Writing for Dialogues: Give Voice to Your Characters

Writing for Dialogues: Give Voice to Your Characters

“This is where our shared path ends. I hope this course has helped you find important allies in the voices of your characters. For that, do not forget that it is very important to establish three things: relationship, information and situation.

To be clear about the relationships and the way in which they are affected between characters, you can use some cards like the ones I used, or some dolls or objects to represent your characters. You can also just draw the systems on paper. For information, before starting to write, answer all the questions that arise and that you think are vital to tell your story: if you are not clear, probably your characters will not have it either. And finally, decide which are the moments in your story where it is most interesting to see them talk. Personally, I always try to make them the most uncomfortable moments or where there is no turning back and you have to decide something important at that moment. Once you are clear on the relationship, the information and the situation, characterize the voice of each character with some details and you can start to try some dialogue. It can always happen that you have some “warm-up” speeches before getting into the topic and situation of the dialogue. When I write, many times I cut the first parliaments of the scenes because in reality the interesting thing about the scene begins later, when I already found the rhythm. Remember that writing dialogues involves an exercise in constant listening, repeat the idea as many times as necessary until it has the sound and intention you want. And remember that it is also very important to learn to let go: if you can't get one of your characters to say that idea you had in mind, write it down and probably in some future story you can formulate it. I invite you to see the exercises and final projects of your classmates and to comment on them. Every comment is good, even if you tell them what they made you feel or remember. When we receive comments, everything is very useful, from realizing what we can communicate faithfully from our heads, to the associations that we do not imagine that anyone could do. I will comment on the work you develop in the forum. During the course I concentrated a lot on the dialogues in a realistic tone, but do not doubt that I will love reading your writing if you have a more eccentric style. In the dialogues you can make everything believable. Finally, remember that in your first versions you can take everything out: later the reformulation will come and you will be able to specify the data and the rhythm of the voices, but it is always easier to work when the voices of your characters are already on paper. ”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final project Dear students, we have reached the end of the course. I hope that by this time you already have many ideas to get the characters in your stories to speak. Remember that it is important be clear about the relationships they have between them and the characterization of their voices. Before writing, imagine how they sound, the recurring phrases they have or the semantic fields they handle. Make decisions regarding the information they will handle and the situation in which they are immersed when they speak. Once you are clear about the relationship, the information and the situa...”

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Course summary for: Writing for Dialogues: Give Voice to Your Characters

• Level: Beginner
• 98% positive reviews (253)
• 6898 students
• 4 units
• 17 lessons (2h 5m)
• 8 downloads

• Category

  Writing

• Areas

  Creative Writing, Fiction Writing, Film, Video & TV, Narrative, Script, Writing