by Liz Johnson, @lizjohnsonbooks

What your character says matters. Not just for the story (although dialogue is important to moving the plot forward). It matters for creating characters that come alive.

Specific dialects can be important for establishing the setting or the background of the character. But let’s go beyond how a character speaks into what they say.

In Rebecca Stead’s Liar & Spy, the twelve-year-old hero’s dad often begins conversations with these three words. “Tell me things.” That simple phrase speaks volumes about the character. Without knowing anything else about him, we know that he’s inviting, curious, open-minded, inquisitive, and caring.

Three words are all it takes to create a picture of the heart of this man, and I love him already.

Spoken words have the power to reveal the depth of a character. So don’t waste them.

In the movie While You Were Sleeping, Peter has been in a coma, and when he wakes up his conversation with his godfather Saul shows us more about his character than anything he might do in that moment.

Saul sits him down and says, “I couldn’t love you any more if you were my own son. But the fact of the matter is, you’re . . . well, you’re a putz.”

For most of us, our immediate reaction to someone saying something like that would be, “Why? What did I do?”

But what does Peter say? He says, “Is there a point to this?”

That one little line shows that Peter is disrespectful, selfish, and self-involved. Not the kind of man we want our heroine Lucy to end up with. A little while later Peter is standing at the front of the hospital’s chapel, preparing to marry Lucy. Peter’s brother Jack, the best man, says, “You suck!”

Peter says, “I suck, or the outfit sucks?”

Jack: “It’s a toss-up.”

Here the concern from Peter is about his appearance. He’s focused on the way he looks, the clothes he wears, and the visual he projects. He’s not really a likeable man. And if we haven’t already, by this point, the viewer is praying Lucy won’t go through with the wedding.

By using dialogue carefully you can give your characters dimension in a similar way.

On the flip-side, silence is sometimes as powerful (or more so) than dialogue. What would make your character choose not to respond? If asked a direct question, would your character ever refuse to speak? In what circumstance? What does that say about him?

In Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor, author Lisa Kleypas introduces us to six-year-old Holly, who hasn’t spoken aloud since her mother’s death. Despite her uncle Mark’s best efforts, Holly refuses to speak. Her choice not to utter even a word tells us a lot about her character. She’s afraid of losing her parent again. She doesn’t easily trust adults or the world in general. And she doesn’t mind the quiet.

But when she slowly begins to communicate—adding items to the shopping list—her uncle counts it as a major victory. And when she speaks again, he full-on celebrates. Her first words are the indication that she feels safe, maybe for the first time since her mother’s passing. None of this has to do with what she said, but just that she said something.

As you’re creating characters with depth and goals, be sure to give them words that reveal their deeper character.