Writing Believable Dialogue

Believe it or not, people don't speak as they ought to. Perfect grammar does not apply to real-world conversations.

Some characters will use proper grammar, but, unless you're writing about a royal family in the 1800s, these characters should be few and far  between, because, in real life, people who use perfect grammar are few and far between. A character's grammar and tone must be consistent with his background: the time period and place he live(d) in, his family, his education, and his personality. You should also consider who the character is speaking to. A character will speak differently to his mother than to his girlfriend.

For example, your main character, Terrence, is a rich kid who hates his parents and secretly leads the most notorious gang in town. Terrence isn't going to say to his gang, "would you lively fellows like to incapacitate the mayor this fine evening?" He's going to say, "Hey, how's  bout we go beat up mayor Bradford tonight?"

Now Terrence is back at home. He's going to have to lie about where he's been. This should change the way he speaks as well. So he won't say to his mother, "Oh, I was just out playing ball with some guys from school." The fact that he is lying will put a fearful edge into his voice. He might say, "Oh, I was, ah, playing football. With some guys from school. You know."

Finally, Terrence has got himself a girlfriend. He wants to impress her, so he lays on the charm. He should speak to her like this: "Hey, baby. You look nice tonight. Your dress makes your eyes look like..."

Okay, so I have no idea how guys talk to girls when they want to impress them. The idea of this insanely long-winded post is that your character's dialogue should reflect their personality and situation. Don't have them all speak the way your English teacher wants you to.

Happy writing!