Why hello. How are you? Good, good. Glad to hear it.

I’ve only got a minute, so I’ll make this quick.

You may have heard a few writers say this and I think–regardless if it seems to some like a no-brainer, or to others a silly waste of time–it’s true.

To make sure you have authentic dialogue, read it out loud after you write it.

You can fool yourself into thinking it sounds however you want it to sound in your head. It’s a little harder to bullshit your ears.

So go ahead, read your dialogue out loud before you move on to the next bit. (Character voices and accents are optional.) You may even find yourself saying it out loud before you write it down. And you know what? That’s OK too.

Whole lotta love.

-CT