You want your fiction to be realistic and engaging. After marking up and making edits on a first draft of fiction, it's time to tweak some less obvious but still important parts of your work.
Editing Dialogue Tags and Phrases that Follow
First off, circle every dialogue tag (he said, she exclaimed) in your story that does not use the word "said." Next, underline every dialogue tag that has more information following the tag (he said, looking toward his wife).
Go back to every dialogue tag that does not use the word "said." Change about 95 percent of them to "said." Many writers think using different words will add variety and interest to their articles, but tags are supposed to be almost invisible.
Using words other than "said" calls attention to the tags as though a character in a play were saying "My name is Henry" before each of his lines. If you think you need another word to show the tone of the sentence, consider rewriting the dialogue to make it more apparent.
Next, look at every dialogue tag with a phrase after it. Chances are you either have tons of them or none at all. Balance is the key. It can be good to add visual cues to your tags so readers not only hear the voices but also see the character's action. But when every tag has a phrase, it too can be distracting. This is a spot where you'll either be going back and adding or cutting, depending on your writing style.
Cutting Meaningless Dialogue and Developing Realistic Voices
After altering the dialogue tags, it's time to look at the actual dialogue itself. You want your characters not only to sound realistic, but also to have meaning behind their words. In real life a conversation might ping- pong back and forth about nothing, but nobody wants to read that.
You can skip the cutsie hellos and goodbyes too. Jump straight into the heart of the matter, and don't be afraid to let your characters hold two different conversations at once. Dialogue is a great place for revealing characters and creating tension between characters.
Also, use far more contractions when writing dialogue, but don't go too far when trying to sound realistic. Using words like "gonna" and "haveta" aren't necessary because they generally call more attention and sound the same in a readers mind as "going to" and "have to."
Choosing a Point of View and Sticking to It
Finally, read through your narration. Think about how the story would best be told, and don't be afraid to try new things with point of view, even if you ultimately discard the new ones. Perhaps your story would be best told through the first person point of view of a not-so-main character to create a unique view. Or even through second person point of view to make the reader a real part of the story. Whatever you choose, be consistent. Jumping from different points of view is not only distracting but also confusing to readers.
Remember that the second edit of a draft will really help the overall tone and readability of your fiction. It is important to cut out anything that will distract a reader from the story itself. You will likely be editing your draft more than this, so relax if you still aren't satisfied with the second edit.
Megan B. Wyatt - Megan B. Wyatt has a BA in English, edits fiction manuscripts and currently works as an entertainment reporter in Lafayette, Louisiana.
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