Have you ever received feedback on your novel stating that your dialogue was unrealistic or too formal for the character? Or maybe your characters' speech lacked uniqueness? We were taught in school that when writing non-fiction the use of contractions or metaphors should be avoided. However, when you are writing fiction all those rules go out of the window. You will never engage the reader if your characters all speak like a college professor or a person with a degree in English literature. You are creating realistic people and they should all speak according to their personality. Here are some of my top tips to create dialogue that is believable and authentic to the person you have created.

Read the dialogue aloud. Each sentence should have no more than 20 syllables in one breath unit (a breath unit is the number of syllables between each breath). If there are too many long sentences, the reader may lose concentration and their place in the story. If your sentences are too short and end with too many exclamation marks, the dialogue becomes unsettling and harsh. When you hear the dialogue spoken aloud, you can judge whether it suits your character’s personality and background. Another key point is to give your character no more than three sentences of dialogue at a time; more than this again may disconnect the reader.

Take into account the era, location, age and personality of your character. Research interviews with people from similar backgrounds and culture. A perfect place to carry out research would be to watch interviews on YouTube and reality television shows. Listen and study how they speak, their mannerisms, how they connect words and sentences together. Do they miss words out; do they use slang or metaphors? If your novel is set in a location close to you, then an ideal way to gain some inspiration is to people watch.

If one of your characters speaks with an accent, then this is the perfect time to use your ‘show not tell’ writing skills. I read a novel recently, where one of the characters was of a Russian background. The author tried to create the Russian dialect through the dialogue. The words were misspelt to try to capture the speech of the character. For example ‘dis’ (this) and ‘dat’ (that). Not only was it very hard to read, but I found it extremely offensive and condescending towards the people from that country.

Dialogue has only two objectives: to reveal something about the character, or move the story forward. If your dialogue does neither of these, then lose it. For example, if a couple has decided to separate in real life, do they discuss the events leading up to the separation? Both parties know the facts behind the break-up; the conversation is about what emotions they feel, according to their personality.

Finally, not overuse dialogue tags such as ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ at the end of each sentence. Other meaningless dialogue tags to avoid are: "Remember when…?” ,“I know that…”,“You know…” Again, they are surplus to requirements and do not move the story forward.