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How to Write Dialogue: Formatting, Examples, & Tips
Posted on Mar 17, 2023
by Bella Rose Pope
Learning how to write dialogue can be tough for some without the right guidance.
This is why we started Fundamentals of Fiction & Story in the first place. We wanted to give writers the skills and knowledge they needed to take an idea and turn it into a bestselling novel (and even potentially a full-time career).
But unless you plan on writing a textbook, you must learn how to properly create dialogue—and use it correctly because yes, there is a wrong way to present dialogue (and we’ll get into that later).
Without effective dialogue, even the best plot or book ideas will fall flat. Your efforts for successfully publishing a book that reads well will be ineffective. Writing well is the cornerstone of marketing your book . Ultimately, your reader’s reviews of your book will hold weight.
Because if the dialogue is bad… Readers will put the book down (because the dialogue is often what readers pay the most attention to).
But if you’re not sure how to write dialogue in a way that is not only natural but also works as a catalyst within your book, the process of writing a book can be even more daunting than it already is.
6-LESSON Fiction & Memoir Writing Handbook including <
How To Write Dialogue Activity Guide [Printable]
Learn how to write better dialogue. Dialogue writing examples, dialogue writing format guide, dialogue writing activity, PLUS 100 words to replace “said”. Start writing better dialogue NOW!
You can’t write a book without dialogue—and you can’t write a good book without good dialogue (even if you’re writing a nonfiction book !).
In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how to write dialogue, including dialogue format, dialogue punctuation, examples of dialogue with grammar, and common dialogue mistakes to avoid.
We’ll also cover, in detail, how to write realistic dialogue.
Here’s what to know about writing dialogue:
- Dialogue Rules
- Format & Punctuation
- Tips for Dialogue
- Say the dialogue out loud
- Cut small talk when writing dialogue
- Keep your dialogue brief and impactful
- Give each character a unique voice
- Add world-appropriate slang
- Be consistent with the characters’ voices
- Remember who they’re speaking to
- Avoid long dialogue paragraphs
- Cut out greetings
- Show who your character is
- Mistakes to avoid
*click to jump to that section
Ready to learn what makes great dialogue? Let’s get started.
Basic Dialogue Rules All Writers Should Follow
Before we get into the actual formatting and styles of writing dialogue (along with some tips for making sure it’s good dialogue), let’s go over some of the common and universal rules for writing dialogue in any book genre .
Here are the main rules for writing dialogue:
- Each speaker gets a new paragraph . Every time someone speaks, you show this by creating a new paragraph. Yes, even if your characters are only saying one word, they get new paragraphs.
- Each paragraph is indented . The only exception for this is if it’s the start of a chapter or after a scene break, where the first line is never indented, including with dialogue.
- Punctuation for what’s said goes inside the quotation marks . Any time the punctuation is a part of the person speaking, they go inside the quotes so the reader knows how the dialogue is said.
- Long speeches with several paragraphs don’t have end quotations. You’ll see more on this below, but overall, if one character is speaking for so long they have separate paragraphs, the quotation marks on the end are removed, but you start the next paragraph with them.
- Use single quotes if the person speaking is quoting someone else . If you have a character who says, “Man, don’t you love it when girls say, ‘I’m fine’?”, the single quotes indicate what someone else says.
- Skip the small talk and focus on important information only. Unless that small talk is relevant for character development, skip it and get to the point, this isn’t real life and will actually feel more fake if you have too much.
Dialogue Punctuation and Format
When it comes to book formatting , dialogue is one of the most difficult to get right.
It’s not that it’s especially complicated, but there are many different types of dialogue and many different types of punctuation (including when to use a comma, quotes, and even em dashes) needed in order to properly format it.
Therefore, it’s easy to get confused or forget which format you should use for which line of dialogue.
The basics for the format of dialogue is that each time a new person speaks, it’s a new paragraph with quotes around what they said.
In order to fully understand how to format dialogue, you have to know how to punctuate it properly, depending on the form you’re using.
The one thing most writers get wrong when they’re first starting out is proper dialogue format.
Sure, you could leave that up to the editor , but the more work for your editor, the more expensive they’ll be.
Plus, it’s important that, as serious writers and future authors, you know how to punctuate dialogue no matter what.
That also means editors will be able to focus on more complex edits instead of just punctuation.
Dialogue punctuation is complex and takes some time to learn, understand, and master.
While we go into more depth with dialogue in our Fundamentals of Fiction program, here are some dialogue examples of each and how you would punctuate them.
Dialogue Example 1: Single Line
Single lines of dialogue are among the easiest to write and remember. The punctuation for this dialogue is simple:
The quotations go on the outside of both the words and end-of-dialogue punctuation (in this case a period, but it’s the same for a comma, question mark, or exclamation point).
Example: “You really shouldn’t have done that.”
No matter what other punctuation you have, whether it’s a question mark or exclamation point, it will go on the inside of the quotations.
Dialogue Example 2: Single line with a dialogue tag
In this case, “tag” means dialogue tag.
A dialogue tag is anything that indicates which character spoke and describes how they spoke.
Here are some common examples of dialogue tags:
- She whispered
- They bellowed
- He hollered
- They sniped
- They responded
In the example below, you can see that the dialogue tag goes on the outside of the quotations, while the comma goes on the inside .
Example: “You really shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered.
This is the case with any dialogue tags that are used. You can also see how this dialogue formatting works with different types of sentences and different dialogue tags.
Note that the tag, when following a comma within the quotation marks, is lowercase, as it’s a part of the overall sentence.
Dialogue Example 3: Questions
Because a question mark seems like the end of a sentence, it’s easy for most writers to get the format for questions when writing dialogue wrong.
But it’s actually pretty easy. Essentially, a question mark will be treated as a comma or period. What changes the formatting most is what follows the dialogue.
Example: “Are you sure we have to leave that early?” she wondered aloud.
Here are some examples of writing questions in dialogue:
- “Will you ever stop being a child?” she asked.
- “What about that man over there?” he whispered, pointing in a old gentleman’s direction. “Doesn’t he look odd too?”
- “What’s the big deal, anyway?” she huffed.
In this example above, you can see that if there is a dialogue tag , the question mark will act as a comma and you will then lowercase the first word in the dialogue tag (unless it’s a person’s name).
However, if there is simply an action after the question, the question mark acts as a period and you will then capitalize the first word in the next sentence.
Dialogue Example 4: Dialogue Tag, then single line
When it comes to formatting dialogue tags before your character speaks, it’s essentially the same as when they come after, except backward.
As you can see in the example above, the dialogue tag is in front, followed by a comma outside of the quotations. Then the quotations appear when the sentence starts with that sentence’s punctuation inside the quotations at the end.
Example: He finally said, “Fine. Let’s just go for it.”
Here are a few more examples of this type of dialogue, as it’s very common:
- They hung their head and mumbled, “It’s fine if you don’t want me to come.”
- She huffed, “Well that’s just great , isn’t it?”
- He drew in a long breath and spoke, “I’m just not sure what to do anymore.”
Dialogue Example 5: Body language description
There are a couple of different types of body language dialogue formats to learn.
Variation 1:
This is when the actions your character is taking come between lines of dialogue but after a sentence is complete. In real life, this would indicate someone pausing to complete the action.
Example: “I don’t see what the big deal is.” She tossed a braid over her shoulder. “It’s not like she cared anyway.”
Here’s what this dialogue example looks like:
- “Are you sure we should go this weekend?” She shoved the curtain aside, sneering at the greying clouds. “It could be a mess out there.”
- “What’s the big deal, anyway?” He yanked the sheet from the envelope. “It’s not like you cared for her all that much.”
- “Let’s go to the moon!” She twirled, her pale pink dress lifting around her. “We could make it, I know we could.”
Below is a detailed explanation of how you would format this type of dialogue:
Variation 2 :
With this dialogue formatting, it’s different because this is when a character does something while they are speaking, instead of pausing like in variation 1. The action happens in the middle of a sentence and has to be formatted as such.
Example: “I don’t see what”—she tossed a braid over her shoulder—”the big deal is.”
Here are some dialogue examples of this formatting:
- “It’s really just”—he rubbed his hand over his stubble—”the most frustrating thing I can think of.”
- “If you’re not going to”—she grabbed his face—”at least listen to me, I don’t see the point in even trying.”
You can see the proper formatting for this dialogue below:
You would use this to help build a clearer image and communicate the scene to match how it is in your head.
This is also the case when characters have inner thoughts within their dialogue, as seen in the second example in variation 2.
Dialogue Example 6: Single line getting cut off
Something that happens in real life (sometimes an irritatingly large amount) is getting cut off or interrupted when you’re speaking.
This typically happens when someone either doesn’t care what you’re talking about or when two people are in an argument and end up speaking over one another.
Example: “Are you crazy—” “Do not call me crazy.”
You can see in this example that you place an Em Dash (—) right at the end of the sentence, followed by the quotation marks.
You’ll treat this format of dialogue much like example 1, a single line of dialogue.
Dialogue Example 7: Dialogue tag in the middle of a line
Another common type of dialogue. This is essentially a mix of a single line with a dialogue tag.
Example: “You really shouldn’t have done that,” she murmured. “That will get you in a lot of trouble.”
Mostly, you will use this type in order to indicate who is talking if there are more than two and in order to keep the focus on the dialogue itself and not the character’s actions.
Dialogue Example 8: Paragraphs of dialogue
There are certain situations that call for a single character to speak for a long time. However, grammatically, not all of what they say will belong in the same paragraph.
Example: single speaker “It’s not that I don’t think you should have done that. Not exactly. “Actually, I think it might be a great thing for you to have done. I’m just worried about what will happen next and how that will impact everyone else.”
For writing dialogue paragraphs, you want to leave the quotations off the end of the paragraph and begin the next paragraph with them in order to indicate that the same person is just telling a long story .
[ NOTE: These dialogue rules apply to American English. Other parts of the world may use different dialogue formatting, including single quotations and more. ]
How to Create Dialogue That’s Realistic and Effective
Great dialogue is hard to get right. For something we do and hear every day, knowing what to make your characters say in order to move the plot forward and increase intrigue isn’t easy.
But that’s why we’ve broken it down into easy steps for writing dialogue for you.
Here are some of the best tips for writing dialogue that feels real but is also effective for moving your story forward.
#1 – Say it out loud first
One of the easiest and best ways to see if your dialogue sounds realistic is to read it out loud, especially if you are writing a genre that would benefit from such an approach.
Hearing what someone is supposed to say (since your readers will imagine them speaking out loud) will allow you to determine if it sounds real or fake.
One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes your dialogue will sound a little “cheesy” to you. Since written dialogue is a little different and more purposeful than what we hear in our day-to-day lives, you might think it sounds a little dramatic—and that’s okay. It just can’t be unrealistic.
But that’s okay! Dialogue should have more “weight” than what you say in real life.
Even so, it has to sound like something someone would actually say. If you feel yourself cringing a little or you can’t imagine a real person saying it, you might have to do some editing.
Ask these questions when reading your dialogue out loud to yourself:
- Would someone actually say this in real life?
- Does it move the plot forward or develop a character?
- Is it easy to say or do you fumble over the sentence?
- Do you pause in certain areas where you haven’t written commas? (Note: if this happens, put in some commas so the readers interpret it how you hear it!)
Extra dialogue tip: Record yourself reading your dialogue in what you imagine your characters to sound like and play it back to yourself. This can help you pinpoint which words or phrases sound off.
#2 – Get rid of the small talk
Your readers don’t care about what your characters had for dinner last night—unless that dinner had been poisoned and is now seeping into their bloodstream, impacting their immediate danger.
Talking about the weather or your character’s pet or anything trivial will read as boring and unnecessary.
This also slows down your novel’s pacing.
One exception may be if your characters are stalling in order to avoid talking about something that is major and impactful to the plot. When it’s used as a literary device to set the mood or tone of a scene, it’s acceptable.
#3 – Keep it brief and impactful
Dialogue in books is not meant to read in the way we actually speak—not full conversations, at least. If it did, each book would be exceptionally longer, due in part to the fact that humans often say a lot of pointless things.
When it comes to writing dialogue in your book, you have to keep it briefer and more poignant than in real life.
A great way to get to the meat of the dialogue is to cut out everything that doesn’t immediately impact the scene.
A quick, “Hey, how’s it going?” isn’t necessary unless the other character’s state is vital to the scene. This, however, doesn’t include if your character is meeting someone for the first time, obviously. Again, focus on writing the scene in a way that informs the dialogue.
Essentially, anything that does not further develop your character, the plot, or any subplots should be cut.
#4 – Give each character a unique way of speaking
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but not everyone speaks in the same way. We all have a specific “flow” to our sentences and we all have favorite words we prefer to use.
This is actually a big part of character development in your novel.
For example, maybe people will use “perhaps” or “maybe” but not often both in equal amounts. This is a very small detail, but it does a long way in developing the characters and giving them their own voice.
Another way you can do this is with sentence structure.
Does your character speak in short, chopped sentences? Or do they eloquently describe their point of view in long-winded, crafted sentences that ebb and flow with their tone of voice?
Do they use a lot of analogies and metaphors when explaining things or is this character extremely literal and gets right to the point?
This difference is very important. Your readers should be able to tell the difference between characters based on their sentences and diction . It ultimately comes down to your chops as an author when it comes to writing styles and your ability to use it to bring your characters alive.
A reasonable exception to this would be pairs or groups of close people. Meaning, if your main character’s best friend speaks similarly to them, that’s okay. As humans, we subconsciously pick up on the speech patterns of those closest to us – those we speak to regularly (like when we use similar slang in our friend group that others may not use).
#5 – Add world-appropriate slang
A major part of the dialogue that often gets overlooked is the slang.
Even in our own world, new slang is developed every day and sometimes, the words might seem crazy or even confusing.
Take the term “fleek” for example. This word looks like it would be a herd of some sort of animal.
But in fact, it’s a word being “on point” or “sharp.”
The point is, creating unique slang for your world can add to the dialogue and tell you more about the characters who use it, not to mention build your world effortlessly.
Here’s an example of slang from Jenna Moreci’s, EVE: The Awakening . This book is set in the near future and so Moreci had to create slang fitting for the time:
#6 – Be consistent with characters’ voices
It wouldn’t make sense for your character to flop the way they speak unless they’re talking to someone specific (which we cover in the next tip).
The main idea is that if one character speaks in choppy sentences, it should remain that way unless the moment changes to something that would require something more elegant.
At the same time, you want to make sure your characters are using consistent language.
Like in the tips in #4, if they use a specific word more frequently, make sure they use that word whenever they should in order to maintain a consistent voice.
#7 – Think about who they’re speaking to
You don’t speak in the same way around every single person.
Your voice and style change depending on who you’re chatting with. For example, you’re going to talk differently to your mom than you would to your best friend.
While it’s important to be consistent with your character’s style and voice, it’s also crucial to think about the who when it comes to their dialogue and adjust accordingly.
#8 – Keep long speech paragraphs to a minimum
Rarely do people speak for a very long time uninterrupted. It might be important for your character to say something lengthy but remember to at least split it up with body language and other means of giving your reader a break.
These can feel very long-winded and end up slowing down the pacing of your book, which can be great if you use them for this purpose.
One way to break up long paragraphs if one person is speaking for a while (like when they’re telling a story of sorts) is to add in the other characters’ body language reactions.
But if you’re trying to move your plot along at a steady rate, avoid long speech paragraphs.
#9 – Cut the hellos and goodbyes
Greetings are absolutely necessary in real life. In your book? Not so much.
Your readers know enough to assume there was a greeting of some sort. In addition, these aren’t usually pivotal parts of your book and therefore, aren’t necessary to have.
An exchange like this will bore your readers to death:
“Hey, Charlie!” “What’s up, dude?” “Not much, how are you doing?” “I’m fine, you know. Same old, same old.” “Ah, I feel ya. Anything new in your world?” “Not really, to tell you the truth.”
Cutting these will help speed up your pacing as well as keep the dialogue to the must-speak information.
#10 – Show who your character is
One of the best methods of character development is dialogue.
Think about it: how do we learn about new people when we meet them? Through what they say.
You could meet someone entirely new and based on the exchange, you actually learn a lot about who they are and how they operate in life.
You discover if they’re shy, bold, blunt, or kind-hearted and soft-spoken.
Your dialogue should do the very same for your characters.
Here’s an example of what this would look like:
She let stray strands fall in front of her face as she looked down and scuffed something sticky on the sidewalk. “ Do you really think so ?” Her voice was soft, her eyes still fixed on the ground instead of the new guy standing in front of her.
This example shows you what the character looks like in a specific situation and therefore, we gather facts about what she’s like.
For one, she’s shy—as much is seen by her avoiding eye contact even as she speaks.
Common Dialogue Mistakes to Avoid
We all make mistakes. But if you want to become a published author (or just write a great book), you can’t make these major ones within your book’s dialogue.
#1 – Using the person’s name repeatedly
It’s tempting to make your characters call each other’s names often. However, this isn’t how we talk in real life.
Unless we’re trying to get their attention or are emphasizing (or warning!) a point, we don’t say their name.
How not to write dialogue:
“Rebecca, I really needed you and you weren’t there.”
“I’m sorry, Ashley. I was just busy with school and work.”
“Okay, but that’s not a good excuse Rebecca.”
“You’re right, Ashley. It’s not.”
#2 – Info-dumping through dialogue
It’s perfectly okay to have some characters explain certain elements your readers won’t understand. However, it gets very boring and unrealistic when that’s all they do.
Your world should unfold gradually to the reader through showing and not telling.
In the case of dialogue, this worldbuilding is all “tell” and no show. And this works sometimes, especially if a character is telling another character about something they don’t yet know.
Just keep this to a minimum and use other methods of worldbuilding to show your readers the world you’ve created.
#3 – Avoid repetitive dialogue tags
There’s nothing quite as annoying as reading dialogue tags over and over…and over again.
It’s a surefire way to bore your readers and make them want to set the book down with no plans to pick it back up in the immediate future.
How not to write dialogue with tags:
“I really needed you and you weren’t there,” Ashley said.
“I’m sorry. I was just busy with school and work,” Rebecca replied.
“Okay, but that’s not a good excuse,” she huffed.
“You’re right. It’s not,” Rebecca whispered.
#4 – Avoid repetitive dialogue styles
This means that if you have the same dialogue format for a few lines, you need to change it up because otherwise, it will be very boring to your readers.
You can see in the point above, using only dialogue tags at the end is very boring. The same applies for repeated other types as well.
For example, read through each of these and you can get a feel for the monotony you want to avoid within the repeated formats.
Bad Dialogue Example 1: Dialogue tags in the front
He spoke. “You’re one of the oddest people I know.”
She replied, “Is that necessarily a bad thing?”
He smiled. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing at all.”
She laughed. “Good. ”
Bad Dialogue Example 2: Action within the dialogue
“I’m just not sure”—she grabbed a handful of seeds— “that you’re taking this seriously.”
“What?” He weaved between the overgrown plants, pushing them aside. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you—” she plunged her finger into the pot with soil— “just ignore the important stuff unless it’s important to you only.”
“That’s ridiculous.” He craned his neck around a calla lily. “That’s not true.”
Bad Dialogue Example 3: Tags in the middle
“I really wish you would just talk to me,” Ada said. “This silent treatment isn’t helping anyone.”
“It’s helping me,” he said. “Or does that not matter to you?”
“Of course it matters to me,” she replied. “It’s just not solving the problem.”
“I don’t think anything can solve this problem,” he murmured. “It’s permanent.”
How to fix this: whenever you’re writing dialogue, switch the type of formatting you use in order to make it look and sound better. The more enjoyable it is to read, the more readers will become invested.
One exception is when you have two characters going back and forth very quickly. In this case, a few lines of dialogue only, with no tags or anything, is acceptable.
Fixing Dialogue Example: Variation is Key
“I’m just not sure”—she grabbed a handful of seeds— “that you’re taking this seriously.”
He weaved between the overgrown plants, pushing them aside.“Why would you think that?”
“Because…you just ignore the important stuff unless it’s important to you only.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“No.” She plunged her finger into the pot with soil, dropping in a few seeds. “It’s true.”
Much like with anything that has rules, there are always exceptions.
The most important part of these rules is knowing them .
Once you know the rules and why they’re there, you can break with purpose – instead of doing so on accident.
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Happy writing!
Bella Rose Pope
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Novel writing ,
Writing dialogue in fiction: 7 easy steps.
By Harry Bingham
Speech gives life to stories. It breaks up long pages of action and description, it gives us an insight into a character, and it moves the action along. But how do you write effective dialogue that will add depth to your story and not take the reader away from the action?
In this article I will be guiding you through seven simple steps for keeping your fictional chat fresh, relevant and tight. As well as discussing dialogue tags and showing you dialogue examples.
Time to talk…
7 Easy Steps For Compelling Dialogue
Getting speech right is an art but, fortunately, there are a few easy rules to follow. Those rules will make writing dialogue easy – turning it from something static, heavy and un-lifelike into something that shines off the page.
Better still, dialogue should be fun to write, so don’t worry if we talk about ‘rules’. We’re not here to kill the fun. We’re here to increase it. So let’s look at some of these rules along with dialogue examples.
“Ready?” she asked.
“You bet. Let’s dive right in.”
How To Write Dialogue In 7 Simple Steps:
- Keep it tight and avoid unnecessary words
- Hitting beats and driving momentum
- Keep it oblique, where characters never quite answer each other directly
- Reveal character dynamics and emotion
- Keep your dialogue tags simple
- Get the punctuation right
- Be careful with accents
Dialogue Rule 1: Keep It Tight
One of the biggest rules when writing with dialogue is: no spare parts. No unnecessary words. Nothing to excess.
That’s true in all writing, of course, but it has a particular acuteness (I don’t know why) when it comes to dialogue.
Dialogue Helps The Character And The Reader
Everything your character says has to have a meaning. It should either help paint a more vivid picture of the person talking (or the one they are talking to or about), or inform the other character (or the reader) of something important, or it should move the plot forward.
If it does none of those things then cut it out! Here’s an example of excess chat:
“Good morning, Henry!”
“Good morning, Diana.”
“How are you?” she asked.
“I’m well. How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you.” She looked up at the blue sky. “Lovely weather we’re having.”
Are you asleep yet? You should be. It’s boring, right?
Sometimes you don’t need two pages of dialogue. Sometimes a simple exchange can be part of the narrative. If you want your readers to know an interaction like this has taken place, then simply say – Henry passed Diana in the street and they exchanged pleasantries.
If you want the reader to know that Henry finds Diana insufferably then you can easily sum that up by writing – Henry passed Diana in the street and they exchanged pleasantries. As always she looked up at the sky before commenting on the weather, as if every day that week hadn’t been gloriously sunny. It took ten minutes to get away, by which time his cheeks were aching from all the forced smiling.
No Soliloquies Allowed (Unless You’re Shakespeare)
This rule also applies to big chunks of dialogue. Perhaps your character has a lot to say, but if you present it as one long speech it will feel to the modern reader like they’ve been transported back to Victorian England.
So don’t do it!
Keep it spare. Allow gaps in the communication (intersperse with action and leave plenty unsaid) and let the readers fill in the blanks. It’s like you’re not even giving the readers 100% of what they want. You’re giving them 80% and letting them figure out the rest.
Take this example of dialogue, for instance, from Ian Rankin’s fourteenth Rebus crime novel, A Question of Blood . The detective, John Rebus, is phoned up at night by his colleague:
… “Your friend, the one you were visiting that night you bumped into me …” She was on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors.
“Andy?” he said. ‘Andy Callis?”
“Can you describe him?”
Rebus froze. “What’s happened?”
“Look, it might not be him …”
“Where are you?”
“Describe him for me … that way you’re not headed all the way out here for nothing.”
That’s great isn’t it? Immediate. Vivid. Edgy. Communicative.
But look at what isn’t said. Here’s the same passage again, but with my comments in square brackets alongside the text:
[Your friend: she doesn’t even give a name or give anything but the barest little hint of who she’s speaking about. And ‘on her mobile, sounded like she was outdoors’. That’s two sentences rammed together with a comma. It’s so clipped you’ve even lost the period and the second ‘she’.]
[Notice that this is exactly the way we speak. He could just have said “Andy Callis”, but in fact we often take two bites at getting the full name, like this. That broken, repetitive quality mimics exactly the way we speak . . . or at least the way we think we speak!]
[Uh-oh. The way she jumps straight from getting the name to this request indicates that something bad has happened. A lesser writer would have this character say, ‘Look, something bad has happened and I’m worried. So can you describe him?’ This clipped, ultra-brief way of writing the dialogue achieves the same effect, but (a) shows the speaker’s urgency and anxiety – she’s just rushing straight to the thing on her mind, (b) uses the gap to indicate the same thing as would have been (less well) achieved by a wordier, more direct approach, and (c) by forcing the reader to fill in that gap, you’re actually making the reader engage with intensity. This is the reader as co-writer – and that means super-engaged.]
[Again: you can’t convey the same thing with fewer words. Again, the shimmering anxiety about what has still not been said has extra force precisely because of the clipped style.]
[A brilliantly oblique way of indicating, ‘But I’m frigging terrified that it is.’ Oblique is good. Clipped is good.]
[A non-sequitur, but totally consistent with the way people think and talk.]
[Just as he hasn’t responded to what she just said, now it’s her turn to ignore him. Again, it’s the absences that make this bit of dialogue live. Just imagine how flaccid this same bit would be if she had said, “Let’s not get into where I am right now. Look, it’s important that you describe him for me . . .”]
Gaps are good. They make the reader work, and a ton of emotion and inference swirls in the gaps.
Want to achieve the same effect? Copy Rankin. Keep it tight. And read this .
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Dialogue Rule 2: Watch Those Beats
More often than not, great story moments hinge on character exchanges with dialogue at their heart. Even very short dialogue can help drive a plot, showing more about your characters and what’s happening than longer descriptions can.
(How come? It’s the thing we just talked about: how very spare dialogue makes the reader work hard to figure out what’s going on, and there’s an intensity of energy released as a result.)
But right now, I want to focus on the way dialogue needs to create its own emotional beats. So that the action of the scene and the dialogue being spoken becomes the one same thing.
Here’s how screenwriting guru Robert McKee puts it:
Dialogue is not [real-life] conversation. … Dialogue [in writing] … must have direction. Each exchange of dialogue must turn the beats of the scene … yet it must sound like talk.
This excerpt from Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs is a beautiful example of exactly that. It’s short as heck, but just see what happens.
As before, I’ll give you the dialogue itself, then the same thing again with my notes on it:
“The significance of the chrysalis is change. Worm into butterfly, or moth. Billy thinks he wants to change. … You’re very close, Clarice, to the way you’re going to catch him, do you realize that?”
“No, Dr Lecter.”
“Good. Then you won’t mind telling me what happened to you after your father’s death.”
Starling looked at the scarred top of the school desk.
“I don’t imagine the answer’s in your papers, Clarice.”
Here Hannibal holds power, despite being behind bars. He establishes control, and Clarice can’t push back, even as he pushes her. We see her hesitancy, Hannibal’s power. (And in such few words! Can you even imagine trying to do as much as this without the power of dialogue to aid you? I seriously doubt if you could.)
But again, here’s what’s happening in detail
[ Beat 1: What a great line of dialogue! Invoking the chrysalis and moth here is magical language. it’s like Hannibal is the magician, the Prospero figure. Look too at the switch of tack in the middle of this snippet. First he’s talking about Billy wanting to change – then about Clarice’s ability to find him. Even that change of tack emphasises his power: he’s the one calling the shots here; she’s always running to keep up.]
[ Beat 2 : Clarice sounds controlled, formal. That’s not so interesting yet . . . but it helps define her starting point in this conversation, so we can see the gap between this and where she ends up.]
[ Beat 3 : Another whole jump in the dialogue. We weren’t expecting this, and we’re already feeling the electricity in the question. How will Clarice react? Will she stay formal and controlled?]
[ Beat 4 : Nope! She’s still controlled, just about, but we can see this question has daunted her. She can’t even answer it! Can’t even look at the person she’s talking to. Notice as well that we’re outside quotation marks here – she’s not talking, she’s just looking at something. Writing great dialogue is about those sections of silence too – the bits that happen beyond the quotation marks.]
[ Beat 5: And Lecter immediately calls attention to her reaction, thereby emphasising that he’s observed her and knows what it means.]
Overall, you can see that not one single element of this dialogue leaves the emotional balance unaltered. Every line of dialogue alters the emotional landscape in some way. That’s why it feels so intense & engaging.
Want to achieve the same effect? Just check your own dialogue, line by line. Do you feel that emotional movement there all the time? If not, just delete anything unnecessary until you feel the intensity and emotional movement increase.
Dialogue Rule 3: Keep It Oblique
One more point, which sits kind of parallel to the bits we’ve talked about already.
If you want to create some terrible dialogue, you’d probably come up with something like this (very similar to my previous bad dialogue example):
“Hey Judy.”
“Hey, Brett.”
“Yeah, not bad. What do you say? Maybe play some tennis later?”
“Tennis? I’m not sure about that. I think it’s going to rain.”
Tell me honestly: were you not just about ready to scream there? If that dialogue had continued like that for much longer, you probably would have done.
And the reason is simple. It was direct, not oblique.
So direct dialogue is where person X says something or asks a question, and person Y answers in the most logical, direct way.
We hate that! As readers, we hate it.
Oblique dialogue is where people never quite answer each other in a straight way. Where a question doesn’t get a straightforward response. Where random connections are made. Where we never quite know where things are going.
As readers, we love that. It’s dialogue to die for.
And if you want to see oblique dialogue in action, here’s a snippet from Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network . (Because dialogue in screenwriting should follow the same rules as a novel. Some may argue that it should be even more snipped!)
So here goes. This is the young Mark Zuckerberg talking with a lawyer:
Lawyer: “Let me re-phrase this. You sent my clients sixteen emails. In the first fifteen, you didn’t raise any concerns.” MZ: ‘Was that a question?’ L: “In the sixteenth email you raised concerns about the site’s functionality. Were you leading them on for 6 weeks?” MZ: ‘No.’ L: “Then why didn’t you raise any of these concerns before?” MZ: ‘It’s raining.’ L: “I’m sorry?” MZ: ‘It just started raining.’ L: “Mr. Zuckerberg do I have your full attention?” MZ: ‘No.’ L: “Do you think I deserve it?” MZ: ‘What?’ L: “Do you think I deserve your full attention?”
I won’t discuss that in any detail, because the technique really leaps out at you. It’s particularly visible here, because the lawyer wants and expects to have a direct conversation. ( I ask a question about X, you give me a reply that deals with X. I ask a question about Y, and … ) Zuckerberg here is playing a totally different game, and it keeps throwing the lawyer off track – and entertaining the viewer/reader too.
Want to achieve the same effect? Just keep your dialogue not quite joined up. People should drop in random things, go off at tangents, talk in non-sequiturs, respond to an emotional implication not the thing that’s directly on the page – or anything. Just keep it broken. Keep it exciting!
This not only moves the story forward but also says a lot about the character speaking.
Dialogue Rule 4: Reveal Character Dynamics And Emotion
Most writers use dialogue to impart information – it’s a great way of explaining things. But it’s also a perfect (and subtler) tool to describe a character, highlighting their mannerisms and personality. It can also help the reader connect with the character…or hate them.
Let’s take a look here at Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower as another dialogue example.
Here we have two characters, when protagonist Charlie, a high school freshman, learns his long-time crush, Sam, may like him back, after all. Here’s how that dialogue goes:
“Okay, Charlie … I’ll make this easy. When that whole thing with Craig was over, what did you think?”
… “Well, I thought a lot of things. But mostly, I thought your being sad was much more important to me than Craig not being your boyfriend anymore. And if it meant that I would never get to think of you that way, as long as you were happy, it was okay.” …
… “I can’t feel that. It’s sweet and everything, but it’s like you’re not even there sometimes. It’s great that you can listen and be a shoulder to someone, but what about when someone doesn’t need a shoulder? What if they need the arms or something like that? You can’t just sit there and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things.”
“Like what?” …
“I don’t know. Like take their hands when the slow song comes up for a change. Or be the one who asks someone for a date.”
The words sound human.
Sam and Charlie are tentative, exploratory – and whilst words do the job of ‘turning’ a scene, both receiving new information, driving action on – we also see their dynamic.
And so we connect to them.
We see Charlie’s reactive nature, checking with Sam what she wants him to do. Sam throws out ideas, but it’s clear she wants him to be doing this thinking, not her, subverting Charlie’s idea of passive selflessness as love.
The dialogue shows us the characters, as clearly as anything else in the whole book. Shows us their differences, their tentativeness, their longing.
Want to achieve the same effect? Understand your characters as fully as you can. The more you can do this, the more naturally you’ll write dialogue that’s right for them . You can get tips on knowing your characters here .
Dialogue Rule 5: Keep Your Dialogue Tags Simple
A dialogue tag is the part that helps us know who is saying what – the he said/she said part of dialogue that helps the reader follow the conversation.
Keep it Simple
A lot of writers try to add colour to their writing by showering it with a lot of vigorous dialogue tags. Like this:
“Not so,” she spat.
“I say that it is,” he roared.
“I know a common blackbird when I see it,” she defended.
“Oh. You’re a professional ornithologist now?” he attacked, sarcastically.
That’s pretty feeble dialogue, no matter what. But the biggest part of the problem is simply that the dialogue tags ( spat, roared , and so on) are so highly coloured, they take away interest from the dialogue itself – and it’s the words spoken by the characters that ought to capture the reader’s interest.
Almost always, therefore, you should confine yourself to the blandest of words:
She answered
And so on. Truth is, in a two-handed dialogue where it’s obvious who’s speaking, you don’t even need the word said .
Get Creative
As an alternative, you can have action and body language demonstrate who is saying what and their emotions behind it. The scene description can say just as much as the dialogue.
Here’s another example of the same exchange:
Joan clenched her jaw. “Not so!”
“I say that it is.”
His voice kept rising with every word he shouted, but Joan was not going to be deterred.
“I know a common blackbird when I see it.”
“Oh. You’re a professional ornithologist now?”
Not one dialogue tag nor adverb was used there, but we still know who said what and how it was delivered. And , if you’re really smart and develop how your characters speak (pacing, words, syntax and speech pattern), a reader can know who is talking simply by how they’re talking.
The simple rule: use dialogue tags as invisibly as you can. I’ve written about a million words of my Fiona Griffiths series, and I doubt if I’ve used words other than say / reply and other very simple tags more than a dozen or so times in the entire series.
Keep it simple!
Dialogue Rule 6: Get The Punctuation Right
Dialogue punctuation is so simple and important, and looks so bad if you get it wrong. Here are eight simple rules to know before your character starts to speak:
- Each new line of dialogue (ie: each new speaker) needs a new paragraph – even if the dialogue is very short.
- Action sentences within dialogue get their own paragraphs too. The first paragraph of a chapter or section starts on the far left, and the next paragraph (whether it starts with dialogue or not) is indented.
- The only exception to this rule is if the sentence interrupts an otherwise continuous piece of dialogue. for example: “Yes,” she said. She brushed away a fly that had landed on her cheek. “I do think hippos are the best animals.”
- When you are ending a line of dialogue with he said / she said , the sentence beforehand ends with a comma not a full stop (or period), as in this for example: “Yes,” she said.
- If the line of dialogue ends with a question mark or exclamation mark, you still don’t have a capital letter for he said / she said . For example: “You like hippos?” he said .
- If the he said / she said lives in the middle of one continuous sentence of dialogue, you need to deploy those commas like a comma-deploying ninja. Like this for example: “If you like hippos,” he said, “then you deserve to be sat on by one.”
- And use quotation marks, dummy. You know to do that, without me telling you, right? (Yes, yes, some serious writers of literary fiction have written entire novels without one speech mark – but they are the exception to the rule.)
- Use the exclamation point sparingly. Otherwise! Your! Book! Is! Going! To! Sound! Very! Hysterical!
Dialogue Rule 7: Accents And Verbal Mannerisms
Realistic dialogue is important, but writing dialogue is not the same as speaking. Remember that the reader’s experience has to be smooth and enjoyable, so even if your character has an accent, speech impediment, or talks excessively…writing it exactly as it’s spoken doesn’t always work.
If you want to show that your character is from a certain part of the UK, it often helps to add a smattering of coloquial words or
In The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean, the antagonist, Len, has an accent (Yorkshire or Lancashire, it’s obvious but never stated). The protagonist is trapped inside this man’s honme, she has no idea where she is, but by describing the endless fields and hearing his subtle accent the reader knows exactly where in the UK she’s trapped.
Len says things like:
‘Going to go feed pigs’ and ‘There’s a good lass.’
You can highlight location, a character’s age, and their social standing simply by giving a nod to their accent.
On the flip-side, if they have a foreign accent, it can sometimes be too jarring to write dialogue exactly as it sounds.
‘Amma gonna eata the pizza’ is an awful way to write an Italian accent – it’s verging on racist. Try to avoid that. Instead, simply mention they have an Italian accent and let the reader fill in the blanks.
Accents Written Well
But, of course, there’s always an exception!
Irvine Welsh writes English in his native Scottish dialect and it’s exemplary – but nothing something we would recommend for a novice writer.
Here’s an excerpt from Trainspotting:
Third time lucky. It wis like Sick Boy telt us: you’ve got tae know what it’s like tae try tae come off it before ye can actually dae it. You can only learn through failure, and what ye learn is the importance ay preparation. He could be right. Anywey, this time ah’ve prepared.
Perhaps, if you have a Scottish character in your novel you may want them to speak in a strong accent. But getting it wrong can ruin an entire novel, so unless you are very skilled and very confident, stick to the odd coloquialism or word and leave it there.
Verbal Mannerisms
Whether you realise it or not, we all have speech patterns. Some of us speak slowly, others pause, people also trail off mid-sentence. Some people also use verbal mannerisms, such as adding a word to a sentence that is unnecessary but becomes a personal tic (such as ‘man’, ‘like’ or ‘innit’). Or repeat favourite words. These can be influenced by age, background, class, and the period in which the book is set.
Here’s an example of two people talking. I won’t mention their ages or backgrounds, but see if you can guess.
“Chill, Bro.”
“Chill? I’m far from chilled, you scoundrel. That’s my flower bed you’ve just dug up.”
“I found something, though. It was sticking out the ground.”
“Outrageous behaviour. So… You… One simply can’t go around digging up people’s gardens!”
“Yeah. And what?” They both stared down at the swollen white lumps pressing out of the soil like plump snowdrops.”What is it, though?”
Harold swallowed. “Fingers.”
A Few Last Dialogue Rules
If want some great examples of how to write in dialogue, read plays or screenplays for inspiration. Read Tennessee Williams or Henrik Ibsen. Anything by Elmore Leonard is great. Ditto Raymond Chandler or Donna Tartt.
Some last tips:
- Keep speeches short . If a speech runs for more than three sentences or so, it (usually) risks being too long. Break it up with some action or someone else talking.
- Ensure characters speak in their own voice . And make sure your characters don’t sound the same as each other. Remember mannerisms, speech patterns, and how age and background influences speech.
- Add intrigue . Add slang and banter. Lace character chats with foreshadowing. You needn’t be writing a thriller to do this.
- Get in late and out early. Don’t bother with small talk. Decide the point of each interaction, begin with it as late as possible, ending as soon as your point is made.
- Interruption is good. So are characters pursuing their own thought processes and not quite engaging with the other.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 typesetting rules of writing dialogue.
Part of the editing process is to ensure you format dialogue correctly. Formatting dialogue correctly means remembering 5 simple steps:
- Only spoken words go within quotation marks.
- Use a separate sentence for every new thing someone says or does.
- Punctuation marks stay inside quotation marks and don’t forget about closing quotation marks at the end of the sentence.
- You can use single quotation marks or double quotation marks – but you must be consistent!
- Beware of capital letters. Always at the start of a sentence and after the quitations mark.
How Can You Use Everyday Life To Perfect Your Dialogue?
Listening to people speak will really help you perfect good dialogue. Sit in a cafe and people watch. Watch their body language and how they express themselves. Their verbal mannerisms, tics, how they choose their words, the syntax, speech patterns and turns of phrase. Make notes (without being spotted) and look out for contrasting word choices and personas.
What Is A Bad Example Of Dialogue?
There are plenty to choose from above – but the worst things you can do include:
- Using too many words
- Writing an accent how it’s heard (unless you are Irvine Welsh, which most people are not)
- Writing dialogue that’s irrelevant or misleading
- Using too many dialogue tags (or none at all)
- Bad punctuation – remember dialogue formatting
- Avoid long speeches
How Do You Start Dialogue?
There are many ways to start dialogue. You can ease into it, by introducing the character to the scene. Or you can jump in median res, slap bang into the centre of the action. Much like life, sometimes we hear a person’s voice before we see them – they pop up out of nowhere – and sometimes we call them or walk into a room where they are, and we have rehearsed what we plan to say.
See what works best for your scene, your characters, and the genre you are writing in (dialogue in a crime thriller will sound very different to dialogue in a young adult novel, for instance).
That’s All I Have To Say About That
We really hope you have found this article interesting and that you have now found the confidence to tackle the dialogue in your novel.
What your characters say and how they say it can make the difference between a good book and one that everyone is talking about. So get eavesdropping, get practising, and read as many books and plays as you can to create better dialogue.
Practice makes perfect and don’t forget to enjoy yourself!
Jericho Writers is a global membership group for writers , providing everything you need to get published. Keep up with our news, membership offers, and updates by signing up to our newsletter . For more writing articles, take a look at our blog page .
About the author
Harry has written a variety of books over the years, notching up multiple six-figure deals and relationships with each of the world’s three largest trade publishers. His work has been critically acclaimed across the globe, has been adapted for TV, and is currently the subject of a major new screen deal. He’s also written non-fiction, short stories, and has worked as ghost/editor on a number of exciting projects. Harry also self-publishes some of his work, and loves doing so. His Fiona Griffiths series in particular has done really well in the US, where it’s been self-published since 2015. View his website , his Amazon profile , his Twitter . He's been reviewed in Kirkus, the Boston Globe , USA Today , The Seattle Times , The Washington Post , Library Journal , Publishers Weekly , CulturMag (Germany), Frankfurter Allgemeine , The Daily Mail , The Sunday Times , The Daily Telegraph , The Guardian , and many other places besides. His work has appeared on TV, via Bonafide . And go take a look at what he thinks about Blick Rothenberg . You might also want to watch our " Blick Rothenberg - The Truth " video, if you want to know how badly an accountancy firm can behave.
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How to Write Fabulous Dialogue [9 Tips + Examples]
Writing good dialogue is not just about quippy lines and dramatic pauses. It's about propelling the story forward, pulling the reader along, and fleshing out characters and their dynamics right in front of the readers. Well-written dialogue has the potential to take your story to a whole new level.
Here's how to write great dialogue in 9 steps:
1. Skip the greetings and small talk
2. keep to three dialogue beats , 3. use action beats , 4. don’t be afraid to use ‘said’ , 5. add variety to your dialogue scenes, 6. avoid excessive exposition , 7. use catchphrases or quirks in moderation, 8. know that characters don’t always mean what they say , 9. remember that less is more, which dialogue tag are you.
Find out in just a minute.
Alfred Hitchcock once said that “drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.” Similarly, we could say that good dialogue is like a real conversation without all the fluff.
Think about it: very few “classic” scenes start with characters saying “Hey buddy! How are you doing? Wow, long time no see. Parking was a nightmare.” These lines don’t add anything to the story, and they are said all the time . Are you willing to repeat this prelude for every scene where the characters meet? Probably not, nor do your readers want to sit through it. Readers can infer that all these civilities occur, so you can go ahead and skip forward to get to the meat of the conversation.
For a more tangible example of this technique, check out the dialogue-driven opening to Barbara Kingsolver's novel, Unsheltered .
Outlined by screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb, the Three-Beat Rule advises writers to have a maximum of three dialogue beats at a time, after which you should insert a dialogue tag, action beat, or another character’s speech. Dialogue “beats” can be understood as the short phrases in speech that you can say without pausing for breath. Sometimes they correlate with actual sentences, sometimes they don’t.
Here’s an example from Jane Gardam’s short story, “Dangers”, in which the boy Jake is shooting an imaginary gun at his grandmother:
Now, you may point out that classic books often don’t follow this rule — that’s because dialogue conventions have changed over time. Nowadays, a lengthy and unbroken monologue (unless it’s been effectively built up to be an impassioned outburst or revelation) tends to feel dated and awkward. Readers also lose their attention and interest easily in the face of long speeches, so the Three-Beat Rule is definitely one to follow!
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While we’re on the topic of beats, let’s take a look at another kind — action beats. These are descriptions of the expressions, movements, or even internal thoughts that accompany the speaker’s words. They’re included in the same paragraph as the dialogue, to indicate that the person acting is also the person speaking.
Action beats can keep your writing varied, avoiding the need for a long list of lines ending in ‘he said’ or ‘she said’. They can also be used to manage the pace of a dialogue-heavy scene. Furthermore, they can illustrate and add context to the conversation, so that readers can gauge the significance of the scene beyond what was being said.
These beats are a commonly used technique so you can find plenty of examples — here’s one from Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro .
‘Said’ gets a bad rap for being boring and overused as a dialogue tag, especially in school. But in the book-writing world, this simple tag is favored over more descriptive ones like ‘exclaimed,’ ‘declared,’ or the many other words used to replace ‘said.’
Pro-tip: While we cannot stress enough the importance of "said," sometimes you do need another dialogue tag. Download this free cheatsheet of 270+ other words for said to get yourself covered!
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Upgrade your dialogue with our list of 270 alternatives to “said.”
The thinking goes that most of the time, readers don’t notice words like ‘said’ because their attention is (rightfully) on what’s actually being spoken. As writer Elmore Leonard puts it:
“Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But ‘said’ is far less intrusive than ‘grumbled,’ ‘gasped,’ ‘cautioned,’ ‘lied.’”
To never use other verbs might be a drastic measure, but you definitely do not want to overcrowd your dialogue with fancy tags and risk taking readers out of a scene for a brief display of verbal virtuosity. If bestsellers like Daphne du Maurier's Gothic novel, Rebecca, features ‘said’ on a regular basis , then your book can, too.
This tip is all about exceptions to some of the tips we’re sharing here. Learning how to write good dialogue isn’t about strictly following rules but rather learning what technique to use when, and emphasizing what's actually being said between characters.
If you stick to one rule the whole time — i.e. if you only use ‘said,’ or you finish every dialogue line with an action beat — you’ll quickly wear out readers. See how unnaturally it plays out in the example below with Sophie and Ethan:
The key, then, is to have variety in structure and use of dialogue tags or action beats throughout a scene — and by extension, throughout your book. Make ‘said’ the default, but be flexible about changing it whenever a description of the characters or a more elaborate dialogue tag can add nuance to the scene!
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Exposition is always a tough nut to crack when writing — finding an organic, timely, and digestible way to reveal important background information can be quite the challenge. It might seem natural to slot some exposition into dialogue in order to avoid overt narrative digressions, but it’s far from a sure-fire solution to your problem.
This is mostly because speech-based explanations can quickly become unnatural. Characters might speak for too long, with too much detail on things that they really might not think about, remember, or comment on in the story’s context (think “I’m just going to the well, mother — the well that my brother, your son, tragically fell down 5 years ago…” ). Just because it’s a conversation doesn’t mean that info-dumps can’t happen.
As such, be careful when carrying out dialogue-based exposition. It’s usually good to have at least one character who doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, so that you can offer explanations relatively naturally — rather than explaining things just for the sake of the readers. For instance, in The Godfather , readers get their first look at the Corleones through Michael's introduction of his family to his girlfriend.
Giving a character a catchphrase or quirk — like Jay Gatsby’s “old sport” or Dolores Umbridge’s “hem hem” — can give them a distinctive, recognizable voice. But as with all character quirks , they work best when you don’t go overboard with them.
Firstly, you don’t want your character to repeat this catchphrase too frequently, otherwise, readers might find it jarring. Remember what Elmore Leonard said about the writer intruding? If you inject the quirk too much, you might become visible on the page.
Secondly, you also want to avoid giving too many characters their own quirks. Gatsby and Umbridge’s voices stand out because no one else has something as memorable about their speech. Moreover, each quirk reveals something about the character: Gatsby impersonates a gentleman in his speech and lifestyle; Umbridge works to maintain her image of composure in contrast to the disarray of Hogwarts under the direction of Dumbledore.
You therefore want to think carefully about your character’s voice, and use catchphrases and quirks only when they really have something to say about your character.
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Just as “I’m good” in response to a friendly “How are you?” might not actually mean that you’re good, characters can also say things that don’t reflect the truth. Creating dialogue that places emphasis on what’s not said (i.e. the subtext) can make your story that much more realistic and compelling.
To do this, you can apply the classic rule of “show, don’t tell” . Use action beats and descriptions to provide clues that can be read between the lines. Let’s revisit Sophie and Ethan in this example:
While Sophie claims she hasn’t been obsessing over this project all night, the actions in between her words indicate that there’s nothing on her mind but work. In weaving personality traits into the conversation through action beats, rather than describing Sophie as hardworking or using a “she lied” dialogue tag, you give readers a chance to organically get to know the characters.
Show, Don't Tell
Master the golden rule of writing in 10 five-minute lessons.
Our final tip is more of a reminder than anything. With a “less is more” mentality, you can cut out unnecessary bits of dialogue (the “boring bits” from tip #1) and focus on making sure the dialogue you do keep matters. Good writing is intentional and purposeful — it always strives to keep the story going and readers engaged — so the importance lies in quality rather than quantity.
One particular point we haven’t really addressed is repetition. If used well (i.e. with clear intentions), repetition is a literary device that can help you build motifs and flesh out themes in your writing. But when you’re writing dialogue and find yourself repeating well-established pieces of information, it might be a good time to step back and revise your work.
For instance, here’s a scene with Sophie and Ethan later on in the story:
Having Sophie mention that they’ve been working together since the transfer feels repetitive without really adding anything to the conversation. Instead of rephrasing this bit of info, consider cutting Sophie’s line altogether or adding something else, like “I can’t believe we’re talking about this again”, to increase the tension between the characters.
The point is, a good dialogue is often a place where character dynamics can play out. Including needless phrasings or repetitions may decrease the strength of that interaction, and waste valuable space in a scene. If you’re verging on repeating yourself, it’s better to write less and let the readers infer more.
We know that writing dialogue can be intimidating, especially if you don’t have much experience with it. But that should never keep you from including it in your work! Just remember that the more you practice — especially with the help of these tips — the better you’ll get.
And once you’re confident with the conversational content you can conjure up, follow along to the next part of our guide to see how you can punctuate and format your dialogue flawlessly .
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A Guide to Writing Dialogue, With Examples
“Guess what?” Tanika asked her mother.
“What?” her mother replied.
“I’m writing a short story,” Tanika said.
“Make sure you practice writing dialogue!” her mother instructed. “Because dialogue is one of the most effective tools a writer has to bring characters to life.” Give your writing extra polish Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly
What is dialogue, and what is its purpose?
Dialogue is what the characters in your short story , poem , novel, play, screenplay, personal essay —any kind of creative writing where characters speak—say out loud.
For a lot of writers, writing dialogue is the most fun part of writing. It’s your opportunity to let your characters’ motivations, flaws, knowledge, fears, and personality quirks come to life. By writing dialogue, you’re giving your characters their own voices, fleshing them out from concepts into three-dimensional characters. And it’s your opportunity to break grammatical rules and express things more creatively. Read these lines of dialogue:
- “NoOoOoOoO!” Maddie yodeled as her older sister tried to pry her hands from the merry-go-round’s bars.
- “So I says, ‘You wanna play rough? C’mere, I’ll show you playin’ rough!’”
- “Get out!” she shouted, playfully swatting at his arm. “You’re kidding me, right? We couldn’t have won . . . ”
Dialogue has multiple purposes. One of them is to characterize your characters. Read the examples above again, and think about who each of those characters are. You learn a lot about somebody’s mindset, background, comfort in their current situation, emotional state, and level of expertise from how they speak.
Another purpose dialogue has is exposition, or background information. You can’t give readers all the exposition they need to understand a story’s plot up-front. One effective way to give readers information about the plot and context is to supplement narrative exposition with dialogue. For example, the protagonist might learn about an upcoming music contest by overhearing their coworkers’ conversation about it, or an intrepid adventurer might be told of her destiny during an important meeting with the town mystic. Later on in the story, your music-loving protagonist might express his fears of looking foolish onstage to his girlfriend, and your intrepid adventurer might have a heart-to-heart with the dragon she was sent to slay and find out the truth about her society’s cultural norms.
Dialogue also makes your writing feel more immersive. It breaks up long prose passages and gives your reader something to “hear” other than your narrator’s voice. Often, writers use dialogue to also show how characters relate to each other, their setting, and the plot they’re moving through.
It can communicate subtext, like showing class differences between characters through the vocabulary they use or hinting at a shared history between them. Sometimes, a narrator’s description just can’t deliver information the same way that a well-timed quip or a profound observation by a character can.
In contrast to dialogue, a monologue is a single, usually lengthy passage spoken by one character. Monologues are often part of plays.
The character may be speaking directly to the reader or viewer, or they could be speaking to one or more other characters. The defining characteristic of a monologue is that it’s one character’s moment in the spotlight to express their thoughts, ideas, and/or perspective.
Often, a character’s private thoughts are delivered via monologue. If you’re familiar with the term internal monologue , it’s referring to this. An internal monologue is the voice an individual ( though not all individuals ) “hears” in their head as they talk themselves through their daily activities. Your story might include one or more characters’ inner monologues in addition to their dialogue. Just like “hearing” a character’s words through dialogue, hearing their thoughts through a monologue can make a character more relatable, increasing a reader’s emotional investment in their story arc.
Types of dialogue
There are two broad types of dialogue writers employ in their work: inner and outer dialogue.
Inner dialogue is the dialogue a character has inside their head. This inner dialogue can be a monologue. In most cases, inner dialogue is not marked by quotation marks . Some authors mark inner dialogue by italicizing it.
Outer dialogue is dialogue that happens externally, often between two or more characters. This is the dialogue that goes inside quotation marks.
How to structure dialogue
Dialogue is a break from a story’s prose narrative. Formatting it properly makes this clear. When you’re writing dialogue, follow these formatting guidelines:
- All punctuation in a piece of dialogue goes inside the quotation marks.
- Quoted dialogue within a line of dialogue goes inside single quotation marks (“I told my brother, ‘Don’t do my homework for me.’ But he did it anyway!”). In UK English, quoted dialogue within a line of dialogue goes inside double quotation marks.
- Every time a new character speaks, start a new paragraph. This is true even when a character says only one word. Indent every new paragraph.
- When a character’s dialogue extends beyond a paragraph, use quotation marks at the beginning of the second and/or subsequent paragraph. However, there is no need for closing quotation marks at the end of the first paragraph—or any paragraph other than the final one.
- Example: “Thank you for—” “Is that a giant spider?!”
- “Every night,” he began, “I heard a rustling in the trees.”
- “Every day,” he stated. “Every day, I get to work right on time.”
Things to avoid when writing dialogue
When you’re writing dialogue, avoid these common pitfalls:
- Using a tag for every piece of dialogue: Dialogue tags are words like said and asked . Once you’ve established that two characters are having a conversation, you don’t need to tag every piece of dialogue. Doing so is redundant and breaks the reader’s flow. Once readers know each character’s voice, many lines of dialogue can stand alone.
- Not using enough tags: On the flip side, some writers use too few dialogue tags, which can confuse readers. Readers should always know who’s speaking. When a character’s mannerisms and knowledge don’t make that abundantly obvious, tag the dialogue and use their name.
- Dense, unrealistic speech: As we mentioned above, dialogue doesn’t need to be grammatically correct. In fact, when it’s too grammatically correct, it can make characters seem stiff and unrealistic.
- Anachronisms: A pirate in 1700s Barbados wouldn’t greet his captain with “what’s up?” Depending on how dedicated you (and your readers) are to historical accuracy, this doesn’t need to be perfect. But it should be believable.
- Eye dialect: This is an important one to keep in mind. Eye dialect is the practice of writing out characters’ mispronunciations phonetically, like writing “wuz” for “was.” Eye dialect can be (and has been) used to create offensive caricatures, and even when it’s not used in this manner, it can make dialogue difficult for readers to understand. Certain well-known instances of eye dialect, like “fella” for “fellow” and “‘em” for “them,” are generally deemed acceptable, but beyond these, it’s often best to avoid it.
How to write dialogue
Write how people actually speak (with some editing).
You want your characters to sound like real people. Real people don’t always speak in complete sentences or use proper grammar. So when you’re writing dialogue, break grammatical rules as you need to.
That said, your dialogue needs to still be readable. If the grammar is so bad that readers don’t understand what your characters are saying, they’ll probably just stop reading your story. Even if your characters speak in poor grammar, using punctuation marks correctly, even when they’re in the wrong places, will help readers understand the characters.
Here’s a quick example:
“I. Do. Not. WANT. to go back to boarding school!” Caleb shouted.
See how the period after each word forces your brain to stop and read each word as if it were its own sentence? The periods are doing what they’re supposed to do; they just aren’t being used to end sentences like periods typically do. Here’s another example of a character using bad grammar but the author using proper punctuation to make the dialogue understandable:
“Because no,” she said into the phone. “I need a bigger shed to store all my stuff in . . . yeah, no, that’s not gonna work for me, I told you what I need and now you gotta make it happen.”
Less is more
When you’re editing your characters’ dialogue, cut back all the parts that add nothing to the story. Real-life conversations are full of small talk and filler. Next time you read a story, take note of how little small talk and filler is in the dialogue. There’s a reason why TV characters never say “good-bye” when they hang up the phone: the “good-bye” adds nothing to the storyline. Dialogue should characterize people and their relationships, and it should also advance the plot.
Vary up your tags, but don’t go wild with them
“We love basketball!” he screamed.
“Why are you screaming?” the coach asked.
“Because I’m just so passionate about basketball!” he replied.
Dialogue tags show us a character’s tone. It’s good to have a variety of dialogue tags in your work, but there’s also nothing wrong with using a basic tag like “said” when it’s the most accurate way to describe how a character delivered a line. Generally, it’s best to keep your tags to words that describe actual speech, like:
You’ve probably come across more unconventional tags like “laughed” and “dropped.” If you use these at all, use them sparingly. They can be distracting to readers, and some particularly pedantic readers might be bothered because people don’t actually laugh or drop their words.
Give each character a unique voice (and keep them consistent)
If there is more than one character with a speaking role in your work, give each a unique voice. You can do this by varying their vocabulary, their speech’s pace and rhythm, and the way they tend to react to dialogue.
Keep each character’s voice consistent throughout the story by continuing to write them in the style you established. When you go back and proofread your work, check to make sure each character’s voice remains consistent—or, if it changed because of a perspective-shifting event in the story, make sure that this change fits into the narrative and makes sense. One way to do this is to read your dialogue aloud and listen to it. If something sounds off, revise it.
Dialogue examples
Inner dialogue.
As I stepped onto the bus, I had to ask myself: why was I going to the amusement park today, and not my graduation ceremony?
He thought to himself, this must be what paradise looks like.
Outer dialogue
“Mom, can I have a quarter so I can buy a gumball?”
Without skipping a beat, she responded, “I’ve dreamed of working here my whole life.”
“Ren, are you planning on stopping by the barbecue?”
“No, I’m not,” Ren answered. “I’ll catch you next time.”
Here’s a tip: Grammarly’s Citation Generator ensures your essays have flawless citations and no plagiarism. Try it for citing dialogue in Chicago , MLA , and APA styles.
Dialogue FAQs
What is dialogue.
Dialogue is the text that represents the spoken word.
How does dialogue work?
Dialogue expresses exactly what a character is saying. In contrast, a narrator might paraphrase or describe a character’s thoughts or speech.
What are different kinds of dialogue?
Inner dialogue is the dialogue a character has inside their own head. Often, it’s referred to as an inner monologue.
Outer dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters.
How is dialogue formatted?
Inner dialogue simply fits into the narrative prose.
Outer dialogue is marked by quotation marks and a few other formatting guidelines. These include:
- A new, indented paragraph every time a new character speaks
- Punctuation inside the quotation marks
- Em dashes to communicate interruption
How to write great dialogue in fiction
How to write short stories, how to create chemistry between your romantic leads, by anna davis, 24th aug 2018.
Well-handled dialogue is one of THE essential ingredients of a good novel. And yet it’s something that many writers struggle with and even shy away from. The trick to writing great dialogue in fiction is to make your characters’ speech carry the ring and rhythm of real-life conversations without actually trying to recreate them verbatim, complete with all the er’s, um’s, repetition and waffle …
Here are just some of the things that really great dialogue can accomplish in your novel:
- It brings the reader right into a specific moment of your story.
- It gives the reader direct access to the voices of your characters.
- It gives direct access to the events of your story as they unfold.
- It’s a means of showing your reader more about who your characters are.
- It’s a means of conveying information to the reader.
- You can use it to misdirect the reader.
- You can use it to carry the story – moving your plot along snappily, and showing rather than telling as you go.
- It’s a very direct way of showing conflict between your characters.
- It enriches the texture of your story, breaking through the narrative voice.
- It’s an agent for humour, drama, heartbreak and more. It carries tone and emotional content.
Here are some tips on how to write great dialogue in fiction – and what to avoid doing:
1. Don't use any verbs other than 'says' or 'said' – and don't use lots of adverbs
This is the writing tip EVERYONE gives when it comes to writing dialogue – but there's a reason for it. It's the moment to unlearn everything you were taught as a kid at school. Basically you don't want a lot of 'he expostulated', 'she contradicted' etc. Neither do you need people exclaiming 'enthusiastically', 'vociferously' etc. Dialogue is best when it's purest – see if you can make it stand without too much supporting furniture. Give the reader the bare minimum of 'he saids' – just enough so we know who's speaking. And sometimes try using a physical gesture or movement instead of a 'Mother says' to show us who's speaking and what's going on. E.g.:
- 'Why are you treating me like this?' Mother turned away.
Above all, keep it simple.
2. Don’t show people always talking in complete sentences
In real life, we often don’t say things in full, carefully, and in the correct words. Make your characters say things abruptly, or speak only a part or a fragment of what they’re trying to communicate. Also, we don’t always wait for each other to finish speaking. Have your characters cut across each other in ways that are true to them and their situation.
3. Make the language work with the emotion of the situation
The way we talk depends on what’s happening to us and who we’re talking to. If you’re talking to your scary boss, you would be measured, polite, respectful. If you’re talking to your naughty child, you’d be clear, authoritative – or perhaps irritable and desperate. Consider the situation and emotions of your character when choosing the words and the extent to which your character can articulate clearly.
4. Give your characters distinct and different voices
Make sure you differentiate clearly between the voices of your characters so that a reader would know who is speaking without a ‘he said/she said’. Giving voice to your characters through dialogue is a vital part of characterisation. If you choose words which are your voice rather than your character’s, the reader will know straight away and the magic will be broken.
5. Informality in speech
When we’re talking, most of us run words together rather than speaking correctly. ‘I had not known I would like it’ becomes ‘I hadn’t known I’d like it’. I’d recommend you run your words together in this way when writing dialogue – otherwise it sounds stilted and unreal. And always read your dialogue aloud after you’ve written it so you can check whether it’s flowing in a naturalistic way.
So much of the interesting stuff in dialogue is what’s not said – and sometimes that’s where the story is. Have your characters conceal their real thoughts and motives and let the reader figure out what’s really going on. You can even make your characters say the opposite of what they are actually feeling – play with this for dramatic effect and to give your scene some edge.
7. Avoiding answering direct questions
It’s quite dull when a character responds readily, immediately and completely to questions he or she is asked. In life we often ignore questions – and for reasons which could be dramatically engaging.
And now here are some things to definitely AVOID in dialogue:
1. Exclamation marks and italics
In an attempt to emphasise important points and heighten the drama, we often litter our dialogue with exclamation marks and italics. Frankly that all just gets a bit much. Go through your dialogue to weed these out and make it less ‘shouty’.
2. Overstatement
Watch out for those moments when your characters state the obvious – labouring a point or building to a shouty crescendo which feels dramatic in the moment of writing, but which, when you read over it, is clumsy, unnatural and perhaps cliched. Use the editing stage of your writing process to pull back on all this. Less is more.
3. Big blocks of dialogue/characters ‘banging on’
It’s offputting to readers when they encounter big blocks of speech. If you find yourself writing a piece of direct speech that goes on for more than a few lines without interruption, you could think about cutting it back – or you could break it up by interrupting it with interjections from another character. Potentially you may even want to show this material in a different way – e.g. by dramatising it rather than telling it through dialogue.
4. Too much information
Although it’s good to use dialogue to convey information, you should avoid info-dumping – this will weigh it down, breaking the illusion of reality and making your reader want to throw the book at the wall. Don’t have your characters dishing up information when it doesn’t feel like a natural part of what they’d be saying.
5. Repeatedly addressing characters by name
When you’re talking to people in real life, how often do you speak their name aloud? We might speak someone’s name to attract their attention or to emphasise a point – but not continually throughout a conversation – unless the speaker is a salesman.
I’ll finish by saying – as I often do – that great dialogue is your friend. It can do amazing things for your novel and really bring it to life. It just takes a bit of work to get it working well for you.
For more writing advice from Anna, join our six-week online Write to the End of Your Novel course, including a full module on writing dialogue.
How To Write Dialogue (With Formatting and Examples)
Updated March 10, 2023
The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.
Writers use various tools like monologues, dialogues and narratives to tell stories that appeal to their audiences. Dialogue is one of the most important tools for written and scripted works with more than one character. You may be interested in learning more about dialogue if your job involves writing a novel, short story or script to share with an audience.
In this article, we discuss why dialogue is important in written works and how to write dialogue that engages your audience, then offer examples to help you write quality conversations.
What is dialogue?
Formatting dialogue rules.
There are several rules you can follow when formatting your dialogue:
Start a new paragraph with each speaker.
Keep punctuation inside quotes for spoken words.
With long quotes that last several paragraphs, skip end quotes at the end of each paragraph.
Consider single quotes for when a speaker quotes another source.
How to write a dialogue
Consider these steps that you can take for how to write a dialogue:
1. Determine the reason for the dialogue
It's often helpful to first determine why you're adding dialogue to a piece of writing. Think about whether the dialogue enhances the story by developing character relationships or backgrounds, advancing the action of the plot or revealing information to your audience. You may place your dialogue strategically throughout your piece to ensure an even flow from narration, action and character voice. Remember to only include dialogue if necessary and avoid dialogue that adds little to your written work.
2. Decide which characters are speaking
3. use quotation marks to start and end spoken dialogue.
Example of proper quotation mark usage: "This is the best salad I've ever tasted," Charles said.
4. Create a new paragraph for each speaker
Every time a different character speaks, it's important to start and indent a new paragraph. This helps you and your readers understand who is speaking and makes your story or script look more visually appealing and easy to read. Separating each character's speech may avoid confusion about what each character is saying, which can be useful in stories with characters who have conflicting values, roles or levels of information.
Example of multiple speakers: "I want to go on a picnic," Karla said, "but I don't want to go alone." "Why don't we go together?" Jenna replied. Karla said, "I'd like that."
5. Write the dialogue
Within your quotation marks, you can write the dialogue between your characters. Consider the reason you're adding it to your story and which characters are speaking the words as you write. Since dialogue is a conversation, the style in which you write it may sound different from the narrative parts of your story or script. Adjust your style based on the setting, characters' personalities and your goal. For example, if your goal is to show two characters meeting for the first time, their conversation may be more formal than if they had been friends for a long time.
6. Start with the action
It's a good idea to give every piece of dialogue a purpose, and starting with the action or most important information of a conversation is an excellent way of achieving that purpose. Although real conversations may have small talk and filler words, dialogue conversations must often be more straightforward and direct for audiences to easily grasp their meaning and intention. To accomplish this, keep your dialogue concise and include only the information that moves your story forward, strengthens connections between characters or offers new knowledge to readers.
7. Use dialogue tags to show who's speaking
Dialogue tags are brief descriptions of who is speaking a piece of dialogue. These tags can come before or after the quotation marks of a character's speech and often include the name or pronoun of the speaking character and a verb describing that they spoke. You can use dialogue tags in many ways to increase the readability of your work and show readers which character is speaking. One way to add visual diversity to your piece is by including dialogue broken up by dialogue tags, which can increase suspense and reader interest.
Example of a dialogue tag before dialogue: Ken said, "That sunset is incredible!"
Example of a dialogue tag after dialogue: "I prefer sunrises," Joe replied.
Example of a dialogue tag breaking up dialogue: "If you want to see a sunrise," Ken said, "we can go hiking in the morning next time."
8. Include action beats
Example of an action beat in a dialogue tag: "I studied really hard for this test," Jimmy said with a smile.
Example of an action beat before dialogue: Yolanda sipped her drink. "This is the best cafe I've been to in a while," she said.
Example of an action beat after dialogue: "After the power went out, I had to reset the clock," his mother said, and she shook her head.
Example of an action beat breaking up dialogue: "There used to be many species of birds here," the tour guide said as he waved his hands toward the trees, "but many have migrated to warmer climates."
9. Remember the setting
When writing dialogue, it's easy to focus on your characters and their conversation, so try to remember to add information about the setting where the dialogue takes place. This helps keep your story balanced and helps readers or viewers feel like the characters in your novel, short story or scripted production are really interacting with their world. You can include the setting in small ways, like having the characters mention how time has passed or noticing a branch fall from a tree nearby. Doing this may help keep your dialogue brief and grounded.
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How To Write Dialogue In A Story (With Examples)
One of the biggest mistakes made by writers is how they use dialogue in their stories. Today, we are going to teach you how to write dialogue in a story using some easy and effective techniques. So, get ready to learn some of the best techniques and tips for writing dialogue!
There are two main reasons why good dialogue is so important in works of fiction. First, good dialogue helps keep the reader interested and engaged in the story. Second, it makes your work easier to write, read and understand. So, if you want to write dialogue that is interesting, engaging and easy to read, keep on reading. We will be teaching you the best techniques and tips for writing dialogue in a story.
Internal vs External Dialogue
Direct vs indirect dialogue, 20 tips for formatting dialogue in stories, step 1: use a dialogue outline, step 2: write down a script, step 3: edit & review your script, step 4: sprinkle in some narrative, step 5: format your dialogue, what is dialogue .
Dialogue is the spoken words that are spoken between the characters of a story. It is also known as the conversation between the characters. Dialogue is a vital part of a story. It is the vehicle of the characters’ thoughts and emotions. Good dialogue helps show the reader how the characters think and feel. It also helps the reader better understand what is happening in the story. Good dialogue should be interesting, informative and natural.
In a story, dialogue can be expressed internally as thoughts, or externally through conversations between characters. A character thinking to themself would be considered internal dialogue. Here there is no one else, just one character thinking or speaking to themselves:
Mary thought to herself, “what if I can do better…”
While two or more characters talking to each other in a scene would be an external dialogue:
“Watch out!” cried Sam. “What’s wrong with you?” laughed Kate.
In most cases, the words spoken by your character will be inside quotation marks. This is called direct dialogue. And then everything outside the quotation marks is called narrative:
“What do you want?” shrieked Penelope as she grabbed her notebooks. “Oh, nothing… Just checking if you needed anything,” sneered Peter as he tried to peek over at her notes.
Indirect dialogue is a summary of your dialogue. It lets the reader know that a conversation happened without repeating it exactly. For example:
She was still fuming from last night’s argument. After being called a liar and a thief, she had no choice but to leave home for good.
Direct dialogue is useful for quick conversations, while indirect dialogue is useful for summarising long pieces of dialogue. Which otherwise can get boring for the reader. Writers can combine both types of dialogue to increase tension and add drama to their stories.
Now you know some of the different types of dialogue in stories, let’s learn how to write dialogue in a story.
Here are the main tips to remember when formatting dialogue in stories or works of fiction:
- Always use quotation marks: All direct dialogue is written inside quotation marks, along with any punctuation relating to that dialogue.
- Don’t forget about dialogue tags: Dialogue tags are used to explain how a character said something. Each tag has at least one noun or pronoun, and one verb indicating how the dialogue is spoken. For example, he said, she cried, they laughed and so on.
- Dialogue before tags: Dialogue before the dialogue tags should start with an uppercase. The dialogue tag itself begins with a lowercase.
- Dialogue after tags: Both the dialogue and dialogue tags start with an uppercase to signify the start of a conversation. The dialogue tags also have a comma afterwards, before the first set of quotation marks.
- Lowercase for continued dialogue: If the same character continues to speak after the dialogue tags or action, then this dialogue continues with a lowercase.
- Action after complete dialogue: Any action or narrative text after completed dialogue starts with an uppercase as a new sentence.
- Action interrupting dialogue: If the same character pauses their dialogue to do an action, then this action starts with a lowercase.
- Interruptions by other characters: If another character Interrupts a character’s dialogue, then their action starts with an uppercase on a new line. And an em dash (-) is used inside the quotation marks of the dialogue that was interrupted.
- Use single quotes correctly: Single quotes mean that a character is quoting someone else.
- New paragraphs equal new speaker: When a new character starts speaking, it should be written in a new paragraph.
- Use question marks correctly: If the dialogue ends with a question mark, then the part after the dialogue should begin with a lowercase.
- Exclamation marks: Similar to question marks, the next sentence should begin with a lowercase.
- Em dashes equal being cut off: When a character has been interrupted or cut off in the middle of their speech, use an em dash (-).
- Ellipses mean trailing speech: When a character is trailing off in their speech or going on and on about something use ellipses (…). This is also good to use when a character does not know what to say.
- Spilt long dialogue into paragraphs: If a character is giving a long speech, then you can split this dialogue into multiple paragraphs.
- Use commas appropriately: If it is not the end of the sentence then end the dialogue with a comma.
- Full stops to end dialogue: Dialogue ending with a full stop means it is the end of the entire sentence.
- Avoid fancy dialogue tags: For example, ‘he moderated’ or ‘she articulated’. As this can distract the reader from what your characters are actually saying and the content of your story. It’s better to keep things simple, such as using he said or she said.
- No need for names: Avoid repeating your character’s name too many times. You could use pronouns or even nicknames.
- Keep it informal: Think about how real conversations happen. Do people use technical or fancy language when speaking? Think about your character’s tone of voice and personality, what would they say in a given situation?
Remember these rules, and you’ll be able to master dialogue writing in no time!
How to Write Dialogue in 5 Steps
Dialogue is tricky. Follow these easy steps to write effective dialogue in your stories or works of fiction:
A dialogue outline is a draft of what your characters will say before you actually write the dialogue down. This draft can be in the form of notes or any scribblings about your planned dialogue. Using your overall book outline , you can pinpoint the areas where you expect to see the most dialogue used in your story. You can then plan out the conversation between characters in these areas.
A good thing about using a dialogue outline is that you can avoid your characters saying the same thing over and over again. You can also skim out any unnecessary dialogue scenes if you think they are unnecessary or pointless.
Here is an example of a dialogue outline for a story:
You even use a spreadsheet to outline your story’s dialogue scenes.
In this step, you will just write down what the characters are saying in full. Don’t worry too much about punctuation and the correct formatting of dialogue. The purpose of this step is to determine what the characters will actually say in the scene and whether this provides any interesting information to your readers.
Start by writing down the full script of your character’s conversations for each major dialogue scene in your story. Here is an example of a dialogue script for a story:
Review your script from the previous step, and think about how it can be shortened or made more interesting. You might think about changing a few words that the characters use to make it sound more natural. Normally the use of slang words and informal language is a great way to make dialogue between characters sound more natural. You might also think about replacing any names with nicknames that characters in a close relationship would use.
The script might also be too long with plenty of unnecessary details that can be removed or summarised as part of the narration in your story (or as indirect dialogue). Remember the purpose of dialogue is to give your story emotion and make your characters more realistic. At this point you might also want to refer back to your character profiles , to see if the script of each character matches their personality.
Once your script has been perfected, you can add some actions to make your dialogue feel more believable to readers. Action or narrative is the stuff that your characters are actually doing throughout or in between dialogue. For example, a character might be packing up their suitcase, as they are talking about their holiday plans. This ‘narrative’ is a great way to break up a long piece of dialogue which otherwise could become boring and tedious for readers.
You have now planned your dialogue for your story. The final step is to incorporate these dialogue scenes into your story. Remember to follow our formatting dialogue formatting rules explained above to create effective dialogue for your stories!
That’s all for today! We hope this post has taught you how to write dialogue in a story effectively. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below!
Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.
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Dialogue in books is not meant to read in the way we actually speak—not full conversations, at least. If it did, each book would be exceptionally longer, due in
How to Format Dialogue in a Story · 1. Use Quotation Marks to Indicate Spoken Word · 2. Dialogue Tags Stay Outside the Quotation Marks · 3. Use a
Keep it tight and avoid unnecessary words; Hitting beats and driving momentum; Keep it oblique, where characters never quite answer each other directly; Reveal
Writing good dialogue is not just about quippy lines and dramatic pauses. It's about propelling the story forward, pulling the reader along
Dialogue is a great way to explore the setting of your story. When the setting is explored through dialogue writing, both the characters and the
How to structure dialogue · In US English, dialogue goes inside double quotation marks (“dialogue”). · Every time a new character speaks, start a
How to write great dialogue in fiction · 1. Don't use any verbs other than 'says' or 'said' – and don't use lots of adverbs · 2. Don't show people
Wondering how to write and format dialogue in fiction? Need help formatting your dialogue for a novel or short story?
How to write a dialogue · 1. Determine the reason for the dialogue · 2. Decide which characters are speaking · 3. Use quotation marks to start and
Dialogue is the spoken words that are spoken between the characters of a story. It is also known as the conversation between the characters.