Writing Dialogue Tips

Had this convo with a writer friend Ben, who I’ve collaborated with on blogs before, and figured I’d post up what I told him, for anyone else who’s curious about dialogue.
PS: I’m planning a new vlog for posting on the 19th!

Ben: How do you handle dialogue?

Me: I write it as it comes out of my head, depending on what I believe a character would say, and then read it aloud later. Often I don’t read it aloud til [someone] reminds me, but it REALLY helps you figure out how it flows [to read it aloud].

Ben: I bet. That’s a good idea. I cringe at all my dialogue. Which is bad, because dialogue is most of what you have in a comic book script. I think maybe it’s because in all the years I’ve been thinking about these characters, maybe I’ve never really found a voice for them. I built facts and information around them. I read in one of my books that your characters’ dialogue shouldn’t be interchangeable.

Me: Well, you can’t do that for EVERYONE, but it’s important to have distinctions of character in what they say and how they say it…Like, does one person use more slang, does someone have an accent? Does someone always swear, or tries to not do it as much? All these things say something [important] about the character [and helps them stand out].