How to Write Dialogue

Dialogue is important in a story for multiple reasons. It brings a plot to life, develops characters, and makes a story more interesting. Without it, a story would be bland. It would lack the personality of the characters, their thoughts, and actions that help drive the plot.

Whether you are a seasoned writer or just beginning, creating dialogue can be a daunting task. If you are just starting out, the following are some basic guidelines for the correct use of dialogue. From there, I will share seven tips for writing and formatting dialogue that writers of all levels of experience can benefit from to help their stories stand out and compel their readers to keep reading.

BASIC GUIDELINES FOR BEGINNERS

·         Start a new paragraph with each new speaker. Begin a new paragraph whenever a new character starts to speak, which makes it easier for the reader to follow the conversation. 

·         Use quotation marks. Everything that is voiced by the character should be placed inside quotation marks. Periods and commas should always come before the final quotation marks. If the speech is more than one paragraph long, put the final quotation marks only after that character's speech ends.

·         Use single quotes when a character quotes someone else. For a quote within a quote, use single quotation marks. (e.g., "I was shocked when he told me, ‘Get out’”)

·         Dialogue tags. These are optional, but they are good to indicate which character is speaking and how they are speaking. (e.g., he said, she exclaimed) Other examples of tags to be used instead of 'said': (Please note they should be used sparingly so they don’t lose their effectiveness)

replied, asked, answered, added, stated, remarked, commented, cried, shouted, yelled, whispered, muttered, mumbled, sighed, snapped, hissed, gasped, groaned, barked, snarled, stammered, stuttered, sobbed.

·         Follow the correct format. Three ways to write a quote are without a tag, with a tag before the quote, and with a tag at the end of the quote (e.g., "I'm in love with you!" or

Joe said, “I’m in love with you!” or “I’m in love with you,” Joe said.

TIPS FOR USING DIALOGUE TO GRAB AND HOLD THE READER’S INTEREST.

Use dialogue to reveal character traits. You want your characters to stand out from one another, to show who they are and how they act differently from others. When choosing how your character should speak, consider their education, personality, interests, accents, and whether they are long-winded or terse.

Write natural dialogue. You are allowed to break grammatical rules by writing how people talk, such as using contractions, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences.

Minimize Dialogue Tags.

If they are not needed, do not use them, as they will only distract the reader. This is the case when only two characters are speaking. The reader will be able to understand who is speaking as long as you start a new paragraph for each new speaker. When you do need to use a dialogue tag, simply use “he said” or “she said” to keep the conversation flowing.

Incorporate action with speech.

You should show what each character is doing throughout the conversation to give an idea of how they are feeling or motivated. Think of body language that can be conveyed or physical action that can take place while they are talking. (drumming fingers on the table, folding arms, sneering lips) can give clues to how the character is internalizing and can add much tension to the plot.

 Write conversations that provide hints.

The best dialogue is often what is not said. People rarely say what they really mean. You can have your characters say one thing, but it actually means something else. For instance, you may have a wife who hates her husband's cigar smoking in the house, saying to her husband, "Can you please shut the window."  She meant to say, "I cannot stand your cigar smoke!"

Use dialogue to show, not tell.

When you describe a scenario, the dialogue will have a more emotional impact, bringing out the character's emotions by how they act or react to a situation. I can think of two examples: a scene in The Karate Kid and one in Terms of Endearment. In The Karate Kid, there is a scene between Daniel and his mother in which Daniel comes to the kitchen in the morning with dark glasses. When his mother asks him to remove them so she can see his "baby browns," Daniel acts evasive because he doesn't want her to see he has a black eye from getting beaten up. His dodging her creates a lot more compelling tension than if he had appeared without sunglasses and told her he was beaten up because he didn’t know how to defend myself. In Terms of Endearment, the mother, Aurora, is asking the nurse to give her dying daughter a shot to relieve her pain. After hearing an excuse from the nurse as to why she can’t administer it, it is so much more effective that Aurora is pacing back and forth, and her face becomes more panic-stricken by the second as she continues to plead despite the nurse’s objections. Aurora's voice finally escalated to a scream, "Give her the shot!" Despite her hardened exterior, we see how much love she has for her daughter. Through these actions, we see the emotional impact more readily than if she had said outright, “You need to give my daughter the shot because I love her so much and don’t want her to be in pain.”

Avoid Wordy Dialogue

Keep conversations as concise as possible. Edit out any unnecessary chatter, such as small talk that doesn't move the story forward. In addition, don't write dialogue with too many trigger phrases that trigger the next line of dialogue, such as:

“Can you tell me more?”

or

“Can you explain what you mean?”

You can get your point across with less wording that sounds more natural and less contrived or forced. 

Now you know how to write dialogue that enhances the narrative and adds realism and life to your characters to drive the plot. Start with the basic dialogue rules for format, tags, and placement. As you become better versed, try implementing the more advanced tips and ask for critique when you are done.