- Joined
- Nov 28, 2016
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- 218
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Hi everybody, I have a huge problem with my dialogue. I've read plenty of advice on how to write dialogue. My problem is not that I state the obvious ("John, as you know, we are brothers") or that I add in things people say in real life ("ehh" and "um"). I even omit the boring greetings ("hello, how are you, John?" "I'm great, what about you?" "oh just fine"). It's just my dialogue doesn’t sound real. My beta readers say that they can't picture this scene in real life, that real people wouldn’t say something like this, that the scene seems like it's rehearsed and acted by (bad) actors. And I don’t know how to fix it. I try not to let my characters state the obvious ("I hate you' John"). But it still sounds unnatural! My characters are NOT "talking heads" and they address the scene they're in, I also add facial expressions and beats and body language and whatnot, so it's none of the above.
Does anyone have any tips? Maybe books or articles?
Thanks in advance!
Does anyone have any tips? Maybe books or articles?
Thanks in advance!
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