Shoutout to the old diner in Decatur that made me rethink how I write dialogue

Stopped into this place called The Blue Plate on Piedmont Road last weekend, just grabbing coffee. Noticed the waitress and the cook had this back-and-forth that was pure rhythm, like they'd been doing it ten years. It hit me that my character conversations sound like interviews, not real talk between people who know each other. Anyone else ever overhear a real interaction and realize your dialogue is way too stiff?

2 comments

2 Comments

noaht151mo ago

Wait, didn't everyone already know this? Real talk is WAY messier than what we write.

bettyroberts1mo ago

Hold on, are you really rethinking your whole writing style because of one diner conversation? I mean, yeah, people talk messy. They interrupt each other and leave sentences hanging. But that doesn't mean every character needs to sound like a cook slinging hash. Real talk is boring half the time. It's full of "um" and "you know" and stuff nobody wants to read. You're writing a story, not a transcript. Let characters have clear dialogue if that's what the scene needs. Not everything has to be art imitating life that closely.