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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/28336
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Dialogue a very difficult subject for a 'typical' writer. Dialogue needs to heard and cannot really be learned from a book. And unless you've a diverse group of friends you've no source material.

- Firstly, you probably need to unlearn everything you've learned about grammar and prose. (If MS Word doesn't put green lines under my dialogue I revisit it). Real people repeat words and phrases and have generally poor grammar.

- Unless your story uses diverse characters they'll all sound the same. If your story features five teens from Alabama - they will all sound the same.

- Be mindful of your target audience. The reader has to possess 'decoding' information i.e have knowledge of what type of people speak _that way_. With the target reader the dialogue can do 'everything'. There's no need for separate 'scene-setting' or 'characterisation'.

_Kelly joined her friends at the canteen table. "Wassup, bitches!" she said, setting down her tray._

Scene is set: you have a good idea _who_ these people are and _where_ these people are.

- Culture.

Different cultures and locales speak different ways, using different words to describe the same thing.

- Age

Language changes with generations.

"Respectable young ladies should wear a frock when they attend church," said the minister.

- Thinking as write - it's pretty much everything. Sex: girls are unlikely to use sports metaphors. Profanities: some will use them, some won't.

Characterisation dictates dialogue, dialogue drives characterisation. Temperament is also a factor.

When you get it right . . . the latter part of your story needs very few dialogue tags because the words could only come from one character.

Debra Morgan from the Dexter series said the F-word over 100 times in the first eight season. There were some very exclusive combinations

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