Dialogue/ সংলাপ

Dialogue:

Want to know the most important thing about writing dialogue in মিথ্যা গল্প fiction? If it sounds like a conversation you’d hear in the real world, you’ve gone ভয়ঙ্কর horribly wrong somewhere.

Seriously…

The next time you’re on a crowded ঘনবসতিপূর্ণ bus or sitting by yourself in a bustling ব্যস্ততা রেস্টুরেন্ট restaurant, just listen to the two people নিকট closest to you talking. You’ll hear them…

speak over each other

say “um” and “er” a lot

jump from one topic to another with no warning.

All of which is fine in the real world, but কাজের নয় hopeless for novel writing.

Writing dialogue isn’t about চিত্রের প্রতিলিপি করা replicating a real-life conversation. It’s about giving an গভীর অনুভূতি / প্রবল উদ্দীপনা impression of it. And, yes, improving  on it.

If fiction is like real life with the নিষ্প্রাণ dull bits অল্পমুল্যের মুদ্রা ভিতর হইতে অপসৃত করা taken out, ঠিক exactly the same thing applies to fictional conversations. The কারো নির্দিষ্ট কর্তব্য role of the writer is to select what is important and then তরলকে গরম করে বাষ্পে পরিণত করা distil it down to its very সারমর্ম essence.

The rules below will help you to write realistic বাস্তবধর্মী dialogue that keeps your readers করায়ত্ত gripped – and স্পষ্টভাবে definitely no নিষ্প্রাণ dull bits!

1. Dialogue Must Be In Conflict মতবিরোধ

It’s সুস্পষ্ট obvious, সত্যিই really. Just as a description of two young lovers অতিবাহন spending a perfect day out at the zoo doesn’t সৃষ্টি করা constitute a plot একটি নাটক, উপন্যাস, চলচ্চিত্র, বা অনুরূপ কাজের প্রধান ঘটনাগুলি পরিকল্পিত এবং একটি আন্তঃসংযুক্ত ক্রম হিসাবে লেখক দ্বারা উপস্থাপিত। (not unless the girl falls in the lion অবরুদ্ধ অবস্থা enclosure!)… so two people গালগল্প করা chatting about nothing much at all (and not disagreeing নারাজ with each other, either) doesn’t constitute dialogue.

Pleasant হাসিখুশি conversations are great in real life. Even if nothing especially বিশেষত interesting gets said, who doesn’t like chewing চিন্তা করাthe fat with a neighbor over the fence প্রতিরক্ষা or a friend over coffee?

Listening in on those conversations, as a third party, would be about as exciting উত্তেজনাপূর্ণ as watching লন্ড্রি laundry dry. So make sure you don’t subject your readers to বিরক্তিকর tedious, হাই তোলা yawn-inducing dialogue in your novel.

How do you অবতরণ ramp up the উত্তেজনা excitement? সহজ Easy…

Give the two characters conflicting goals – one of them wants one thing, the other something else. এমন কি Even if it doesn’t end in a shouting চিৎকার match here and now, the অবলম্বনস্বরুপ underlying কঠিন টান tension will be all you need to keep the readers turning those pages.

To ব্যাখ্যা করা illustrate that, take a look at this example…

“What are we having for dinner?” asked Jane.

Bill opened the fridge, স্থানান্তরিত shifted the milk to see to the back. “How does মাংসের ফালি steak sound?”

“Sounds great.”

“There’s chicken if you prefer,” he said.

“No, steak মাংসের ফালি is fine. With ভর্তা করা mashed potatoes.”

A perfectly nice conversation, the kind we all have everyday – but ব্যর্থ hopeless for the purposes of novel writing. Add some conflict into the মিশ্রিত করা mix, যদিও though, and it might look something like this…

“What are we having for dinner?” asked Jane.

Bill opened the fridge, পিছনে দেখতে দুধ স্থানান্তরিত shifted the milk to see to the back. “How does মাংসের ফালি steak sound?”

“What, again?”

“We haven’t had steak since last Saturday,” he said.

“I know. And the Saturday before that and the one before that! Don’t you ever fancy something different, Bill?”

Much more interesting. Why? Because the dialogue is in conflict. Jane wants one thing and Bill wants something else…

Bill wants to stick to the same old routine.

Jane wants some উত্তেজনাপূর্ণ ঘটনা adventure in their relationship.

And when characters have conflicting goals, ফলাফল উপন্যাস পরবর্তীতে অনুসরণ নিশ্চিত করা হয় consequences are sure to follow later in the novel.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with having some everyday conversation in a novel. The rules of dialogue are there to be broken. ,  along পাশাপাশি with every other kind of novel writing rule,

Sometimes a simple exchange of information between characters will be ঠিক exactly what is required.

But for the most part, go for tension and disagreement and conflict between the characters. Besides, writing dialogue is much more fun that way!

2. Dialogue Must Have a Purpose উদ্দেশ্য Even if a passage ছোটোখাটো ঘটনা of dialogue in your story is full of juicy রসপূর্ণ conflict, you still may need to delete it

if it’s not সেবা serving a storytelling function. If the কথাবার্তা speeches in the novel don’t meet at least one of the following মানদণ্ড criteria, they should be cut.

i) The Dialogue Should Drive the Story Forward সামনের দিকে

Conversations in the real world often have little or no point to them, with the circumstances of the people involved remaining unchanged at the end.

Your dialogue, therefore, should advance the plot in some way.

How will you know if it does? Ask yourself these questions…

Will the story still make sense if the dialogue is removed? If it can be removed without leaving a missing link in the character’s journey towards his or her goal, scrap বর্জন করা it.

Does the dialogue increase the suspense for what is to come? If a character says something which causes the reader to worry about the nature or the outcome of an upcoming event, it should stay.

Does it change the character’s situation, for better or worse? Do they receive some good or bad news which leaves them closer to their goal or further away from it? If so, it is moving the plot forward.

Does the dialogue shed পতিত some light on what the character wants? Anything which makes a character’s goal clearer is good and should remain – as should anything which makes their motives (or why they want to achieve their goal) clearer.

Does it serve পরিবেশন করা to strengthen শক্তিশালী the character’s সমাধান করা resolve, or perhaps সম্ভবত weaken দুর্বল করা it? Are they told something which makes them wish they hadn’t bothered বিরক্ত করা to set out on this quest অনুসন্ধান in the first place – or make them glad আনন্দিত that they did? Either উভয়ের যে-কোনটি one is good.

I’m sure there are প্রচুর পরিমাণে plenty of other criteria মানদণ্ড to use, but they give you the idea. 

If a conversation is in some way related to a character’s goals and conflicts (which you can read about in the section on Plotting a Novel), it’s moving the plot forward.

If the characters are talking about nothing important, the dialogue is filler and should probably be removed.

Note, though, that some “pointless অর্থহীন conversation” in a novel is good. After all, you’ve got keep the dialogue আসল authentic – and we all talk about the weather or what we want for dinner.

Keep the chit-chat to a minimum, though. And always ensure that, if a passage of dialogue starts out being about nothing of any importance, it quickly gets to the point.

“The dialogue is generally the most agreeable মনোরম part of a novel, but it is only so long as it tends পরিচর্যা করা in some way to the telling of the main story.”

– Anthony Trollope

ii) The Dialogue Should Characterize বৈশিষ্ট্য প্রকাশ করা

Just as advancing উন্নতি the plot is one way of giving dialogue a purpose, so too is adding to the readers’ understanding of a character’s ব্যক্তিত্ব personality.

So maybe the speaking character tells whoeverযে কেহ is listening about a formative রূপদানকারী event from their childhood, or about their love for their family pet, or about their dreams for the future.

These revelations might not affect the plot, might not be important for the telling of the story at all. But they help to explain ব্যাখ্যা করা the character’s motivation for wanting whatever it is they want. And doing that not only helps us to get to know them better (which is never a bad thing), it also gives us a greater insight অন্তর্দৃষ্টি into why, সঠিকভাবে precisely, they are chasing শিকার their goal.

One other thing worth গুরুত্ব mentioning…

Dialogue is one of the most important tools there is in demonstrating প্রদর্শক the relationships between different characters.

The way two people speak to each other tells you virtually বস্তুত everything there is to know about how they get along. And demonstrating this to the readers, particularly the relationships between the major players in the novel, certainly gives dialogue a purpose.

iii) The Dialogue Should Provide Information

What kind of information? Anything that is crucial অত্যন্ত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ to the understanding of the story. Let me explain that…

Every novel has plenty প্রচুর of “dry facts” that the reader needs to learn…

an important moment from the character’s childhood

a brief history of the town শহর in which the novel is set

and so on.

Details বিস্তারিত that are not a part of the story but are nevertheless important for understanding it are known as উদ্ভাস exposition.

The key চাবি to প্রদর্শন exposition, which always runs the risk of boring the readers (and make them skip ahead), is to present it to them in কামড়-আকারের টুকরা bite-sized pieces. This makes the potentially সম্ভাব্য dry facts more palatable সুস্বাদু and doesn’t significantly উল্লেখযোগ্যভাবে disrupt চূর্ণবিচূর্ণ করা the forward momentum ভরবেগ of the novel.

And guess what? Dialogue is one of the best methods there is for getting পেয়ে information across in a bite-sized দান্ত দিয়া ফুটা করা আকারের way. Heck, if you do it skilfully নিপুণভাবে enough, the readers won’t even know what is happening!

Just beware of characters telling each other things that they already know. A husband, for example, would never say this to his wife…

“Mary, my sister, had to take Florence, their miniature poodle, to the vet পশুচিকিত্সক again.”

The wife will already know that her husband’s sister is called Mary, and that Mary owns a poodle called Florence. Information like that is there solely for the benefit of the readers, and it makes the dialogue sound horribly ভয়ঙ্করভাবে stilted অলংকারবহুল. So don’t do it!

And that’s it: three ways to make sure that every line of dialogue you write has a purpose.

Once you’re satisfied সন্তুষ্ট that you are  advancing উন্নতি the plot, characterizing বৈশিষ্ট্য or providing information, you can stop worrying about if it “belongs জন্যে” and concentrate কেঁদ্রীভূত করা on all the other rules for writing good dialogue…

3. Dialogue Should Flow

“When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.”

– Enrique Jardiel Poncela

Actually, all writing in a novel should flow effortlessly. With dialogue, though, it is doubly important. The conversations need to read effortlessly and look good on the page. There are three ways to achieve this…

i) Watch How You Use Dialogue Tags আপনি সংলাপ ট্যাগ ব্যবহার করে দেখুন

You know what dialogue tags are – he said, she said and মত the like.

They’re useful little things. But beware of overusing them. Conversations in a novel will sound like games of ping-pong if you have a tag after every single line…

“Hello,” said Frank. “How are you doing?”

“Fine,” said Mary. “I hear you’re getting married.”

“That’s right,” said Frank.

“When’s the big day?” asked Mary.

“Next week,” said Frank.

On the other hand, beware of using too few tags as well. Why? Because there’s nothing more annoying বিরক্তিকর for a reader than having to count back lines to work out who is speaking.

Another trick is to stick to the simple tags – like said and asked. Using tags like exclaimed or interjected or screeched খ্যানখেনে makes the dialogue sound অপেশাদারী amateurish.

Adverbs make it sound amateurish, too (as in, “Mary said ব্যস্ততাসহকারে excitedly“). If you want to demonstrate প্রদর্শন Mary’s excitement, describe her fidgeting স্নায়বিক অস্থিরতায় ভোগা in her chair or bouncing on the balls of her feet while she speaks.

(Click here for a deeper dive into dialogue tags.)

ii) Vary the Length of the Lines

One important rule of novel writing is to keep the readers reading. Duh! Boring them is likely to have the opposite effect, which is why it’s so important to make your passages of dialogue flow beautifully.

Here is why varying the length of the lines matters…

if Character A says something using half a dozen words

then Character B replies using a sentence of the same length

then Character A says something back using another short sentence

…it can all sound a bit same-ish. A better conversation would look like this…

Character A says something.

Character B replies using a longer sentence. Maybe a couple of them. Or even three.

Character A just shrugs অসহায়তা here.

So Character B says something else, something long again that goes on and on and on…

Until Character A cuts them short with a quick one-liner of their own.

That’s not a প্রতিচিত্র blueprint, of course – just one “top of the head” example of how to shake up your dialogue.

iii) Don’t Have Characters Talk In a Vacuum শূন্যস্থান: অনেক প্রয়োজনীয় রচনাংশ এটি উপন্যাস ও অভিনয়ের জন্য:

It’s very rare for people to talk and do nothing else. Often, they have conversations while cooking the dinner or trying to fix the ঘর গরম করিবার যন্ত্রবিশেষ radiator.

Even when they are “just talking,” they’re usually doing something – drinking coffee, watching the world go by, whatever it may be. To help your dialogue flow (and keep it authentic খাঁটি), you simply need to mention these everyday, insignificant নিষ্ফল actions…Chopping an onion একটি পেঁয়াজ কাটা.

Taking a sip চুমুক of coffee.

Noticing the paperboy cycle by কাগজপত্র চক্র লক্ষ্য করে.

Even if two fictional characters are having a conversation while sitting still in a featureless বৈশিষ্ট্যহীন room without windows, they will still cough কাশি or scratch আঁচড়ের দাগ or pick বাছাই threads মাল্যাকারে সুতায় গাঁথা off their clothes.

Why is it important to break up the dialogue with little snippets টুকিটাকি of prose গদ্য?

Because having one line of speech, বক্তৃতা এক লাইন থাকার কারণে followed by another, then another can sound like ping pong again – even if you do vary the length of each line.

To overcome this problem, simply freeze a conversation for a few sentences while you…

Describe the sound of the rain বৃষ্টি hitting আঘাত the window or a dog barking কুকুরের ডাক in the distance. দূরত্ব

Show what one of the characters is thinking (this is called interior অভ্যন্তর monologue নাটকাদি) যে নাটকীয় রচনায় একটি মাত্র লোক কথা বলে.

Write anything at all except another line of dialogue কথোপকথন অন্য লাইন ছাড়া সব কিছু লিখুন.

This before/after example demonstrates প্রমান all of the key points to remember when writing dialogue that flows…

Before…

“What do you fancy অভিনব for dinner, Sarah?”

“What have you got?” she enquired অনুসন্ধান.

“বেশি না Not much,” Frank admitted. ফ্র্যাঙ্ক ভর্তি “I think I could stretch প্রসারণ to pasta পাস্তা, though. And there’s cheesecake চীজ কেক for dessert.”

“Cheesecake’s my favorite,” Sarah replied.

“Then later I thought চিন্তা we could catch ধরা a movie,” Frank said cautiously সাবধানভাবে.

“We could,” Sarah said. “But I’ve got a better idea.”

After…

“What do you fancy for dinner, Sarah?”

“What have you got?”

Frank opened the fridge, stood দাঁড়িয়ে on his tiptoes পদাঙ্গুলির ডগায় ভর দিয়া চলা to search the top shelf. “I could stretch to pasta,” he said. “And there’s cheesecake for dessert.”

“Cheesecake’s my favorite.”

“Then later I thought we could catch a movie.”

“We could,” Sarah said as she poured প্রবল বৃষ্টিপাত হত্তয়া the Chardonnay. Large বড় glasses চশমা. “But I’ve got a better idea.”

4. Dialogue Should Be Concise সংক্ষিপ্ত

“Dialogue is like a rose গোলাপ bush ক্ষুদ্র জঙ্গল – it often improves after pruning কেঁটে সাফ. I recommend you rewrite your dialogue until it is as brief as you can get it. This will mean making it quite পুরোপুরি unrealistically অবাস্তব to the point. That is fine. Your readers don’t want realistic speech, they want talk which spins পাক খাত্তয়ান the story along.”

– Nigel Watts

To write good dialogue, cut it to the bone হাড় এটি কাটা – and then to the marrow এবং তারপর মজ্জা. Never use ten words when five words will do. And if you can get the job done in three words – or even with a simple gesture অঙ্গভঙ্গি  like a shrugকাধ উপরে উঠে বুঝানো – so much the better. অঙ্গ ভঙ্গি দিয়ে সংলাপ বলতে হবে। যেমন মাথা একবার উপরে একবার নিচে করল।এটা লেখা সবচেয়ে ভালো হবে “না” শব্দ লেখা থেকে।

Concise সংক্ষিপ্ত dialogue isn’t realistic বাস্তবানুগ. In the real world, very few people have the ability to say what they mean without throwing নিক্ষেপ a lot of empty খালি words into the mix মিশ্রিত করা. The paradox প্রচলিত মতের বিরুদ্ধ মত, though, is that it will seem realistic. বাস্তবানুগ And it will certainly অবশ্যই be a lot more gripping for the reader. পাঠকদের  খামচে ধরে রাখা উপন্যাস মধ্যে।

Here is an example of what I mean…

Before…

“Hi, John. How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks, Mary. And yourself?”

“Oh, I can’t complain নালিশ করা,” she said. “Actually, I’m glad আনন্দিত I bumped হঠাৎ into you. Are you coming to the party tonight?”

“I hope to, Mary. It really depends if I can get off work early.”

“Have you asked your boss?”

“Not yet,” John admitted. “McNulty’s having a bad day, to tell you the truth. His ex-wife called. She wants money again. I’m waiting to pick the right moment.”

“Is there ever a good moment with that man?”

“Sure,” John said. “Catching him somewhere between his third and fourth scotch usually works.”

After…

“Hi, John. Coming to the party tonight?”

“If I can get off work.”

“Have you asked?”

“The boss is having a bad day,” he said. “Ex-wife troubles. I’ll pick my moment মুহূর্ত.”

“Is there ever a good moment with McNulty?”

“Sure. Somewhere between his third and fourth scotch.”

Much better, right? But how do you achieve that? Here are a couple of specific things you can do…

Get rid পরিত্রাণ of most of the chit-chat খোশগল্প and social সামাজিক খুঁটিনাটি niceties. Don’t strip these things out completely, because you still want conversations to sound natural. But fictional conversations, if they aren’t to bore বিরক্ত the reader, need to cut to the chase পশ্চাদ্ধাবন a lot quicker than real-life conversations.

Don’t write in complete, grammatical sentences. Because very few people do, at least in informal conversations. “Do you want to go to the park?” sounds stiff শক্ত. “Want to go to the park?” is better.

Bottom দেহের নিম্নাংশ line? Trust your ear. Revise your passages of dialogue again and again during the editing phase of the novel writing process. Whittle ক্রমাগত কাঠ কাটা them down a little more each time until they’re perfect নির্ভুল. Then when you don’t think you can edit them any more, go through them one last time and cut out something else!

The only caveat বিচারকার্য স্থগিত রাখার আদেশ is that some people are more long-winded বিরক্তিকর/ দীর্ঘশ্বাসযুক্ত than others – in the real world and in novels…

If a character likes the sound of his own voice, don’t make him একটি শক্তিশালী হিসাবে জুড়ে আসা come across as a strong and silent type নীরব টাইপ. Equally, don’t let him ramble ঘুরাঘুরি করা on. You merely need to create the impression ছাপ of long-windedness…

One way would be to have the viewpoint character stop listening and look out the window পরিবর্তে instead. Have her describe what is happening out in the street. তার রাস্তায় কি ঘটছে তা বর্ণনা কর.Whenhe “tunes in মধ্যে সুর” to the dialogue again a couple of minutes later সংলাপে আবার কয়েক মিনিট পরে, you’ve successfully given the impression ছাপ of someone rambling এলোমেলো আলোচনা করা on without inflicting প্রদান করা the words on the readers!

5. Don’t Have the Characters All Sound the Same

Every character in a novel is অবিভক্ত unique. They all look different. They all think and act in their individual স্বতন্ত্র ways উপায়. And it should be no different with the way they speak.

Having all the characters sound the same is one of those siren সাইরেন -howling আর্তনাদ signs লক্ষণ of an amateur অপেশাদার. So you need to work hard at giving each and every character a unique speaking voice.

How? It’s actually very simple. Make sure that the words a character says are a natural extension প্রসার of their personality. And achieve অর্জন করা that by পদবিন্যাস stepping into their জুতা shoes, so to speak তাই কথা বলতে, before you try to put words in their mouth.

Here are four questions to ask yourself when trying to find a distinctive voice for each of the people in your novel…

i) Who Are They?

You will have already developed the characters before starting to write your novel. You’ll know who they are and what makes them (কোন জিনিস দিয়ে চরিএটিকে অন্য চরিত্র থেকে আলাদা করা যায়) চিহ্নিত করা tick. (And you learn how to do that, of course, in the section অধ্যায় on Creating তৈরি করা হচ্ছে Characters.)

And so, when putting words into the characters’ mouths, you must simply make those words fit their personalities. এমন শব্দ এই চরিত্রে মূর্খ থেকে বের করতে হবে যা তার চরিত্রের সাথে মিল আছে। যেমন অশিক্ষিত মানুষ ভাষা একরকম এবং সুশিক্ষিত মানুষের ভাষা অন্য রকম হয়।

The kindly old lady won’t say anything too mean. দয়া করে পুরোনো ভদ্রমহিলা খুব অর্থহীন কিছু বলবেনা

The mean old man won’t be terribly ভয়ঙ্কর kind when he opens his mouth.

The big-head will brag বড় মাথা মানুষ‌অহংকারকারী হবে.

The joker will have everyone laughing জোকার সবাই হাসবে.

The optimist আশাবাদী … well, you get the idea হ্যাঁ, আপনি ধারণা পেতে পারেন.

ii) What Is Their Personal Vocabulary শব্দতালিকা?

This means making a character’s voice fit their background and occupation…

An educated character will have more words (and fancier কল্পনাকারী words) at his or her disposal নিষ্পত্তি than a not-so-educated one একটি শিক্ষিত এক তুলনায়.

A dockworker ডক শ্রমিক will probably সম্ভবত swear শপথ more than a school teacher – and won’t care as much (or know as much অনেক জানেন) about grammar.

A physics professor will likely throw নিক্ষেপ  the odd scientific বৈজ্ঞানিক term into his or her speech.

An artist শিল্পী will have plenty প্রচুর of words to describe colors.

Note that মনে রাখবেন যে it’s perfectly ঠিকভাবে acceptable গ্রহণযোগ্য to use bad grammar and poor word choice in dialogue. It won’t reflect প্রতিফলিত করা  badly খারাপভাবে on you as a writer, because it is understood that it’s the character speaking.

একজন কম শিক্ষিত মানুষের ব্যাকারন অনেক ভুল থাকে যখন সে কথা বলে। এবং একজন শিক্ষিত মানুষের ব্যাকারন অনেক ভালো হয়। একজন শিক্ষিত মানুষের শব্দ অনেক ভালো হয়। আর একজন কম শিক্ষিত মানুষের শব্দ সাধারণ হয়।

Just don’t go over the top.

If a character’s natural way of speaking is to use a curse গালমন্দ word in every sentence, for example, you don’t need to include অন্তর্ভুক্ত করা every single one. The odd সুবিধা expletive অতিরিক্ত here and there will give the reader the idea!

iii) Who Are They Talking To? তারা কার সাথে কথা বলছে?

In real life, we all speak differently to different people, and it should be no different with a character in a novel. A tough city cop একটি কঠিন শহর পুলিশ, for example, will have…

One way of talking to his colleagues. সহকর্মীদের Another way of talking to his superiors. উর্ধ্বতন কর্মকর্তা 

And when he’s visiting his grandmother, he’d better watch সতর্ক থাকা his mouth! মুখ 

Of course, all rules are there to be broken, and having a character talk in precisely অবিকল the same way to everyone, no matter what the circumstances পরিস্থিতি demand, চাহিদা could be the key defining trait বিশেষ লক্ষণ of a character with poor social skills. দরিদ্র সামাজিক দক্ষতা

But this is the exception ব্যতিক্রম that proves প্রমাণ the rule.

6. Give Characters an Agenda সভায় আলোচ্য বিষয়তালিকা

We all enter into conversations knowing বুদ্ধিমান আমরা তাদের কাছ থেকে কি পেতে চান what we want to get out of them. And the way we often achieve অর্জন this is by broaching আরম্ভ করা a subject obliquely. পরোক্ষভাবে।

If we want to borrow money, say, we won’t say it straight out. We’ll start by asking the listener how business is or something.

সরাসরি কিছু না চেয়ে আগে প্রশ্ন মাধ্যমে পরিষ্কার হওয়া সে তা দিতে সক্ষম কি না।

তা সত্ত্বেও Nevertheless, our agenda will be there. And we’ll eventually অবশেষে steer হাল ধরা the conversation to the heart of the matter (or else steer it away from the heart of the matter if our aim is to conceal information). অন্যথায় তথ্য লুকাতে হলে আমাদের উদ্দেশ্যটি হৃদয় থেকে দূরে রাখুন

And it is exactly the same for writing dialogue for fictional characters. Two characters having a conversation in a novel will both want something, often opposing things…

A wife will want to quiz উপহাসকারী her husband about the affair ব্যাপার she suspects সন্দেহভাজন he is having, though she won’t come out and say it because she isn’t certain নির্দিষ্ট এখনো yet. Instead, she’ll ask him if he plans to be home late tonight. যদি তিনি আজ রাতে দেরী হতে পরিকল্পনা।

The husband, desperate মরিয়া to move this conversation onto নিরাপদ safer ground নিরাপদ স্থল, will start শুরু talking about his latest business deal instead. পরিবর্তে

“When characters have different goals and are intent অভিপ্রায় on achieving them, conflict results দ্বন্দ্ব ফলাফল. If the stakes পুরস্কার are high and both sides are একরোখা unyielding, you have the makings of high drama.” আপনাকে উচ্চ নাটকের করতে হবে।

– James N. Frey

7. Avoid এড়ানোর Obvious সুস্পষ্ট Dialogue

Imagine a middle-aged woman sitting at the breakfast table. Her hungover husband walks in, looking like hell. We’ll call them Sarah and David.

Here is how their conversation might হতে পারে go…

“Morning,” said Sarah. “How are you feeling?”

“Absolutely awful.” একেবারে ভয়ানক

“Could you manage some toast?”

“I don’t think I could stomach পেট it,” said David.

Sarah poured স্রোতের ন্যায় নির্গত করান him some coffee instead, with no milk, and asked him how last night had been.

“Good,” said David. “The part of it I can remember.”

Not exactly ঠিক the stuff কাপড় page-turners কুঁদকার are made from থেকে তৈরি. The dialogue fails to ring অবরুদ্ধ করা true because it’s dull and obvious এটা নিস্তেজ এবং সুস্পষ্ট. The characters in this novel say precisely অবিকল what we would expect two people in this situation অবস্থা to say.

But here’s the thing জিনিস: folks ভাবেন don’t usually সাধারণত talk that way in the real world – and in a novel they never do. Instead, they…

Rephrase ভিন্নরূপে বা অন্য কথায় lines to make them fresh তাজা and interesting মজাদার, perhaps সম্ভবত এমনকি মজার even funny.

Say the exact opposite to what they really think.

পাঠক যা মনে মনে ভাবে তার বিপরীতে করুন বা বাস্তবে যা হয় তা থেকে ব্যতিক্রম সংলাপ হওয়া উচিত। 

Try to avoid having the conversation altogether পুরাপুরি by changing the subject. বিষয় পরিবর্তন করে সম্পূর্ণরূপে কথোপকথন থাকার এড়াতে চেষ্টা করুন।

Come out বাহিরে আসোন with an outright সরাসরি lie. মিথ্যা কথা বলার থেকে।

Writing dialogue that has the ring of truth সত্য রিং to it is all about reflecting প্রতিফলিত করে এই বাস্তবতা কে this reality.

And so when Sarah asks her husband how he is feeling, he won’t say “absolutely awful একেবারে ভয়ানক” – instead, he’ll say he “feels great” ভালো লাগলো or “just zip কৃপা pity, thanks!” or he might even ignore her পুরাপুরি altogether. (Authentic dialogue is often just as much about what characters don’t say as what they do খাঁটি সংলাপ হলো   চরিত্র কি করে তা তারা বলবে না চরিত্র যা অনুভব করে তা তার কাজের মাধ্যমে প্রকাশ পাবে। 

Instead পরিবর্তে of asking David if he could manage some toast (boring!) Sarah could say, “I take it you won’t be having extra syrup অতিরিক্ত ঘন আখের রস on your ডিম ভাজা pancakes.” And when she goes on to quiz ব্যঙ্গ him about his night out, তার রাতে আউট David (not wanting to discuss it) could pretend সাজা he hasn’t heard. তিনি শুনেছেন না।

Here, then, is an improved version of the breakfast table scene… দৃশ্য

প্রতিটি দৃশ্য মধ্যে সংলাপের মাধ্যমে দ্বন্দ্ব ও পরিপূর্ণ থাকতে হবে।

“Morning,” said Sarah. “You look good.”

“Not half as না অর্ধেক হিসাবে good as I feel,” said David.

“I take it you won’t be having extra syrup on your pancakes.”

No answer, not even a glance এক পলক দেখা.

উপরে লাইনটি তার বননা সাধারণ একটি লাইন মত হবে কিন্তু তাতে কোন  “  ”  থাকবেন না।

শুধু একটি দৃশ্যে হেড লাইন হবে।

“Coffee it is, then,” she said and poured ঢেলে him a large one. Black. As she watched her husband sip চুমুক it and wince সঙ্কুচিত হত্তয়া, she asked if his watch পর্যবেক্ষণ করা had packed up again. 

উপরে একসাথে সংলাপ ও চরিত্রের অবস্থা লেখার মাধ্যমে দৃষ্টি আকর্ষন করে ফুটিয়ে তোলা হয়েছে।

Still nothing.

“Only I could have sworn শপথ you promised to be home before midnight,” said Sarah. আপনি আমাকে কথা দিয়েছে মধ্যে রাতের আগে বাড়ি ফিরবেন।

David sipped some more coffee, pulled টানা a face. “Is this stuff fresh?” এই স্টাফ তাজা।

8. Use Sub text In Your Dialogue 

সংলাপটি বলার পিছনে কারণ বলেন। মানে হলো চরিত্রে মনে অবস্থা লিখেন পূর্বে।

“Learn to listen when you’re talking to people. Listen to how people say things, to what they really mean, because people frequently ঘনঘন say one thing and mean another.” মানুষ বলে এক কথা এবং বুঝায় অন্য কথা

– Nikki Giovanni

I suppose অনুমান করা this is partly আংশিকভাবে related to the previous আগে point. But it’s worth মূল্য mentioning উল্লেখ separately. আলাদাভাবে।

One way of adding authenticity সত্যতা to a passage আদান-প্রদান of dialogue is to have characters talk about one thing… when they are actually talking about something else entirely. সম্পূর্ণরূপে।

A couple দম্পতি in a failing ব্যর্থতা relationship, for example, might argue about what movie to watch tonight, and not what is really  on their minds…

What they really believe is that they are two different people and it is time to head মাথা their separate ways.

তারা কি সত্যিই বিশ্বাস করে যে তারা দুটি ভিন্ন মানুষ এবং এটি তাদের পৃথক উপায়ে মাথা মাথা সময়।

What they actually fight about is watching the horror movie vs. watching the romantic comedy. তারা আসলে কিসের বিরুদ্ধে লড়াই করছে ভ্রমর চলচ্চিত্র বনাম রোমান্টিক কমেডি দেখছে

9. Get the Punctuation যতিচিহ্নসিন্নিবেশ Right

Last but not least, a look at the nuts বাদাম and bolts খিল লাগান of how to punctuate dialogue properly. Not a very sexy topic – but an important one to get right nonetheless তবু!

The odds মতভেদ are that you’re a keen উত্সাহী reader (most novelists are). So you really don’t need me to tell you the mechanics শিল্পী of how to set out dialogue on the page.

But if you’re unsure অবিশ্বাস্য of the answers to questions like these…

Should you use single or double quotation marks?

What do you do if a speech runs to more than one paragraph?

What is the difference between ending a line of dialogue with a হানাহানি dash versus বনাম an ellipsis উদ্ধৃতি (…)?

… check out my guide to punctuating dialogue correctly.

বিচারকার্য স্থগিত রাখার আদেশ Caveat: Don’t Be Afraid to Break the Rules

Those, then, are the “rules.” But remember, rules are meant to be broken occasionally.

If you stuck নিশ্চল করা to every piece of advice all of the time, you’d end up with dialogue that is almost too good. In other words, there’s a danger of going overboard…

Yes, you want the dialogue to sound original and witty রসিক ও বুদ্ধিমান and clever চালাক, but not for every single sentence that a character speaks. Do that and they’ll simply sound annoying. বিরক্তিকর

Yes, you want your characters to avoid awkward বিশৃঙ্খল subjects (or, when they can’t do that, to lie), but not all of the time.

Yes, you want the dialogue to be there for a reason. But কখনত্ত কখনত্ত occasionally, just occasionally, it’s okay to talk about the weather আবহাওয়া.

How do you know if you have gone too far? The same way that you assess পরিমাপ করা all of your writing: put the scene aside পৃথগ্ভাবে for a day or two and come back to it with fresh eyes.

If you like what you read and it feels both sharp and natural, it’s fine. If it strikes আঘাত হানা you as being a little too clever, it’s crossed অতিক্রান্ত the line to being too good to be true.