I think the hardest thing to write is fictional conversation. I’m reading (listening to) a book right now that I won’t name. It’s a science fiction and it’s good but not great. The biggest issue is, this writer is a nerdy guy who thinks everyone talks like him and has the same sense of humour… The almost sarcasm that so trite that it needs to be ‘almost’ sarcasm because it just doesn’t have enough bite. It’s predictable, and bland, and every character delivers it in the same way.
It’s really hard to pull off good dialogue in text, and especially good humorous banter. There are certain TV shows that I think have done this well. ‘Suits’ is one of those shows. The two main characters go at each other and they take turns getting the better of each other. The book I’m reading now is so cliché… insert eye-roll here, insert hands on hips there, add a little finger wave, and even “Na-nuh-na-nuh-na-na” (and this last phrase was written by a previous version of the main character in a message to his future Android self). Seriously, the dialogue couldn’t get any more cliché!
That said, I recognize how tough this is. It’s hard to imagine being funny in a way that isn’t your own. I don’t think I’d be able to pull that off. Creating multiple characters that have depth would not be easy. And while it’s easy to read a book and know when characters and dialogue are written well versus poorly, I recognize how hard it is as a writer to be good at this.
I’ll finish the first book in the series, but I’m not sure I’ll make it to book two. Not because the story isn’t good enough, but because the dialogue is a bit too much for me to want to continue listening.
