How do you make good dialogue?

[Thewindlord]

Again, I'd like to see what you guys like.

 

[Commotion]

Good dialogue in my opinion is a conversation between two, that-

• Makes sense
• Characters have Dialect
• interactive, humor

NOT

• Bland/boring
• repeated word
• Has nothing to do with your game/or conversation

Theres, more but I didnt have to much time to go into full details..

 

[Tai_MT]

Okay, here's the problem with just asking "how do you make good dialogue?".  Good dialogue is honestly never noticed.  As in, the reader or viewer will not notice if it is good.  However, there exists a group of people who think "good dialogue" does exist and is noticeable...  These people fail to realize that the "noticeable good dialogue" is actually little more than memes.  As in, it's so endlessly and easily quotable that it loses all original context and actually divorces itself from the character uttering it.

Ever see the trailer for "Farcry 3"?  Remember Vaas?  "Did I ever tell you... the definition... of... insanity?"  Remember that speech?  Everyone does.  That's really the problem.  That entire speech is the basis for everyone thinking that Vaas is absolutely awesome in every single way as a character and a villain.  You know why that's a problem?  Because that speech he gives you doesn't emphasize his character well.  That speech tells you that he's angry and insane and is so quotable that you love it.  In essence, that speech now defines Vaas in every way imaginable...  And it makes the original villain boring by comparison.  The speech given to you simply tells you that Vaas is angry and not really firing on all cylinders.  On top of which, that speech doesn't really reflect his character or his actions well.  He mentions in it that he shot some guy in the head because he didn't believe him that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting sh** to change".  He tells you "I already killed you twice, and it's not like, I, am crazy".  But, you see... his actions don't reflect that.  He didn't kill you, he "left you for dead" twice.  He doesn't hesitate to shoot anyone in the game... except for you, whom he never shoots despite lots of opportunities to do so and despite his frustration and anger that you just won't die.  You see how that kind of dialogue kind of buries narrative faults?

So, how do you create "good dialogue"?  That's easy.  1.  Avoid exposition unless it's one character explaining something to another character who wasn't there for the events (this shouldn't happen that often, otherwise players can see it's a plot device).  2.  All dialogue needs to seem natural.  Doing this is as easy as sitting in a mall and listening to other people have conversations to know how speech in the real world works.  Or, know your characters inside and out and how they would actually act/react to situations and other people.  3.  Conversations and characters are about relationships.  Here's a fun thing I learned when I was trying to learn how to write:  Characters, like people, act differently when they're with other people.  A person will act differently alone than they would act if they were with a friend.  That same person would act differently if they were with their best friend than if they were with a passing acquaintance.  Again, that person would also act differently if they had to interact with their best friend and their significant other at the same time.  People also act differently when in large crowds of people under varying circumstances (formal events, parties, weddings, funerals, malls, carnivals, etcetera).  4.  People rarely ever talk to themselves unless they're incredibly lonely or have some kind of mental instability.  It's even more rare if they answer the questions they're asking themselves.  Characters should reflect this as well as it makes them instantly more believable.  Let the player be the one talking to themselves, the characters don't need to do that (it's a lazy way of delivering exposition and is a no-no).

Or, if you want some actual good examples of how to deliver dialogue...

Watch Alien and Aliens.  Don't watch those movies for the monster or the horror.  Pause and rewind frequently.  Listen to what the crew is saying and talking about.  There are scenes where they talk over each other, or all have conversations simultaneously with each other.  Listen to some of the inane things they talk about.  Listen to how they treat each other and how their banter works.  Watch how they interact with each other.  It's some of the most fantastic dialogue you'll ever see in a movie and it deserves studying as very few movies have ever made characters seem so real through dialogue.  No, not even Clerks or Clerks 2...

If you want examples of how not to do dialogue...  Watch Nightmare on Elm Street...  Or watch Friday the 13th...  Or watch pretty much any Sci Fi Original Movie out there.  Listen to how hollow all the dialogue sounds.  Listen to how all the dialogue sounds as if the actors/actresses know they're in a movie and talking to a camera for the sake of the audience.  Human beings simply don't talk like that.

Food for thought, maybe.  Anything worth doing, is worth at least studying.  Study some movies, study some real life conversations.  Take notes if you must.  Then, just practice.  You'll be writing good dialogue in no time flat.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

First: The obvious

What would (character) do?

What would (character) say?

Next: Is it believable?

Your character not only has a personality that is unique to them but a certain way of delivering speech. What they say can be as important as how they say it. My patterns of speech and my mannerism are different than someone else's. Everyone has different vocabulary as well. A peasant probably will not pull a word from the bowels of the dictionary out or use the most eloquent grammar.

Would a real person act this way? If the character is so large at life that they cannot be related to, if turns flat.

Is this action/sentence consistent with their personality? While many characters are dynamic, someone who is very strict probably would not be saying and/or acting in a lazy or rash way, ect. That does not mean a strict character cannot soften at times or be appealed to emotionally, but this development will probably happen due to the events of the story and the interactions with other actors. People act differently around other people.

Can I relate to this character's statements? Characters are great because they can be an extension of life experiences, emotional turmoils, personal flaws, and endearing qualities. Characters need to be believable. People that you could be friends, family, partners, enemies with.

Then:  Make dialogue count for something.

Does this line say something about the character, their backstory, their relationship with another actor, ect.

Does this line advance the plot or deepen a relationship?

What am I (the player) learning?

Are the actors acting and reacting, creating plot advancement, and showing the story?

Characters have relationships to one another and can play roles. Maybe one character appeals to logic while another appeals to emotion. Are they an enabler? Do they make other characters act differently? Does one analyse while another just barges in?

Even if you have a spooky, omnipresent narrator; it's your actor's job to deliver the story.

 

[Thewindlord]

Okay, here's the problem with just asking "how do you make good dialogue?".  Good dialogue is honestly never noticed.  As in, the reader or viewer will not notice if it is good.  However, there exists a group of people who think "good dialogue" does exist and is noticeable...  These people fail to realize that the "noticeable good dialogue" is actually little more than memes.  As in, it's so endlessly and easily quotable that it loses all original context and actually divorces itself from the character uttering it.

Ever see the trailer for "Farcry 3"?  Remember Vaas?  "Did I ever tell you... the definition... of... insanity?"  Remember that speech?  Everyone does.  That's really the problem.  That entire speech is the basis for everyone thinking that Vaas is absolutely awesome in every single way as a character and a villain.  You know why that's a problem?  Because that speech he gives you doesn't emphasize his character well.  That speech tells you that he's angry and insane and is so quotable that you love it.  In essence, that speech now defines Vaas in every way imaginable...  And it makes the original villain boring by comparison.  The speech given to you simply tells you that Vaas is angry and not really firing on all cylinders.  On top of which, that speech doesn't really reflect his character or his actions well.  He mentions in it that he shot some guy in the head because he didn't believe him that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting sh** to change".  He tells you "I already killed you twice, and it's not like, I, am crazy".  But, you see... his actions don't reflect that.  He didn't kill you, he "left you for dead" twice.  He doesn't hesitate to shoot anyone in the game... except for you, whom he never shoots despite lots of opportunities to do so and despite his frustration and anger that you just won't die.  You see how that kind of dialogue kind of buries narrative faults?

So, how do you create "good dialogue"?  That's easy.  1.  Avoid exposition unless it's one character explaining something to another character who wasn't there for the events (this shouldn't happen that often, otherwise players can see it's a plot device).  2.  All dialogue needs to seem natural.  Doing this is as easy as sitting in a mall and listening to other people have conversations to know how speech in the real world works.  Or, know your characters inside and out and how they would actually act/react to situations and other people.  3.  Conversations and characters are about relationships.  Here's a fun thing I learned when I was trying to learn how to write:  Characters, like people, act differently when they're with other people.  A person will act differently alone than they would act if they were with a friend.  That same person would act differently if they were with their best friend than if they were with a passing acquaintance.  Again, that person would also act differently if they had to interact with their best friend and their significant other at the same time.  People also act differently when in large crowds of people under varying circumstances (formal events, parties, weddings, funerals, malls, carnivals, etcetera).  4.  People rarely ever talk to themselves unless they're incredibly lonely or have some kind of mental instability.  It's even more rare if they answer the questions they're asking themselves.  Characters should reflect this as well as it makes them instantly more believable.  Let the player be the one talking to themselves, the characters don't need to do that (it's a lazy way of delivering exposition and is a no-no).

Or, if you want some actual good examples of how to deliver dialogue...

Watch Alien and Aliens.  Don't watch those movies for the monster or the horror.  Pause and rewind frequently.  Listen to what the crew is saying and talking about.  There are scenes where they talk over each other, or all have conversations simultaneously with each other.  Listen to some of the inane things they talk about.  Listen to how they treat each other and how their banter works.  Watch how they interact with each other.  It's some of the most fantastic dialogue you'll ever see in a movie and it deserves studying as very few movies have ever made characters seem so real through dialogue.  No, not even Clerks or Clerks 2...

If you want examples of how not to do dialogue...  Watch Nightmare on Elm Street...  Or watch Friday the 13th...  Or watch pretty much any Sci Fi Original Movie out there.  Listen to how hollow all the dialogue sounds.  Listen to how all the dialogue sounds as if the actors/actresses know they're in a movie and talking to a camera for the sake of the audience.  Human beings simply don't talk like that.

Food for thought, maybe.  Anything worth doing, is worth at least studying.  Study some movies, study some real life conversations.  Take notes if you must.  Then, just practice.  You'll be writing good dialogue in no time flat.

Spoiler

He did shoot you , it was right before he tried to drown you, I believe. Or maybe it was after that. I haven't played the game in a while

 I see though. Thanks for you input - Very interesting.

 

[Tai_MT]

Nah, he tries to burn you to death with your girlfriend... that fails, you escape...  He tries to drown you...  He tries to knife you...  The only time he ever tries to "shoot you" is during the opening sequence when you're told to run away.  Even then, it's his soldiers shooting at you and missing horribly despite the straight line you're running...  It isn't him shooting at you.  Or maybe that time you end up in the pile of corpses and dig your way out.  Though, I'm not sure you were even shot at that point as he aims the gun somewhere off to your right and you black out beforehand.  I think I'd count that as "left for dead" instead of "shooting you in the brain like the insanity guy".

 

[Thewindlord]

Yeah, I was thinking about the corpse scene. After that, you find out that the pen or whatever he gave you when he trapped you in the burning building with liza stopped the bullet somehow... It's been a while. Can't wait for FC4 though

 

[Demiqas]

the single most important thing of dialogue is putting an ellipsis after every single sentence

 

[Eurgh]

the single most important thing of dialogue is putting an ellipsis after every single sentence...

Fix'd

 

[Tai_MT]

If that's a jab at the way I write, then you don't know me well.  I use the ellipsis to indicate where I'm trailing off what I'm saying, or where my mind starts to trail off.  Sometimes, I also use it when I want the reader to pause longer than a comma or period would allow.  As in, sometimes I insert it as a means to make the reader think about what I'd just written.

My ellipsis is a personality trait of the way I think and/or talk.

Most of my dialogue in games doesn't really reflect that, as I know the way I think and talk isn't exactly natural and it would seem really weird for characters to do what I do.

 

[Galenmereth]

Okay, here's the problem with just asking "how do you make good dialogue?".  Good dialogue is honestly never noticed.  As in, the reader or viewer will not notice if it is good.  However, there exists a group of people who think "good dialogue" does exist and is noticeable...  These people fail to realize that the "noticeable good dialogue" is actually little more than memes.  As in, it's so endlessly and easily quotable that it loses all original context and actually divorces itself from the character uttering it.

It takes tremendous work to make good dialogue, and players do notice it. They notice it because reading it is comfortable. They notice it in that their internal dialogue doesn't stutter when they read it, and it feels natural. And the things you subsequently list as important? That's good dialogue. When you say good dialogue is never noticed, what you're actually trying to say -- from how I read the rest of your post -- is that quotable, easily digestible dialogue is what we see the most of, and that that is not necessarily good dialogue. If that's what you meant, I agree. But the first paragraph ruins your intention.

 

[Tai_MT]

No, what I mean about "good dialogue" is exactly what I said.  If you read a book, you don't notice if the dialogue is good.  You aren't thinking to yourself every 10 seconds "wow, this is some fantastic dialogue!".  You don't notice good dialogue because it flows and is natural.  Just like you don't notice that you have a clear airway when you breathe, unless you start really thinking about it or develop a cough or wheeze.

Human beings are kind of designed by nature to not notice things that "go smoothly" unless there was some expectation of it not going smoothly.  We don't notice our walking unless it starts to hurt or we stumble.  Human beings are wired to only remember the truly unexpected stuff.

The kind of dialogue you do notice...  The easily quotable stuff...  Those are memes.  Because they're memes, they tend to take away from the actual narrative and the rest of the dialogue in the game.  Think about that for a second.  How many people endlessly quote "The Cake Is A Lie" and "Spaaaaaaaaaacccccccccceeeeeee!", but can't remember any of the other dialogue?  When you're writing in such a way that you've just created memes like that...  Well, you just ruined your own dialogue and own writing to the point that it almost need not exist.  So, good dialogue isn't "I can quote these memes!".  Good dialogue is "I was engaged in the story from start to finish without memes".  Good dialogue, by definition, only works as a whole.  It can't be broken down into parts otherwise the rest of the narrative, motivations, characters, etcetera all lose meaning.

Think about some of your favorite books of all time.  How quotable are they?  I honestly couldn't quote any of my favorite books off the top of my head.  I can tell you which books I really enjoyed and maybe parse out a few snippets of random dialogue for you...  But, that dialogue by itself will hold no meaning unless you'd actually read the book yourself (whereas a meme can stand alone without people knowing where it came from).  That's good dialogue.  That's good story.  Anything that can be pulled from the original work and everyone will instantly understand it...  That's not really good dialogue.  That's a single shining moment of you finding a catchphrase that people will love to spout at each other, whether they know where it came from or not.  Such things are good for jokes, but are terrible for storytelling.

 

[Alexander Amnell]

   I believe that knowing your characters, their respective backgrounds and influences is the most important part of developing believable dialogue. All of the other things such as making it sound natural and believable (outside of grammatical errors or choppy speech in an extreme) should fall into place along with that. If you get to wrapped up in what is a 'believable norm' then you will reach a point where you forget to realize that just because reacting a certain way may seem unnatural following social norms doesn't actually make it unbelievable that a person could be that way. I'll use a few of Tai_Mt's examples because he outlined some of them really well. Third Paragraph point 3: This one is true to an extent, but that doesn't make it an absolute fact. There are people in this world who do not care what others believe of them to a point of contention. One of the biggest arguments in my household growing up for instance, was Easter Sunday. My mother always wanted the whole family to look nice and presentable (the social norms and all of that) whereas my father who rarely cared enough about clothing one way or the other made a point to not wear anything new especially, or even nicer than what he'd wear around the house in all honesty for the very reason that he had a personal distaste for the act of presenting himself differently depending upon who's company he's keeping. (he was a very odd(eccentric?) person though.)

   As for the next point, I am guilty of talking out loud to myself whenever I am dealing with something that I perceive to be a serious matter, and to the chagrin of those around me will do so without even noticing who else is around to hear me. I'm definitely not lonely, and while I can't exactly vouch for my sanity I'd like to believe I'm at least pretty stable...though as far as exposition goes, it's usually a bad idea. (except in anime, where it is apparently a standard.)

   I say all of that just to make a point that just because a trait is 'normal' doesn't make it instantly unbelievable for a character to contradict it, given that their background supports the existence of said contradiction. Characters are characters firstly and should react in a believable way unto themselves before the action is paired against what the target audience is going to perceive as 'believable'. Making them into a living legend isn't believable but neither is making them so much of an 'everyman' that their heroic feats then become unbelievable for that character. People are diverse and intriguing, and a truly believable character (at least in my opinion) will not and cannot be related to by everyone. Though someone should be able to relate to them and many should be able to say that they know someone who might relate to them. There's just to much out there to relate to and to many life paths and experiences to see, even with the viewpoint of one who has observed many of these, if you try to make a character that can be related to all of these then that character will end up a transparent mess in the end.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

@Tai_MT: Gosh, I feel like a loser because I -DO- play games, read books, watch stuff while constantly thinking "That exchange of dialogue was so good!" "That thing they just said was so well written!" "Ahhh, that was so unexpected and in character, I--" I've actually started crying while playing a game, just because I thought the dialogue was so nice.


Anyway, everything people have been saying here are very good things, so I'll just add a couple of small things.


First, a tip! - A good thing to do to make sure that your writing doesn't come across clunky or awkward is to read it out loud. If you find yourself tripping over something or continually reading the sentence wrong, change it.


Second, clarity.


Especially with game text, people are going to give it one glance over and then press the button. It's important that the sentence is easy to digest and not too convoluted or confusing that there's a higher chance they'll misread the line. I'm not saying your dialogue has to be "Simple" (though, that in itself has a charm) and you should do away with complicated narrative/speech, just that the reading experience should be something that glides smoothly with little need for double takes. Your intent for the line should be clear and understandable.


Uhm, a simple example:


"Could you not not bring me my tea." VS "Could you bring me my tea."


Obviously, the chance of someone thinking to use that double-negative statement in a game is (hopefully) slim, but it works for example sake. Any reader that is reading quickly, is very likely to glance over the double 'not' and think 'oh, I am not supposed to bring this person tea.' It's a needless bit of awkward complexity that serves no real purpose and only harbours the negative aspect of having a high chance of confusing the player.


((Of course, there are exceptions. Like if a character's goal is specifically to mislead or be misunderstood - blah blah))