Make Your Characters Come to Life Through Dialogue

It's true to say that a character doesn't become a real person until he or she speaks. So what can we do to convey to our readers what type of person a particular character is just by the way they speak?





First of all you must have in your own mind a clear picture of, yes, what they look like, but also what type of person they are. Then you can begin to infuse their speech to reflect that.





Let's look at four types of chracter: people who are either forceful, timid, warm-hearted or critical





To convey these personalities you might use dialogue such as the following:





'Now look here, it's obvious the what we have to do in this situation is rope off the area where the dog show will be. It won't cost that much to find stakes and ropes, and we can't risk small children getting bitten by dogs. I'm sorry but it's got to be done.'





Here's someone who is not used to being countermanded. They know what they want and are determined to get it. They tend to use long, forceful sentences that defy interruption and are aimed at both parrying objection and demanding action.





'These tea cakes, well, I did try to get them right but, oh dear, I'm afraid they just didn't, you know, really come up to scratch. What Jane will think I just can't imagine...'





Can you imagine this dear old thing ever saying boo to a goose? She's too worried about what people think of her and too self effacing and lacking in confidence to stand up for herself. She speaks hesitantly and her sentences are broken up so that her uncertainty and timidity are revealed.





'Nonsense, Elsie, they look absolutely scrumptious to me. People love your tea cakes, you know they do. Come on, tell you what, I'll help you get them in the tin and we'll take them along to the fete together shall we?. Then we'll go and have a nice cup of tea.'





Here is a warm, generous, motherly person who is helpful and kind. She is well able to take people in hand and encourage them along. Her speech is soothing and reassuring. Even the 'Nonsense, Elsie' has the positive intention of making Elsie reconsider her opinion of her cakes and of herself.





'There just aren't enough tables out. And what if it rains? These marquees should have been much bigger. I told the chairman this would happen but, of course, he wouldn't listen to me.'





This person has difficulty finding anything good to say about anything and has probably become somewhat bitter because making friends is not easy when you are so critical. They talk in short curt sentences which are couched in such a way as to rebuff disagreement or comment.





I have given just four types of personality here, but there are many more for you to experiment with. Practice writing dialogue to emphasise your own characters personality traits. You will find they will be much more enjoyable for your readers to listen to.

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Learn to Write Dialogue Correctly For Your Children's Book!

The rules of grammar exist for a reason. That reason is to make sure that what your writing makes sense to your readers. If you refuse to follow them, your readers can easily become confused about what you're trying to say. That leads to them becoming frustrated and annoyed, in turn causing them to put your book down for good. This is especially true in the case of children, who are still learning the rules of grammar and can easily get confused. Learn to write dialogue correctly and you will have a better chance at keeping your reader entertained and involved in your story.

Thankfully though with children's books, they are usually relatively short with simple sentences. This makes the grammar relatively simple and straightforward, unlike academic texts in which the grammar can quickly get advanced and complex. One potentially confusing area of grammar that children's fiction still has to contend with, however, are the mechanics of writing dialogue.

That's why I have briefly explained the grammar rules of writing dialogue below.

Basic Dialogue Rules

1. Two pairs of double quotation marks surround what someone says.

2. Punctuation goes inside the double quotation marks.

3. After the quotation marks, add a dialogue tag (like 'said') to identify who spoke.

4. End the sentence with a period.

Example: "I want some lemonade," Bobby said.

Dialogue Punctuation

1. For a quotation that would normally end with a period, use a comma instead. This is because the sentence is not complete until after the dialogue tag. See the example above.

2. If you place the dialogue tag in the middle of a sentence, use a comma inside the first set of quotation marks, and normal punctuation inside the second.

Example: "I want lemonade too," Suzy said, "but only if it has sugar."

3. For a quotation that would normally end with a question mark or exclamation point, use normal punctuation, but place it inside the double quotation marks.

Example: "Doesn't all lemonade have sugar?" Bobby asked.

I hope you find these simple rules to writing dialogue helpful and useful to you. As you learn to write for children you will find using dialogue is a great tool to speed up the pace of your story and help to show your reader what is happening, in less words than describing every detail. Remember, especially with children, you want to get your point across as soon as possible and dialogue is the way to do this. It is important to have the rules set in place at the beginning to save yourself from disappointment with publishers when submitting your manuscript.

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