Dialogue - individualize character

[Novice Paul]

I don't think this has been posted here, so sorry if it has. How exactly do you make character dialogue more interesting and make it sound more like that is what that type of person would say? Are there any articles or websites on how to improve dialogue? I realize this is a critical part to writing that great script so any info would be great.

[jimjimgrande]

This is recommended by David Milch as a way not just to improve your dialogue, but your writing in general.

Every day for the next two weeks, write for no less than twenty minutes, but no more than fifty minutes, a conversation between two characters.

Do not use names. Do not use descriptions. Just write dialogue. Two voices. 1 and 2.

Try to do this at the same time every day.

Do not go back and reread or rewrite what you've written.

Just sit down and do this every day for the next two weeks for the amount of time alloted.

Do not plan what you will write. Do not outline. Just write two voices.

This is about working the creative muscles in your brain. It is practice and exercise.

Do this rigorously and it will profoundly change the way you write.

Merry Xmas

[cck45]

You have to know everything about your character to write good dialogue. Age, occupation, life experiences, where they're from, education, etc. Think about who you character is. Do they use street slang or are they highly educated and use big words. Maybe they speak fast in short choppy phrases or sarcastic. Also, listen to people talk and have a conversation.

[Revisionist]

It also helps to immerse yourself in great characters. Wether they be people you actually know, or creations from your favorite movies... You'll start to get a feel for how people talk and act in general by studying them... A writer is an observer of the people around him. Creating unique characters is a difficult task, and friends and family can be some of your most brilliant sources of brainstorming.

Read screenplays that possess great dialogue. Think Hannibal Lector... You could read his dialogue and know who's speaking without seeing the flick. He's just that unique. Or Vince in Pulp Fiction.

Take an ordinary sentence and have different characters speak the same line... You'll find they'll all say it in their own way...

#1
I'm bored. Let's head to the beach.

#2
Grab the road pop, Homeboy. Time to hit the sand.

#3
Y'all 'bout as excitin' as a snail on the sidewalk. How 'bout we pack the grits and hit the coast.

#4
Woa. I got like a totally narly idea... Sun's up. Chicks are out full force. Time for a little seaside adventure, Dude.

#5
How about it, Clarice? They say the beach does wonders for the mind. Although I've never been one for elevated temperatures it does offer the opportunity to choose dinner from the crowd. What do you say, Clarice? How is your mind? Does it wonder?

#6
Surf's up.

[pantalone]

What jimjim says for writers to use, the end result is fairly common as an improv piece for acting classes. The first time I saw this technique, the teacher called it "ephemeral" acting. The class would pair up (or whatever) and read thier lines- everybody had the same lines - and we'd get to see 7 or 8 different versions of the same lines of dialog.

[Totiwos]

Go find the type of person you want to write about. Talk to that person. Listen to how they talk.

[jimjimgrande]

to clarify - I'm not saying write the same conversation every day for two weeks. I'm saying write A Coversation every day for two weeks with two distinct voices.

It's not the same as the acting exercise pantalone is talking about, but that sounds interesting, too.

[Adam Isaac]

For me-a certified weirdo-I like listening to music, something that fits their profile in my mind.

good for rythym and fluid pace, might not be the best dialogue remedy for all, but I dig music.

Best damn signature-character dialogue ever, imo.
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (http://www.allmoviescripts.com/scripts/20696116243f647f8577a5d.htm)

[whistlelock]

go eavesdrop on people talking. Actually listen to the way they use words, what order, what they mean versus what they're saying.

Movie theaters are great places for this; for some reason people think that being in a semi-dark room full of strangers is licesense to talk about anything.

[Queen Uhuru]

Working as a waitress was a tremendous help to my writing - listening to people, hearing their personalities come through in their choice of words and how they spoke them, picking up little "character bits" here and there, seeing someone in the restaurant and using my imagination to make up a story about that person and so on... anyone can do this in anyplace that gathers together groups of people.

I'd suggest hanging out at Starbuck's for this, but it seems around here, the Starbuck's customers are in some overused categories -stereotypes - or just very, very weird. Weird is okay, too, if you have a need for the occasional strange type in a story but I'm talking almost cartoonish weird in this neighborhood.

Our Starbuck's customers:

1. Extremely pretentious on-the-verge of (but not quite) rich matrons. They want everyone to know all about their material worth.

2. Skateboarding teenagers (who are the reason us regulars can't sit outside for as long as we'd like because Starbuck's management claims the teens are into stealing chairs).

3. Gay Israeli men, mostly on the show biz fringe. Only once in a while do I see the same group, too. Almost always different guys every time. They sometimes ask if I mind if they speak Hebrew in my presence (the outside tables can get cluttered close together) and I always answer in Hebrew, "Zeh behseyder (It's okay. Or, "Whatever."). I don't really speak Hebrew other than a few tourist phrases, but the expression on their faces as they wonder if I've understood what they've been talking about is priceless.

4. High School Sweethearts. Apparently, Starbuck's is the new Bob's Big Boy for showing off that you're a hit with the opposite sex.

5. The lone writer. At least I don't bring along my laptop. There's an awful LOT of us in this area, it seems.

Anyway, the pickings for characterizations are not so diverse at a Starbuck's as they are at say, a family restaurant or even a fast food joint. But still, wherever you go, your writer's ear could be listening and picking up "bits."

[TwoBrad Bradley]

I'm not a big fan of the "go listen to real people talk" advice. I would agree it's a good way to hear how different people speak, but it only gets you "half way there" to improving movie dialogue.

People in real life tend to be non-confrontational. In movies you want people who are more confrontational (but not too confrontational to be on-the-nose).

Try (won't work every time) to eliminate Q&A in dialogue. Movie dialogue is not an interrogation. Consider ways to turn questions into statements. Let the character react to a statement rather than respond to a question.

[Queen Uhuru]

I like that advice, Bradley, about not turning dialogue into a question-and-answer interrogation (unless, of course, the writer is writing an actual interrogation at a police station or in a courtroom).

I have some dialogue resources (links) HERE (http://home.att.net/~I_write_screenplays/dialogue.html). They're just assorted articles and other things that touch on the subject.