I have a problem. The reason this is in the general discussion forum, is because it involves a sci-fi I wrote. I have a terrible time with dialogue in the 'real world' stories that I attempt, it all sounds fake. For some reason I don't seem to have as much of a problem with it in fantasy (though I wouldn't say it's perfect or easy for me).
So what should I do? Should I join the science fiction forum? The reason I kinda don't want to do that is because I don't really plan on writing any more sci-fi...and if I go there, I might not want to leave. Also my story isn't your standard sci-fi with space travel and aliens and such...would I still find helpful things there?
My temptation is to drop it, like two of my other stories, and move on to fantasy. But I don't want to get into a habit of dropping everything I put my writing-hand to, should I do this in the hopes that I'll be better prepared for it later on?
Are there any good articles on dialogue, or do any of you have any advice for me? Any help would be great!

I'm actually in something of the same place.

Sci-fi dialogue seems forced in comparison with my fantasy dialogue. I've had to rework it many times, but fantasy just flows naturally. Still coming up with a diagnosis...

I agree: don't join the sci-fi forum; I'm staying away partly for that reason. Keep trudging onward with the project, and don't let this stop you from writing the whole story. There will be other, more difficult problems along the way than just dialogue. Slam it down, and you'll be more than halfway there. You can always edit later.

Perhaps the person who's helped me improve my writing the most is Randall Ingermanson. Check out his blog: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/. Even better, he wrote Writing Fiction for Dummies. Applying what I've learned in there has improved every aspect of my fiction. You can get it on Google Books, or Barnes & Noble.

Thank you for the encouragement! I agree, I shouldn't let a few rough spots make me give up the whole thing, there are parts of this story that I think I might have done a decent job on, and I want to get them out where people can see them! Thanks also for the resources, I'll definitely check those out!

Thanks again, and I hope you make your way through the problem as well, God bless.

Would it perhaps be possible to write dialog while thinking in "fantasy mode" and then translate the fantasy-ish bits in to sci-fi??

Oh oh oh! I'm only ok-ish at writing dialogue myself, but I have links to an awesome blog that has awesome tips! Parts one, two, three, and four to a blog series at Go Teen Writers on writing dialogue. Seriously, take the time to check it out! It's awesome! Stephanie Morrill runs an awesome blog for teen writers. Very helpful. Her tips really help me with general dialogue, not just genre-speicific too.

@Azlyn: (Page not found)x4.


Edit: Good point, Gwaynor. I hadn't found the "4 part" thing, but found this:
http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/2011/ ... tural.html

The links are invalid, but Blogger offers a link you can follow to the site.

Well, dialogue is dialogue regardless of what genre it's in. I guess the key would be to work on creating good dialogue in all genres.

Thanks for the links! Even though they don't work, I just hovered over the first one and got the name of the article and did a google search and found it. I've only gotten through the first one, and it's already helped me amazingly, thank you so much!

Sorry about that. I fixed the links now. I'm glad they helped/are helping!

Cool, thanks, going to check out the second one now!

That is not a good reason, Wolf! If we got you over there, we wouldn't let you leave.

Anyhow, how is this going? Were the links helpful?

They were helpful to me. I now love that blog! It has so many awesome writing---and publishing---tips.

*cowers* But, but, this forum takes all my time (well, all that I will let it take)! There's just not enough time! I know you wouldn't let me leave, that's why I hesitate to join! Give me 54000.0042 good reasons to join and I'll reconsider. (ok, you don't have to give that many reasons...I'll still reconsider, maybe... )



Yes, the links were definitely helpful, I even opened a google doc to put some of the main points of discussion into so I could remember different things, like not writing everything your character is thinking, since we rarely say everything we think in real life, etc. Thanks for asking! Now I'm simply struggling to really work on it...but I'm doing it (slowly).



Yes, I like that blog too and will most certainly be visiting it again! I'm glad they helped you too, Aemi, I like to know that other people benefit from my question threads.

...I tried to submit this and it said I had too many smilies...too many smilies?! That's possible?!