Dialogue Mistakes New Writers Make ❌ Avoid These Cringeworthy Cliches!!

Your books are amazing and you are one of my favorite authors!! These videos teach me to improve my writing skills!! Thank you!

I am SO guilty of the last one! I've even given it a name for when it crops up in my writing - 'Thunderbird Puppet Syndrome.' It's where they're all doing so much nodding, eyebrow-raising, side-smiles, hand-waving, frowns, wide eyes, etc. that they just end up looking like Thunderbird puppets bobbing around. Action beats are my crack cocaine, but at least now I'm more aware of it. 🙂

To avoid conflict dumping it's like "Don't write your dialogue as if your characters have Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth around their necks." 🤣

Nothing takes me out of a story faster than when a character narrates their inner thoughts out loud 😬 Great video, Abby!

I have an issue with critiques like “people don’t talk like this” because people are far too diverse and interesting for that to be true and some people are just weird. Chances are there’s someone out there that does talk like that. “That character wouldn’t say that”, however, that’s a real problem…

That first one is hard for me because I, personally, in real life, talk like that. I actually have had a couple people tell me I sound like I'm my own therapist. When I finally talked to an actual therapist, it was like... not actually helpful because I really had gone through all this self analysis and tried so many things to get my brain to cooperate with me.

In regard to the dialogue tags, the important thing is to keep it dynamic and interesting. It isn't 'boring description' if it is action, or building suspense, or is serving a purpose to the scene. If someone pulls out a gun, or shoves someone in the middle of the conversation, those are things you definitely you want to describe. You can also create a very tense situation even with slow paced scenes with a lot of description. Like if you know a person has a gun, and they keep sliding their hands down under the table during the scene, and you draw attention to that. The main thing here is, it needs a purpose and it should be interesting.

My biggest dialogue mistake: Spending 2 years plotting without drafting a single line of dialogue. Because: fear No other dialogue mistakes! But my characters might as well be fish.

I don't know if there's something wrong with me, but I found the example with too much description pretty engaging, more than all the other examples. I hate reading the skeleton of a conversation through predominantly just the dialogue. I love any inclusion of action, body language, and expressions. I would have removed bits and pieces, but overall it was fine. I used to skip to the dialogue, but now I care to know what the author wants me to know.

Fun fact but it’s actually an annoying fact: Today I had French class and the teacher was talking about how to make stories and in the texts it said and she said “In stories there’s 2 characters, good guys who only have qualities and bad guys who only have flaws” LIKE OMG NOOOOOOOOOO I wanted to raise my hand and argue with her but I didn’t have the courage to and I was so mad like WTH if the protagonists have no flaws then THERE WOULD BE NO STORY

The whole thing about dialogue tag is 100% subjectivity. The first example gave a lot more nuance and made it more enjoyable to read for me. The second one had dialogue tags so short that for me, they might as well been left out. Also, Violet's second line in the second example is in dire need of dialogue tag IMO. Since it's already narrated I can tell the tone, but without, her line might be interpreted as her being more sassy or sarcastic. Thus, the reader can easily think she's less concerned about Kent and more annoyed. That matters a lot when it comes to characterization. Throughout the whole dialogue, the dialogue tags for Violet are vague enough for the descriptions to match both a Violet that's caring about Kent's well being, and a Violet that more or less feel inconvenienced about Kent's insecurity.

As an autistic adult, I find clear dialogue with proper grammar to be soothing and comforting. I find "Hidden Feelings Talk" raises my anxiety. I usually don't want to GUESS what characters are thinking. It seems "natural and realistic" doesn't mean "Will connect with everybody". People are different, and some peoples' brains are wired differently. 🤷🏾‍♂️

"Bad example of dialogue tags" sounds like some classic novel from 20's - 30's. And you did read it so artistically, that it doesn't sound as bad example at all. Actually, i even liked it. It brings some noltalgic feelings. And "aestetic pleasure".

Ok, but why do I like the one with excessive tags? It's so much more dramatic than something faster.

I feel like it’s all about pacing and genre expectations. More and longer dialogue tags can slow down the pace. But slowing down the pace can add tension and give the reader a feeling of claustrophobia. This is great if you want to demonstrate that the character feels trapped and anxious. Or that in a situation with fight, flight or fear, they froze. A faster pace makes the scene go faster. But it also cuts the tension. It works well if you want the reader to see that the character lost control of the situation and it all happened so fast. More details forces the reader to focus on the details. Less details makes readers focus on the information or outcome. Intent is what matters most here.

I remember once reading a scathing review of one of Arthur C. Clarke's books that said, "The problem with Arthur C. Clarke's dialogue is that it all sounds like Arthur C. Clarke talking to himself." Thank you, Abbie, for helping us all avoid falling into that trap!

I enjoyed the overly-descriptive dialogue ngl, I really like good description and being able to vividly imagine things. It's a bit long but man, as an autistic individual, it's delicious to hear all the body language and actually know what they're feeling because no, I can't just know and imagine all of how a person is actually reacting. The cut-down version was also good but man, I can't help but love all the small details in a person.

"His laugh came out sounding forced." = "His laugh was forced." Maybe "He gave a forced laugh." I'd probably rewrite that another 4 or 5 times looking for something short and punchy. I want to know why Violet thinks she can rummage through Kent's backpack for an eraser. She doesn't sound like his girlfriend and "your dad" sounds like she's not his sister, either.

I love that you use actual written examples. It's so hard to find good writing advice that isn't about general storytelling using movies and TV shows as examples. I'd love to see a video on cutting out redundancy. Like, in your bad dialogue tag example, ["I don't know, because your grades have been, well..." She trailed off, her voice halting and quiet.] Readers already know she trailed off, because the line ends in an ellipses, and the dialogue itself already sounds unsure with the "I don't know" and "well...". So the entire dialogue tag can be cut without losing anything. Whereas with Kent's line without the dialogue tag [He responded with a laugh that sounded somewhat forced. "What? Are you kidding me? Why would I need to cheat?"] might be interpreted as pure aggression rather than him trying to brush it off, so mentioning the forced laugh is important.

Personally I love lengthy prose, have always loved it, and make my own writing as flowery as possible and see nothing wrong with it. This isn't a "mistake" in writing, just a difference in style that depends on what kind of audience you want to grab. The dialogue tag skippers can skip all they want, but there's gonna be a significant amount of people who settle in and enjoy the slower writing.