humor or suspense, get your voice in your pitch one way or another.

3) Only include the most relevant details.

4) Clearly set up the stakes for the highest point of conflict in your story. Does someone die? Is someone left at the altar? These things are interesting. Say them first. Your reader/listener will be saying to themselves, "I want to hear more about what happens."

5) Give us a reason to worry about your characters. We can't worry if we don't care.

For this week's Fiction Friday postings, we'll be focusing on hooking the reader. So start thinking of a hook for your novel this week, or even for an idea you'd like to write a novel about, and get it ready for submission next Friday!

Questions for Comment: Do you enjoy crafting pitches and hooks? Do you have any "tricks of the trade" to share?