5 Common Dialogue Mistakes in Fiction (And How to Fix Them!)

Writing dialogue can be difficult. How does one find the balance between crafting a conversation that is intriguing and yet still realistic?

Sadly, there are plenty of ways to write dialogue that are neither intriguing nor realistic, which is why I’m going to outline five of the most common pitfalls in writing dialogue and advice on how to fix them.

Let’s get started.

Mistake #1: When characters engage in small talk

“Hello, Jack!”

“Hi, Mary! It’s so good to see you! How are you?”

“I’m doing great! How are you?”

“I’m doing well. Nice weather we’re having, huh?”

Bored yet? Good—and that’s the point.

No one wants to read about your characters discussing the weather unless it’s important to the plot or another aspect of the story. But for the most part, mundane conversations like the one above do not add anything of value to a story, and writers should consider omitting instances of them in their writing.

How to fix this:

Go through your dialogue and cut each instance of small talk (Unless it’s absolutely necessary!). If needed, you can also summarize the small talk by saying, “we exchanged greetings” or something similar.

Mistake #2: When too many “flashy” dialogue tags are used

Far too many writers love using “flashy” dialogue tags: remarked, interjected, observed, etc. In other words, they love using tags other than the usual “said” or “asked”. The problem here isn’t the dialogue tags themselves, and I’m not suggesting that you should never use dialogue tags like these, but the issue comes in when the dialogue tag distracts the reader from what’s actually being said. When readers read “said” or “asked” as a dialogue tag, their eyes almost glaze over it, allowing them to focus on the dialogue itself. But when writers use flashy dialogue tags more than the regular tags, it draws the attention away from the conversation, which is never good.

But how much is too much? As I said before, it’s not that you can never use these flashy dialogue tags, but where do you draw the line? There is no definite answer or “max number” for each conversation. Some writers say all dialogue tags should be 90% “said” and others disagree.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer. So use your own discernment to judge when you should use these more flashy dialogue tags and when you shouldn’t.

How to fix this:

Go through all the instances of dialogue in your story and pay attention specifically to the dialogue tags. For each dialogue tag, ask yourself: Does this dialogue tag distract me from the conversation?

Use your answer to adjust the dialogue tags accordingly. Remember to trust your own judgment on this because you are the author and you know your story best.

Mistake #3: When the characters all speak the same

In real life, not everyone speaks the same way, so in order to make dialogue in fiction as realistic as possible, your characters shouldn’t all sound the same. The best way to fix this is by giving each character their own, unique voice. Because if we give our characters this, they will come to life and immediately feel more realistic and three-dimensional to the reader.

People come from all kinds of different backgrounds, upbringings, religions, and worldviews—all of which greatly affect the way they speak and are contributing factors to what make up their voice. Some people never use contractions, others stutter or trail off mid sentence, some use run-on sentences and others never shut up. A person’s gender or personality can influence their voice too.

The point is real people don’t all sound alike and therefore, your characters shouldn’t all sound alike. This is difficult for many writers to fix because we even have our own, unique voices, which can lead us to write characters that sound exactly like us… sometimes without us even knowing.

I’m not suggesting that it’s always bad if your character sounds like you. As long as everyone has their own, unique voices, that should be fine even if one of them ends up sounding similar to you. Just be careful to make sure not all of your characters do.

How to fix this:

List the unique aspects of each of your character’s voices: their verbal tics, habitual words, the sentence structure they use, etc. It may start to become tedious or boring, but you don’t want to slack on this point. If you want each of your characters to sound realistic, giving them each their own, unique voice is one of the best ways to start.

Mistake #4: When too many dialogue tags are used

No, this is not a repeat of Mistake #2 but it is similar. Consider the following conversation:

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

“Nothing,” Olivia said.

“Are you sure?” Ryan asked. He didn’t believe her.

“Of course I am. Why do you ask?” Olivia asked.

“You seem a little suspicious, that’s all,” Ryan explained.

Does this conversation flow well? Of course not, there are way too many dialogue tags!

Obviously, dialogue tags are important to inform the reader of who is speaking—but readers are smart and they don’t like being overexplained to. This is why it is so important, especially in conversations with only two people, to be careful of how many dialogue tags you’re using.

Too many tags ruins the flow and the overall reading experience. Read the revised conversation below:

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked.

“Nothing.” Olivia shoved her hands behind her back.

Ryan narrowed his eyes, tilting his head to the side. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I am. Why do you ask?”

“You seem a little suspicious, that’s all.”

Much better! Right? The last two lines didn’t even need dialogue tags. I also added some action tags to help show who was speaking and spice things up a little.

How to fix this:

This solution is much like the solution to Mistake #2. Go through all the instances of dialogue in your story and pay attention specifically to the dialogue tags. Ask yourself: Is this tag necessary? Will the reader be confused if it is omitted?

Use your answer to adjust each tag accordingly and trust your own judgment when making changes.

Mistake #5: When the dialogue is formatted incorrectly

A lot of writers, especially new ones, don’t know this, but when writing dialogue, you must start a new line every time a different character speaks.

Take the following incorrect conversation:

“Something’s wrong,” Daniel said. “What is it?” Olivia asked, her gaze darting around the room.

And read the revised conversation:

“Something’s wrong,” Daniel said.

“What is it?” Olivia asked, gaze darting around the room.

Many writers also don’t know that there’s a proper way to punctuate dialogue. Here are two of the most important rules:

- If a line of dialogue is followed by a dialogue tag, the line of dialogue should end with a comma and the first letter of the dialogue tag should be lowercase.

Example: “What can I say? I love pizza,” she said.

- If a line of dialogue is followed by an action tag, the line of dialogue should end with a period and the first letter of the action tag should be capitalized.

Example: “What can I say? I love pizza.” She shrugged.

How to fix this:

Learn the rules of punctuating dialogue, and go through each instance of dialogue in your novel to apply these rules.

Studying all these punctuation rules can be boring for many or take the fun out of writing, but if you take the time to learn these rules well, it will be easier on your readers and help you come across as a professional. You won’t regret it!

Those are five of the most common dialogue mistakes that I see in fiction and how to fix them. I hope this list will help you with writing dialogue going forward!