WRITING 'REAL' DIALOGUE

'Real' dialogue in a story is NOT the same as dialogue in real life: So the first thing to do is to cut out all the Umms and Errs, all the Hellos and Goodbyes, discussions about the weather, etc. Then look at what's left and see how you can use it to reveal something about a) the characters, b) the plot, c) their relationship.

When someone reads a book, they see every word or sentence as having significance.

For instance, if a character says. 'I see they're having a sale at M&S tomorrow', the reader will think, Perhaps there's going to be a bombing there tomorrow, 200 killed, and maybe Tracey (the viewpoint character) will rescue the store manager and be offered a job in the next chapter as Chief Buyer!

Instead of which, there's just the usual boring Sale, or it's never mentioned again by any of the characters, and the reader wonders why it was ever mentioned in the first place!

So cut out all unnecessary information and use dialogue ONLY to advance the story in some way.

However, written dialogue should read - and sound - natural. Listen to those around you. People don't use whole carefully structured sentences, the exception possibly being politicians! In real life and in books people use half sentences, broken phrases. They interrupt each other. They interrupt themselves. They often finish each other's sentences.