I often explain to writers that the best way to hone their craft is simply to write, write again, and then write some more. We all want to read about how to do it and learn how to get better, but there is no better substitute than opening your laptop or getting the pen and paper out and just cracking on with things.

But aside from expensive workshops or novel writing Substacks (who, me?) there are ways you can improve your craft by stepping away from the desk. You’ll still need to write, but these techniques will help you grow as a writer and spark your creativity. They will also make the story, characters and plot more immersive—helping you to build a stronger novel.

Eavesdrop at a café

Dialogue is one of the most important aspects of any story. But writing authentic, realistic sounding conversations can be difficult. It often feels as though we need to drop information and context into written dialogue, but that isn’t how real people speak. Instead, language is much more subtle.

This exercise is one of my favourites, as I love writing in cafés already (and I’m naturally rather nosey). Grab a notebook, order yourself an expensive coffee and listen to the conversations around you. Pay attention to how people actually speak: The interruptions, the pauses for breath, the colloquialisms, the half-finished sentences.

Write down sentences verbatim so you have a base, and then modify to practice writing dialogue. You will need to change language, because dialogue in novels is not completely realistic. For example, you will need to tone down swearing, ‘uhms’, ‘ahs’ and ‘like’ that real people often use as filler. But the basis of the language is key.

Think about how these real people speak. They don’t use exposition. If two people already know about a certain topic, they don’t start the conversation by re-explaining the context (as it feels like we often need to in a novel—though we shouldn’t). You can learn about whatever the conversation is by listening to more of it. So practice, and use it as a basis to form authentic character dialogue.

You’d be amazed at just how effective this approach is for refining dialogue, even if you have to snip away at the real spoken words.