Dialogue is one of the most important aspects of writing a novel. It is one of those things that often seems quite straightforward on the surface, yet can be quite difficult to get right. Unrealistic or jarring dialogue can bring down the success of a whole book, making it hard to believe or awkward to read.

With this in mind, here are four ways to improve your dialogue. Feel free to add your own ideas and suggestions in the comments box.

Read it out loud

We start with an oldie but a goodie. One of the best ways to work out whether your dialogue is working is to read it out loud. If it sounds awkward, that’s because it probably is. Look for things such as phrasing: have you got the punctuation right? Does it sound natural when you read it?

Let it speak for itself

Writers can also have a tendency to over explain things rather than letting the dialogue speak for itself. For example, if your work is full of lines of dialogue followed by lengthy explanations to make sure the reader doesn’t miss what you mean, it’s probably worth reconsidering your dialogue. After all, if you feel you need to explain everything afterwards, is the dialogue really doing what you hoped it would?

This doesn’t mean you can’t ever explain things, or add qualifiers in the prose following the dialogue, but it does mean you need to think carefully about the dialogue you use and how readers are likely to interpret it.

Adapt it for different characters

Another way to improve your dialogue is to make sure you alter it for different characters. In real life, people have different mannerisms and styles of speech; make sure you translate that to the characters in your story or else the dialogue – and the characters – will end up seeming bland.

Get the right balance

Finally, there is a need to get a balance in the dialogue you use. It shouldn’t be too formal, because hardly anyone always speaks in perfectly grammatically correct sentences all the time. At the same time, it shouldn’t be too colloquial or informal, as this can be hard to read – especially if you are spelling out regional pronunciations or accents in the text. Dialogue should be realistic, but it still needs to fit into the context of a novel or other form of story.