How to Write GREAT Dialogue
Summary
TLDRDans cette vidéo, Abbie d'WritersLifeWednesdays partage ses conseils pour écrire un dialogue réaliste et captivant. Elle met en avant l'importance de l'écoute attentive des conversations réelles, l'apprentissage des dialogues bien écrits dans les films, l'utilisation de sous-textes, la rédaction de dialogues comme des scénarios et la création de voix uniques pour chaque personnage. Abbie encourage également à la pratique régulière pour améliorer la maîtrise de l'écriture de dialogues.
Takeaways
- 📚 L'importance de l'écriture de dialogues réalistes dans l'histoire pour captiver l'attention du lecteur.
- 🗣️ Chaque ligne de dialogue est une information cruciale pour le lecteur, y compris les balises de dialogue et les expressions non verbales.
- 👥 La communication est essentielle pour les personnages, tout comme pour les êtres humains, pour établir des relations significatives.
- 🎭 Écouter les conversations réelles est la première étape pour apprendre à écrire des dialogues naturels.
- 🎬 Écouter des dialogues bien écrits dans les films est un outil précieux pour comprendre la fluidité et la naturalité du langage parlé.
- 🎭📝 Utiliser la technique d'écriture de dialogues comme un scénario de film pour améliorer la fluidité et la naturalité des conversations.
- 👥🗣️ Il est essentiel de donner à chaque personnage une voix unique qui reflète leur personnalité et leur style de langage.
- 🔍 L'importance du sous-texte dans les dialogues pour ajouter de l'intrigue et éviter une communication trop directe.
- 📝 L'écriture de dialogues comme un exercice séparé avant d'intégrer les descriptions et la narration peut améliorer la qualité des conversations.
- 👩🏫 La pratique est la clé pour améliorer l'écriture de dialogues; plus on écrit, plus on progresse.
- 🔄 La révision de ses anciens travaux permet de constater les améliorations et de comprendre les erreurs à éviter.
Q & A
Quel est le sujet principal abordé dans la vidéo de Abbie ?
-Le sujet principal de la vidéo est comment écrire un dialogue réaliste et naturel qui semble provenir d'une conversation réelle plutôt que d'un script forcé.
Pourquoi est-il important d'écrire un dialogue réaliste dans les histoires ?
-Un dialogue réaliste est crucial car il permet de captiver et de maintenir l'attention du lecteur, et contribue à rendre les personnages et les situations plus crédibles et engageantes.
Quel est le premier conseil donné par Abbie pour écrire un dialogue réaliste ?
-Le premier conseil est d'écouter les conversations dans la vie réelle pour apprendre à écrire des dialogues qui semblent naturels et convaincants.
Quelle est la différence entre un dialogue bien écrit et un dialogue mal écrit selon Abbie ?
-Un dialogue bien écrit a du subtexte et permet au lecteur de lire entre les lignes, tandis qu'un dialogue mal écrit est souvent direct et ne laisse pas de place à l'intrigue ou au développement des personnages.
Pourquoi Abbie recommande-t-elle d'écouter des dialogues dans des films bien écrits ?
-Ecouter des dialogues dans des films permet de se concentrer sur la façon dont les conversations sont menées et sur la manière dont elles sont rendues réalistes, sans se laisser distraire par les descriptions ou les narrations.
Quel est le quatrième conseil donné par Abbie pour améliorer l'écriture de dialogues ?
-Le quatrième conseil est d'écrire les dialogues comme un scénario, en se concentrant uniquement sur la conversation pour assurer un flux naturel.
Quelle est la technique que Abbie recommande pour tester si votre dialogue est réaliste ?
-Abbie recommande d'utiliser la fonction 'focus linguistique' dans Scrivener pour mettre en surbrillance uniquement les dialogues et vérifier si le flux de la conversation est naturel sans les descriptions et la narration.
Quelle est la dernière technique mentionnée par Abbie pour écrire un dialogue efficace ?
-La dernière technique est de pratiquer constamment l'écriture de dialogues pour améliorer les compétences et la fluidité de l'écriture au fil du temps.
Pourquoi est-ce important de donner à chaque personnage une voix unique dans les dialogues ?
-Il est important de donner à chaque personnage une voix unique pour les distinguer les uns des autres et pour que le lecteur puisse les reconnaître facilement, améliorant ainsi la profondeur et la richesse de l'histoire.
Quel est le conseil supplémentaire donné par Abbie pour ceux qui ont du mal à commencer à écrire ?
-Abbie suggère d'écrire des morceaux de dialogue avant de commencer la première ébauche du livre, même si ce n'est que quelques lignes, pour faciliter le démarrage de l'écriture.
Outlines
📚 L'écriture de dialogues réalistes
Abbie, l'animateur de la chaîne WritersLife, introduit la vidéo en se concentrant sur l'importance de l'écriture de dialogues réalistes dans la littérature et le cinéma. Elle souligne que les dialogues mal écrits peuvent entraver la suspension de désir et perturber la performance d'acteurs talentueux. Abbie propose de découvrir comment rendre les dialogues naturels et de révéler cinq techniques pour améliorer l'écriture de dialogues.
🌟 L'importance du dialogue dans l'information
Dans ce paragraphe, Abbie insiste sur le fait que chaque ligne de dialogue est un moyen d'informer le lecteur, ainsi que chaque balise de dialogue, expression, geste, émotion et langage corporel. Elle met en évidence que les écrivains doivent penser à cela, car cela offre un aperçu de la réalité personnelle de chaque personnage à chaque fois qu'ils parlent, reflétant la nature communicative humaine intrinsèque et la nécessité de partager nos pensées et émotions.
🎭 Les techniques pour écrire des dialogues réalistes
Abbie partage ses six techniques pour écrire des dialogues qui brillent. Elle conseille d'écouter les conversations dans la vie réelle, de noter les indices non verbaux et d'apprendre les langues uniques des personnes autour de soi. Elle suggère également d'enregistrer et de transcrire des conversations pour comprendre à quoi ressemble un dialogue réaliste. En outre, elle recommande d'écouter des dialogues bien écrits dans les films, de prendre en compte le sous-texte et d'écrire les dialogues comme un scénario, en se concentrant uniquement sur la conversation pour un flux naturel.
🎬 L'apprentissage à partir du cinéma
Abbie recommande d'observer attentivement les dialogues dans les films et les séries bien écrits, tout en étant conscient de la qualité variable des écrits. Elle cite l'exemple de la série 'Poldark' pour montrer la différence entre un dialogue mal écrit et un dialogue avec un sous-texte riche, qui rend la conversation plus réaliste et engageante. Elle met en évidence l'importance du sous-texte dans la communication réelle et dans l'écriture de dialogues qui captivent l'intérêt du lecteur.
👥 Développement de la voix de chaque personnage
Dans ce paragraphe, Abbie insiste sur la nécessité de donner à chaque personnage une voix unique pour éviter qu'ils ne sonnent tous identiques. Elle suggère de créer une feuille de style pour chaque personnage, en décidant d'avance quels éléments les rendront distincts. Elle mentionne également la nécessité de pratiquer l'écriture de dialogues pour améliorer constamment ses compétences et de se rappeler que chaque écrivain, débutant ou expérimenté, peut écrire des dialogues à la fois excellents et à améliorer.
🔄 Les erreurs à éviter en écrivant des dialogues
Pour conclure, Abbie annonce qu'elle abordera dans une prochaine vidéo les cinq erreurs mortelles à éviter lors de l'écriture de dialogues, en identifiant les pièges à éviter pour une meilleure qualité d'écriture. Elle invite les téléspectateurs à s'abonner à sa chaîne et à rejoindre la communauté Patreon pour un soutien et un accompagnement plus approfondis dans leur parcours d'écriture.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dialogue
💡Réalisme
💡Information
💡Communication
💡Subtexte
💡Voix des personnages
💡Exercices
💡Script
💡Linguistic focus
💡Pratique
Highlights
Bienvenue à WritersLife Wednesdays, une plateforme pour aider à donner de l'importance à votre histoire et à réaliser vos rêves d'auteur.
L'objectif est d'apprendre à écrire un dialogue réaliste qui semble naturel, comme une conversation de la vie réelle.
Le dialogue irréaliste peut rendre difficile la compréhension et la prise au sérieux de l'histoire ou d'un film.
Le dialogue est une partie cruciale de la narration qui, si bien fait, capture et maintient l'attention du lecteur.
Partage des cinq techniques utilisées pour écrire un dialogue qui brille.
Chaque ligne de dialogue est une information donnée au lecteur, tout comme les balises de dialogue et les expressions non verbales.
Les humains communiquent constamment pour partager nos pensées et émotions, ce qui est intrinsèque et naturel.
Les personnages ont besoin de dialogue pour partager des informations et des émotions entre eux, pas seulement pour faire avancer l'intrigue.
Il est important de rendre les personnages réalistes avant d'écrire un dialogue réaliste.
Écrire un dialogue réaliste, naturel, émotionnel et complexe qui montre ce qui se passe à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur des personnages.
Six techniques utiles pour écrire un dialogue qui brille, malgré une erreur de décompte initiale à cinq.
Écouter les conversations de la vie réelle pour apprendre à les écrire de manière naturelle et captivante.
Pratique de l'écriture de dialogues de la vie réelle, enregistrés et transcrits, pour comprendre à quoi ressemble un dialogue réaliste.
Écouter des dialogues bien écrits dans les films pour apprendre à écrire des conversations qui semblent naturelles.
Utiliser des films et des séries bien écrits pour observer quand le dialogue semble réaliste ou forcé.
L'importance du sous-texte dans le dialogue pour créer de la profondeur et de l'intrigue.
Écrire le dialogue comme un scénario, en se concentrant uniquement sur la conversation pour un débit naturel.
Utiliser des outils comme le focus linguistique dans Scrivener pour tester le flux du dialogue.
Donner à chaque personnage une voix unique pour une reconnaissance facile et une narration cohérente.
La pratique est essentielle pour améliorer l'écriture du dialogue et éviter les erreurs de débutant.
Invitation à s'abonner et à rejoindre la communauté pour des vidéos de rédaction et de publication chaque mercredi.
Mention de Patreon comme moyen de soutien et d'accès à un contenu exclusif pour améliorer l'histoire.
Transcripts
Abbie: What's up my friend?
Abbie here, and welcome back to WritersLife Wednesdays, where we come together to help
you make your story matter and make your author dreams come true.
Today we are talking about dialogue.
More specifically, how to write dialogue that sounds like a natural, realistic conversation
that people might actually have in real life, not a scripted piece of garbage.
Abbie: We've all seen it before.
In books, unrealistic dialogue makes it hard to see what's happening and take it seriously.
In films, unrealistic dialogue can dull the shine of even the most incredible actors and
make the whole thing, again, feel like a joke.
So I think it's safe to say that dialogue is a crucial part of storytelling and if you
do it right, you will capture and hold your reader's attention like nothing else.
Abbie: So that's what today's video is all about.
We're going to explore writing dialogue, how to make it sound realistic and natural, and
I'm going to share with you the five techniques that I've used over the years to make my dialogue
shine.
Abbie: Why does your story matter?
Good question.
What if I told you that there's a science behind every great story?
I don't just teach you how to write.
I teach you how to change the world with your story and make your author dreams come true.
Abbie: Okay, so here's the most important thing that
most writers do not even think about when they're writing dialogue.
Every single line of dialogue is a piece of information that you are giving to your reader.
So is every dialogue tag and the expression, gesture, emotion, and/or body language that
goes with it.
Most writers do not think about this.
They just write dialogue because you need to write dialogue, right?
It makes the story go by.
No.
No, it does much more than that.
It gives us insight into every single character's personal reality every time they open their
mouth.
Abbie: Same thing with the people you know in real
life.
Humans are incredibly perceptive creatures.
We're constantly gathering millions of bits of information all day, every day, but we
can only learn so much about a person from what we see, and that's why we talk.
That's why we communicate with each other through language.
This constant need to share our thoughts and emotions with each other is so intrinsic and
natural.
You probably don't ever think about how it runs your entire life.
Abbie: We humans literally could not survive without
communicating with each other.
At least we wouldn't have any meaningful relationships, which would make life pretty dull and meaningless.
Your characters are no different.
They are just having dialogue to move the plot forward or to make the story go by.
They're having dialogue because they need to share information and emotion with each
other, as well.
They need to communicate with each other, as well.
It doesn't just matter to you as the author, it matters to them.
Abbie: I know that sounds a little abstract and weird,
but this is the place that you have to start from, because it breathes life into your characters
and makes them seem more real.
And you have to make them feel real before you can write realistic dialogue.
Otherwise, you're just making the story go by and basically having a conversation with
yourself as the author and then slamming some dialogue tags in there in between every piece
of information.
And ta-da, we have a story loaded with cut and dry conversation that sounds more like
reading your three-act story structure and character profiles.
Let's not do that.
Abbie: Instead, let's write realistic, natural, emotional,
intricate dialogue that shows us what's happening inside and outside the characters instead
of just telling us.
And to pull this off, I have six amazing helpful techniques to share with you.
I said five earlier, but it's actually six.
These are the techniques I use all the time to make my dialogue shine.
Abbie: First and foremost, listen to people talk
in real life.
I know everybody says to do this, but they say it for a reason.
The more you listen to real conversations, the more you learn how to write them in a
way that feels natural and compelling.
Abbie: Notice what they say, but beyond that, notice
the nonverbal cues, the emotions, the expressions, the gestures.
Learn the unique languages of everybody around you.
Even practice writing real life conversations.
Next time you're having a conversation with somebody, even if it's about literally nothing,
grab your phone and record it and then later transcribe it.
Add in dialogue tags, and expressions, and body language and then read it.
That is what realistic dialog looks like.
Abbie: Now it's also probably void of drama and intrigue,
because life is usually pretty boring compared to fiction, which is why you should also practice
this dialogue exercise with film.
Which leads us into technique number two, listen to well-written dialogue in film.
Yes, film.
I'm not going to go tell you to read books with good dialogue, although that can be helpful,
too.
But the thing is when you read, you are making the characters speak in your imagination.
You can probably see what's happening, too, if it's a well-written book, but I want to
take all of that imagination aspect out of it.
And I also don't want you comparing your dialogue to somebody else's dialogue and getting a
little discouraged because you think theirs is better or something.
Abbie: So let's just take all the thinking out of
the equation and listen to well-written dialogue.
Don't get stuck up on the fact that it's not a book.
If you've been here for awhile, you know that a story is a story is a story.
So carefully select some well-written movies and TV shows to watch.
And I say carefully select because there's a lot of poorly written films and shows out
there.
If you want to know some of my top recommendations, check out this video.
It's a recent episode of the podcast that I do with my sister, and in this episode we
discuss some of our favorite TV series and why we love them so much.
So check out that for a starter pack of masterfully written shows to binge ASAP.
Abbie: And don't just passively watch films and shows.
Notice when the dialogue feels amazingly written and realistic, and notice when it feels a
little forced or unrealistic.
Pro tip, this switch can happen in the same show.
Once season might have excellent writing and the next season is just poorly written.
May even be the same writer.
I've seen this happen on several different occasions and it's actually quite amazing
to watch how bad dialogue can literally ruin the performance of an otherwise great actor.
Abbie: Take for example, this scene from season four
of Poldark, which is, in my opinion, when the writing started to go downhill.
Ross has just returned home to his wife Demelza after working in London, and although they've
been through some difficulties in their marriage, the following conversation feels unrealistic
and uncharacteristic.
Ross: All the way home, I wondered how this would
be.
Would there be anger, jealousy?
Would we have a laugh again...
Like we used to?
Demelza: I don't know, Ross.
Will we?
Abbie: You can tell the problem lies with the writing
and not the acting, when the actors are clearly doing their best with the script that they've
been given.
When dialogue is poorly written, it's almost difficult to watch the actors deliver their
lines, because it feels so out of character and unrealistic.
Let's contrast that with a scene from season two of Poldark, when the writing was absolutely
superb and the character voice was on point.
Ross: It was one night.
How long will it take you to forgive me?
Demelza: I don't know, Ross.
How long would it take you to forgive me?
Ross: That's hardly the same.
You would never do a thing which required my forgiveness.
Demelza: Are you sure?
Ross: When?
Demelza: Werry House.
After the ball, Captain McNeil came to my room.
Ross: How could he dare?
Demelza: Because I invited him.
Abbie: What this second example has that the first
example is lacking is actually the next and most vital component that makes dialogue shine,
subtext.
Subtext is essentially reading between the lines.
It's the things that the characters don't have to say because you see it, you hear it
in their tone of voice, you just know it's there.
Abbie: Without subtext, what you hear is what you
get.
The characters just come right out and tell you everything that they are thinking and
feeling, which leads to dialogue that just feels unrealistic, because people in real
life don't communicate like this.
It makes the reader or the viewer feel like they're being treated like a dummy, because
they can't possibly read between the lines or look deeper into this conversation to see
the subtext.
Real people don't just blurt out everything they're thinking.
At least, most of us don't.
Most people hold back a lot of what they're thinking and feeling and they don't just say
it for a myriad of reasons, and those reasons are the subtext that I'm talking about.
Abbie: Maybe I'm so obsessed with subtext because
I watch mostly British dramas and they have a reputation for leaving most of the drama
unspoken.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry Mama, but you know me.
I have to say what I think.
Speaker 5: Why?
Nobody else does.
Abbie: This isn't to say that you never let the characters
speak openly about their thoughts and feelings.
They absolutely have to at some point, but if they always say what they're thinking and
feeling, it leaves absolutely no room for intrigue.
Abbie: Technique number four is my absolute favorite
and saves my life every single day.
Write your dialogue like a screenplay.
Even if you're not a screenwriter, especially if you're not a screenwriter, because as we've
seen, you can learn a lot about writing dialogue from well-written dialogue in film and TV.
Writing screenplay style is the absolute best way to make a conversation flow naturally,
because you're not thinking about writing.
You're not thinking about making your sentences sound good.
You're not thinking about descriptions, or thought processes, or all the stuff that goes
in between the dialogue, you're just thinking about the dialogue, the conversation.
That's it.
I do this for every single book I write, every single one.
Abbie: Usually when I'm brainstorming a new book,
bits of dialogue will come to me out of nowhere.
I'll start thinking about a certain plot point in the outline and then all of a sudden it's
like, boom, I'm in the scene and I can hear what the characters are saying to each other.
They'll just start having a conversation about whatever's happening at that point in the
book and I'll just hear it in my head, and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop.
I have to go write this down.
So I do.
Abbie: Before I sit down to begin the first draft
of a book, I have tons of scenes already scripted that is just the dialogue, and this is an
incredible way to kickstart your writing process.
Side note pro tip, if you absolutely hate showing up to write with nothing but your
outline and your notes, write some of the dialogue in that scene beforehand, even if
it's just a few lines.
Get the conversation started and it will be so much easier to build the scene out around
it.
I use this method all the time and it literally makes my writing process so much better, smoother,
and faster.
Abbie: But even if you don't write bits of dialogue
out of sequential order like I do, I still highly recommend writing the dialog script
style before you write in the narration.
I recommend this mostly because when you start adding in dialogue tags, and description,
and narration, it can mess with the flow of the conversation.
You might be surprised how even if the dialogue seems to flow okay with all of this extra
stuff in there, when you take that out, it's weird.
It's weird.
It's just, it's bad.
Abbie: This is a great test that you can do on your
own writing to test your dialogue.
And there's actually a tool in Scrivener, if you use Scrivener, that makes this super
easy.
It's called linguistic focus and you can find it under the edit menu and under writing tools.
Linguistic focus allows you to see a specific type of word like nouns, pronouns, verbs and
adjectives, but it also allows you to see direct speech, as in dialogue.
When you select direct speech, it will highlight all your dialogue and you can fade the rest
of the text however much you want.
This is a great way to check and see if your dialogue flows naturally and realistically
or if all your descriptions and narration and stuff are getting in the way and muddling
everything.
Abbie: But my favorite way to write dialogue is still
to write it like a script before I write the descriptions, and the narration, and the rest
of the scene.
Comment below and tell me if you do this too, because I feel like it's kind of odd.
I don't know.
I don't know how many people actually do this, so tell me if you're one of them, if you do
this, if you get scenes like out of nowhere and you have to write down the dialogue beforehand,
and then you just copy it over when you're ready.
I want to know how many writers do this.
Abbie: Technique number five, give every character
a unique voice.
We've talked about character voice many times before.
In fact, I made a whole video about how to rock your character voice.
Check that out if you're new to writing character voice.
But voice is vital when it comes to writing dialogue.
You don't want all your characters to sound the same, especially in narration.
And if you're writing in multiple points of view, you don't want the chapter headings
to be the only indication that the point of view has changed.
So take the time to really develop your character's voice and make them recognizable.
A great way to do this is to make a style sheet for each character, deciding ahead of
time what's going to make this character different from the other characters.
Tons more tips on character voice in that video I mentioned, so definitely watch it
if you haven't already.
Abbie: And last but not least, technique number six,
practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more.
I know this is annoying to hear, but dialogue is one of those things that really gets better
the more you write.
When you look back at some of your old, old writing projects, you will cringe at the dialogue
you wrote when you didn't know what you were doing.
Not going to lie, I have hundreds of thousands of words in stories and manuscripts and fan
fiction of years gone by that is full of absolutely cringe-worthy dialogue, because 10 years ago
I didn't know what I was doing.
Abbie: Guys, it takes a while to get the hang of
this.
So try to be patient with yourself, write as often as you can, every day if you can,
write, write, write, and do your best.
And remember that your best is always improving and you are always improving as a writer.
And this is not to say that you only write cringe-worthy dialogue as a beginner writer.
Absolutely not.
You'll write some really great dialogue, especially if you follow the techniques that we just
went over in this video.
And especially if you avoid the five deadly mistakes of writing dialogue, which we're
going to go over in another video.
We're going to identify all the cringe-worthy dialogue pitfalls that you want to stay far
away from, so stay tuned for that video, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it,
or if you're from the future, the link will be right there.
Abbie: Smash that like button if you liked this video,
and be sure to subscribe to this channel if you haven't already, because I post writing
videos and publishing videos every single Wednesday and I would love to have you here
in the community.
Also, be sure to check out my Patreon, because that's where we go beyond videos and take
storytelling to the next level.
The Patreon community is not only the best way to support what I'm doing here on YouTube,
but it's also the only way to connect one on one with me and get better guidance on
your story.
So go to Patreon.com/AbbieEmmons and check out all the awesome extra exclusive content
that I have over there for you.
Until next week, my friend, rock on.
Abbie: Okay, the five techniques, is that what I
said?
I have no idea what I even said.
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