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When you can't get your characters sounding right (and by right I mean talking like people talk) sometimes it's good to get away from your desk and get out.
Once you're outside listen to people. Sit in a coffee shop and pretend to read a newspaper while you eavesdrop on the conversations around you. Listen to the casual exchanges of two cashiers in a drug story or supermarket. If you take public transportation quietly observe how that old couple in front of you talk (or don't, yet have that unspoken communication people who've been together a long time have).
If you're really lucky you'll stumble onto a lovers quarrell or two co-workers who hate each other getting into it. And in the workplace there's the reliable water cooler dialogue or photocopy machine banter.
The reason it's good for a writer to listen how "normal" people talk when they don't know they're being observed is because it will remind you how conversational most dialogue is and, in some cases, how unique the cadence and rhythms of some people are.
Not only will it be a refresher course in dialogue, but you might be able to find a good line or two. |
