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You can tell so much about a character by what they say — and how they say it.

Dialogue isn’t just about passing information between characters. It’s how we hear their personality, feel their emotions, and sense the tension simmering beneath the surface.

Think about how instantly recognizable some character voices are.

Elizabeth Bennet. Tyrion Lannister. Jay Gatsby.

You could hand me a random line from each of them, and I’d know exactly who said it because their dialogue is alive, old sport*.*

So today, let’s talk about how to give your characters their own voice, so every line they speak sounds like them and no one else.

Hi, I’m C. Sloan Lewis, your virtual writing coach, and my goal is to help you not just improve your writing, but to support you as a writer. Welcome to my channel!

Character-Specific Voice

Every character should have a distinct way of speaking. That voice is shaped by their background, education, culture, and emotional world.

Ask yourself:

• What kinds of words would they use naturally?
• Do they speak in long, winding sentences or short, clipped phrases?
• Do they use slang, formal speech, or sarcasm as armor?

A soldier and a scholar won’t describe the same sunset the same way. The soldier might say, “Looks like the sky’s bleeding out.” The scholar might say, “It’s the kind of red that makes poets rethink metaphors.”

Both are completely different, but both reflect who they are.

You can even hear this distinction in film and TV. Compare how Geralt from The Witcher speaks — short, gruff, economical — versus someone like Sherlock Holmes, whose language is precise and almost performative. Both are intelligent men, but their word choice and rhythm reveal how they see the world.

That’s what makes dialogue powerful — it’s not just what’s said, but how it’s filtered through the character’s identity.

Subtext & Purpose

It’s important to understand that dialogue shouldn’t just move the plot forward. It should move the relationship between characters forward, too.

The best lines work on two levels: what’s said and what’s meant. When a character says, “I’m fine,” the reader should know they’re anything but. That tension between surface and subtext gives your story heartbeat.

When it comes to making the most of dialogue, every exchange should reveal something — about who these people are, what they want, or what they’re afraid to admit.

A great example of this is Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” in which every single line of dialogue is dripping with subtext. On its surface, it seems like a boring, average conversation, but underneath, there is so much pain and conflict. If you haven’t read it, I’ve linked it below. It’s a short read, and I highly recommend.

Natural Flow

Now, let’s talk realism.

Realistic dialogue doesn’t mean exactly like real life — because real-life conversations are full of “ums,” “likes,” and tangents about breakfast.

Instead, aim for the illusion of real speech. Use contractions: “I’ll” instead of “I will.” Let characters interrupt or trail off when emotions spike. And don’t overexplain — trust your reader to fill in the blanks.

Here’s the rule of thumb: if you can picture an actor reading it naturally, you’re probably close. In fact, the biggest pro tip I have for writing realistic dialogue is to read it out loud to hear how it sounds. If you stumble, so will your reader.

Common Dialogue Mistakes

But let’s talk about what not to do when writing dialogue.

1. Every character sounds the same. If you can swap dialogue between two characters and nothing changes, their voices aren’t distinct enough. A good test for this is to remove all the dialogue tags in a conversation and see if you, as the writer, can even remember who is saying what.
2. Info dumps in disguise. If a character is saying something purely for the reader’s benefit — like, “As you know, Captain, we’ve been at war for five years” — it’ll sound unnatural. Unless it’s some weird character trait, don’t ever have a character tell another character what they already know.
3. Overwriting emotion. You don’t need every sigh, every gasp, every tear spelled out. Often, silence says more. And we, as humans, typically know certain words and phrases hold specific emotional connotations.

Remember: great dialogue trusts your reader to infer.

Quick Exercise / Takeaway

Before we end this, I want you to try this:

Take a plain line like, “I don’t think this is a good idea,” and rewrite it as your character would say it.

For example:

• A nervous academic might whisper, “Statistically speaking… this ends badly.”
• A sarcastic best friend might say, “Yeah, because jumping into cursed caves has never gone wrong before.”
• A confident leader might say, “We’ll make it work. We always do.”

One line. Three personalities. That’s the power of voice.

So, when you’re revising your dialogue, listen for your characters’ unique rhythms and truths. If every line could only belong to one person, you’re doing it right.

But that’s all from be today. You’ve got some writing to do, so go give your characters their distinct voice. Follow me for more videos about the craft of writing. Next week, we will be diving into backstory.

I’ll see you in the next video. Ta-ta!