Dialogue in fiction isn't by any means real, but it needs to sound real.

If your characters sound like they're giving prepared speeches, the reader will most likely become disinterested, unless the scene calls for a character to actually recite a speech.

Anyone can write a conversation, but dialogue serves a range of purposes.

Dialogue should be vibrant. A character's spoken words should reflect her personality, attitudes, and bearing, and it should be filled with the typical hesitations, interruptions, and differences in tone and volume.

You can show where a character grew up and the education she received by the words she chooses to say and how she puts them together.

You can use dialogue to show how characters relate to one another.

Dialogue can even show her age, her maturity level, or the mood she is in.

Dialogue, used well, enables you to show the reader who your characters are while moving your story along.

Make dialogue subtle. Remember, people in real life don't say everything that's on their minds.

All dialogue should achieve at least one of these three purposes:

• Progress the storyline.

• Offer new information for the reader.

• Provide insight into characterization.

Speech That's Real

To make your characters real, you must make your dialogue convincing and compelling.

How do you revise your dialogue so that it creates strong characters? Consider the following:

• Make sure your dialogue doesn't sound like a prepared speech: Unless your character is actually in a situation where she needs to recite a speech, your character will fall flat. How do real speeches sound? Usually, boring, especially when read. Writing is an art form; therefore, so is dialogue. If you're able to write your dialogue with an interesting rhythm, just like poetry, you'll be able to hook your readers in and make them feel like they're in the presence of a real human being.

• Be careful with dialect: If you try to capture an accent, whether it's regional or ethnic, you will probably need to do some background research. Otherwise, you risk the character coming off as both unbelievable and unoriginal. Well-researched and accurate dialects, accents and common phrases will help achieve a sense of realism.

• Make sure your dialogue isn't predictable or clichéd: If the dialogue seems typical of what everyone says all the time about a particular subject or conflict, your character won't seem very unique or complex.

• Reveal character attitudes: Look for ways to let dialogue convey character traits and motivations. Think about this as well: Sometimes what is not said is more revealing than what is said.

Adding Emotion to Dialogue with Word Choice

You can show the emotion underlying dialogue by carefully picking the words a character speaks. Take a look at these examples:

"Mr. Marino? What a surprise. I didn't know you were coming."

"Mr. Marino, you came! And I thought you'd forgotten."

"Is that you, Mr. Marino? Did you... I mean, are you sure you want to be here?"

"Mr. Marino? Who the hell invited you?"

"Why, Mr. Marino. So you decided to grace us with your presence."

The dialogue of each of these examples conveys information as well as emotion and attitude. Sometimes, the right punctuation and words are all you need.

Adding Emotion to Dialogue with Body Language

When an actor speaks a line of dialogue, he acts it not only with his voice but with his entire body and through the purposeful use of props. Writers can do the same, thoughtfully pairing dialogue with actions to show emotion.

Here are two examples of how the same dialogue, paired with action and a prop, can convey an entirely different emotion.

Example 1:

"How are you doing after the whole ordeal?" I asked.

Trevor stirred his drink and stared at it. "Fine."

Example 2:

"How are you doing after the whole ordeal?" I asked.

Trevor knocked back his drink and slammed the empty glass down on the table. "Fine."

In the first example, Trevor staring at his drink conveys sadness and possibly regret. In the second example, his actions convey anger and possibly annoyance.

Just about anything in a scene—from a shirt button to playing around with food on a plate—can be used, in combination with dialogue, to show different emotions.

For example, a character who bakes a dozen cupcakes and doesn't clean up until much later in the evening is in an entirely different state of mind from a character who neurotically wipes every inch of the kitchen down as she is still in the process of baking.

Choose the action carefully, though, and not too clichéd, and you will effectively portray a mood of a scene just through the action of a character while she speaks.

Showing Relationships Through Dialogue

Dialogue can also show the reader a relationship between characters. Without having to explain, you can use dialogue to show that three characters are friends, two others are lovers, and a pair is complete strangers.

Example of three friends:

Fig had been too exhausted from her hours of trekking and climbing to even bother pushing the large mass off of her body. Instead, choosing to lay there with her eyes closed and she regained her composure. Peeking open her eyes, she glanced down to find the reason for the weight on her chest: Sowa.

Sowa had been the one to plow in Fig, knocking her the ground and nearly flattening her. The weight of the small animal did not go unnoticed.

"Sowa," Fig strained, "get your big self off of me."

"No," she moaned as she nuzzled her nose into Fig's stomach.

"I think you mean 'big ass,'" Leb muttered, eyeing Sowa's fuzzy rear end as it stuck straight in the air.

Fig attempted to pull Sowa away and roll out from under the pressure, but the small cat just dug her claws deeper into Fig's flesh and lovingly prodded the girl with her snout. She could feel the intense vibrations of the cat's purrs, but when Sowa began massaging her paws into Fig's stomach like a kitten on a teat, it was almost too much.

Fig chuckled at Sowa's emotional state while trying desperately to push the feline away from her. Leb only huffed and moved closer to buzz directly next to Fig's ear.

"Aw, now that's true love right there," he cheered sarcastically, before darting off to avoid Fig's dangerous hand.

"Okay. I'm done now," Sowa suddenly announced as she popped up and trotted away. "Coming, slow pokes?"

- Excerpt from kario12's "Fig" - chapter 4.

Kari does a great job of portraying the depth of the friendship between Fig, Sowa, and Leb. The three friends care for each other, but at the same time, Kari keeps them consistent in their normal behavior as friends—making the mood light and airy—when it was originally worrisome.

Example of two lovers:

"So... you wanted to see me?" She prayed he missed the slight breathiness in her voice. My God, girl, you sound worse than a hormonal teenager!

"Yeah," his deep green eyes swept over her body with a little heat in them, but he kept his tone light. "I have to go into work to make arrangements, but I'm still going to help you out with the house. If you want me to, that is." Seeing her about to protest, he continued, "I'm taking the time anyway, so you might as well accept."

"Thanks," Emma finally replied. "I'm sure Ev won't mind the extra set of muscles.... I mean, arms... I mean, the extra help!" She could feel her cheeks blaze furiously, and she wanted to hide under the blankets–if only she could get them untangled without falling out of bed. That's what you get for your letting your mind wander! And now he's looking at you!

Ryan was looking at her all right, intensely. Very intensely.

Setting his coffee cup on the floor, he rose and scooted up the bed. Reaching across her body, he braced himself on his left hand so that his fingers were only inches away from grazing the exposed flesh of her fawn colored thigh. His weight made the mattress dip, tipping her toward him, and she could feel his body heat radiating out like hot rocks in a sauna.

His eyes locked onto hers. Slowly he leaned forward, feeling her tense, and then a crooked grin crossed his face as he grasped her half-empty coffee cup in his right hand, and set it on the bedside table. Pausing, with his face mere millimeters from hers, his soft breath grazed her cheek.

"Careful, Em, that's hot," he warned, his voice low and husky. He smirked and leaned back from her, his tone laced with innuendo, but didn't move back to his original position at the end of the bed.

Emma felt intense pressure in her chest, and gasped a little, as she tried to catch the breath that had rushed out of her lungs without permission at the nearness of the bare-chested man before her. Breathe! Breathe! You can do it, just one breath!

Ryan grinned, realizing how off-balance she was. Serves the little fireball right, he thought smugly. She certainly had him acting out of character. A little payback was only fair. Satisfied with himself, he ran his knuckles lightly down her arm, making her shiver.

"I'll see you later then," he murmured.

- Excerpt from JessaMartell's "Untethered" - chapter 6.

Jessa intertwines action and internal dialogue with external dialogue well that shows the tension and urgency between Emma and Ryan.

Example of two strangers:

"Can I sit?" the familiar voice said.

Looking up, my mouth dried to see him again. His gray eyes were expectant. I just nodded.

Sitting beside me, he asked, "You still mad?"

"Kinda."

In a fresh American accent, he went on, "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"What was he threatening you for?" He shook his head, waiting for my response.

"He saw me smoking," I replied briefly.

"You smoke?" He raised one eyebrow at me, amused.

"Yes, you have any problem with that?" I tilted my head to one side, my voice sharp.

"No, you just don't..." he trailed off as I cut in.

"I just don't seem like a smoker, right? I am not a chain smoker. I just picked up a habit while in Los Angeles."

"You want to get rid of it?" he asked, gray eyes fixed on me and I nodded in response.

"Well, how long have you been smoking?"

"A month," I replied.

"Oh," he nodded and then continued, "Whenever you feel the urge to smoke, eat something. Something you love. It helps."

"You used to smoke?"

I waited as he sighed, "Well, not smoke. I had a coke problem."

"Cocaine?" I shook my head, not quite believing that this quiet self-possessed man before me used to be addicted once. But before he could respond, I asked, "How did you get rid of it?"

"Willpower," he smiled and for the first time, I felt my anger fading away, letting me realize how remarkably good-looking he was.

Nodding, I said, "You are?"

Laughing, he responded, "Kyle. Kyle Everest."

"You...?"

I couldn't finish as he went on, "Yes, the very same. Cool Cut Trio's dapper rapper. What about you?"

Recovering swiftly, I spoke, "Jamie. Jamie Watson."

Smiling down at me, he took my hand, surprising me. Lifting it up he said, "Pleasure to meet you, Jamie." Then he kissed the back of my hand elegantly. "I believe you are the daughter of Dr. Nicholas Watson," he said as he pulled away.

I quickly crossed my hands, my other hand brushing over the back of the hand that just got kissed by him, feeling the blood heating up from my breasts to my neck, neck to cheeks and cheeks to the tips of my hair, nodding in response.

- Excerpt from girl_whobreaths_fire's "The Art of Seduction" - chapter 2.

Humaira shows the tension well in this scene through dialogue as two strangers become acquaintances by finding a common topic to speak about.

Adding Meaning with Internal Dialogue

This is most effective for first person point-of-view and third person omniscient point-of-view. I will be explaining in more detail about these point-of-views among others in 'Section VI: Point-of-View' in the near future.

For whichever character's head you are in, you have the opportunity to write dialogue that shows the character's thoughts as they interact with other characters.

Inner dialogue, used in this way, can add a new dimension to dialogue.

For example:

I meant to say I am sorry for shutting down your opinion, but the words that came out were, "I am sorry you were wrong."

Oh, boy! This guy over here!

So, as you can see, with the combination of internal and spoken dialogue, the writer is able to show both what the character wants to say and what he actually says.

Mastering compelling dialogue takes an innumerous amount of edits and revisions. Don't beat yourself up over it if you don't achieve it the first time around. Expect not to.

If you've realized you're doing one or more of these already, then congrats! Now, continue doing so to make your dialogue just that more compelling.

Compelling dialogue is what makes a story believable, relatable, and awe-inspiring.

Please give this part a vote, and check out the great stories of the authors I used excerpts from!