How To Write An Alex Rider Fanfiction

Dialogue

Okay, so technically, this is just a general writing tip instead of an "Alex Rider" focused writing tip. 

Still, the dialogue is an important part of a story. While some stories lack dialogue, most stories rely on dialogue to convey thoughts and messages that are usually shared between characters. I read a lot of fics where the dialouge is choppy, or worse, cliched. It makes me cringe and turns me off, a little. Otherwise, the writing might be excellent and I might continue reading. Other people might just drop your fic. 

Let's look at some examples of bad dialogue-

"But, but, I don't know how!" She simpered. 

"Well, learn how to," he growled. 

"But sir," she whined. 

Loudly and eloquently, he leaned over. "Learn." He hissed in her ear. 

+

"I do not like pineapples." 

"Yes, you do like pineapples." 

"No, I do not like pineapples." 

+

"And then your sister, Maria, ate the pie that I was using for the bake sale." 

"Oh, the one at Mulberry Mall this Saturday where Bradley Cooper, my husband, may show up?" 

"Yes, that exact one!" 

+

I'm going to go over what's wrong with each piece of dialogue because there are several mistakes. 

Dialogue One-the tags. 

Yes, yes, I remember, in elementary school, our teacher gave us the whole "said is dead" talk and then promptly handed us a worksheet asking us to replace every instance of said with words like "growled" or "simpered."

Forget what your teacher said-it's wrong. 

Okay, dialogue tags are helpful in the sense that they can show how dialogue is being said. Look at the three examples below. Each conveys a different mood, depending on the dialogue tags.

EXAMPLE ONE: 

"But mother!" I exclaimed, tears pricking my eyes. 

"No buts," she replied. "You will do as told." 

EXAMPLE TWO: 

"But mother," I protested. 

"No buts!" She shrieked. "You will do as told!" 

EXAMPLE THREE: 

"But mother," I simpered. 

"No buts!" She joyously proclaimed. "You will do as told." 

In Example One, the narrator is clearly upset. She 'exclaims' her words, showing she's agitated and clearly saying something loudly and strongly. Her mother's reply is more cold-hearted. She 'replies', but the punctuation and dialogue tag shows that either she didn't do it strongly enough to warrant a tag or another action (such as holding a vase-like she's going to throw it at the narrator) would show her mood.