Writing Good Dialogue

Let’s talk about writing effective dialogue in fiction. Story, novella, novel — they can all benefit from having strong, well-written dialogue. I’m sure you’ve read badly written, wooden dialogue, but how do you write good dialogue? #WritingTips pic.twitter.com/WS8MU84P22

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

Have the characters talk only to each other. Never have them speaking to the readers. Don’t put in information that the characters themselves would already know when they talk to each other. Some crime writers put in stuff that ALL the characters would know & not say#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

“You mean when we got married in Florida?” she said to her spouse.

That’s an example of something a character would not say to a spouse unless the two of them had gotten married more than once to each other in different places. That info is for readers. Don’t do it.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

Make sure you know the characters’ history and relationship together so that you can reveal it when they talk to each other. Don’t include things the characters already know. Readers can understand dialogue more fully later if you do it right.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

“You promised you’d never leave me,” she said. “Even when you fell in love with that one in Boston.”

That line reveals the characters’ history, separately and together, and also provides some conflict that is ongoing. That’s the way to write dialogue.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

You can put action into dialogue itself by having the other character respond to it.

“Will you please lower your voice?”
“This is my house and I’ll…”
“You just woke the baby. You can go take care of her.”

We know attitudes, relationship, conflict, action = good#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

Dialogue should contain conflict. This is not real life, where we recount every second of our dreary day of work while our partner watches football. Put characters’ history, relationship, and conflict in every part of their dialogue to make it effective.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

If one character is not listening to the other, don’t tell your readers that: show it. Have them turning up the volume of the TV, answering their phone, leaving the room. Show us their nonverbal responses to the dialogue.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

Use only she said/he said as dialogue tags. Don’t use anything else. Ever. Dialogue tags are to keep the reader clear on who’s talking, not to show HOW the character is saying something. Using only “s/he said” as tags forces you to write stronger dialogue.#WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

Remember to use nonverbal communication. Characters don’t always have to respond with words: they can communicate perfectly well without saying anything at all. Observe people if you need to learn how to express emotions, communication, etc nonverbally. #WritingTips

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

To write good dialogue
• have characters talk only to each other
• include characters’ history, relationships, nature, & conflict
• don’t have characters say what others already know
• use only s/he said as tags
• include nonverbals
• remember silence & action#WritingTips pic.twitter.com/oiGingMUoI

— Alexandria Constantinova Szeman, Ph.D. (@Alexandria_SZ) August 10, 2018

♦

Related Posts

Characters