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Learn how to write dialogue that reveals character, builds tension, drives the plot, creates humor, and more. See 20 examples of dialogue and tips on formatting, subtext, dialects, and groups.
- Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered
- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
- Naomi Alderman, The Power
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
- J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit
- F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Arthur Conan Doyle,A Study in Scarlet
- Brandon Taylor, Real Life
- Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants
- Madeline Miller, Circe
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In the opening of Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered,we meet Willa Knox, a middle-aged and newly unemployed writer who has just inherited a ramshackle house. Alfred Hitchcock once described drama as "life with the boring bits cut out." In this passage, Kingsolver cuts out the boring parts of Willa's conversation with her contractor and brings us righ...
In the first piece of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice, we meet Mr and Mrs Bennet, as Mrs Bennet attempts to draw her husband into a conversation about neighborhood gossip. Austen’s dialogue is always witty, subtle, and packed with character. This extract from Pride and Prejudice is a great example of dialogue being used to develop character relatio...
In The Power, young women around the world suddenly find themselves capable of generating and controlling electricity. In this passage, between two boys and a girl who just used those powers to light her cigarette. Alderman here uses a show, don’t tellapproach to expositional dialogue. Within this short exchange, we discover a lot about Allie, her ...
Here, friends Tommy and Kathy have a conversation after Tommy has had a meltdown. After being bullied by a group of boys, he has been stomping around in the mud, the precise reaction they were hoping to evoke from him. This episode from Never Let Me Go highlights the power of interspersing action beatswithin dialogue. These action beats work in sev...
The eponymous hobbit Bilbo is engaged in a game of riddles with the strange creature Gollum. Tolkein’s dialogue for Gollum is a masterclass in creating distinct character voices. By using a repeated catchphrase (“my precious”) and unconventional spelling and grammar to reflect his unusual speech pattern, Tolkien creates an idiosyncratic, unique (an...
The narrator, Nick has just done his new neighbour Gatsby a favor by inviting his beloved Daisy over to tea. Perhaps in return, Gatsby then attempts to make a shady business proposition. This dialogue from The Great Gatsby is a great example of how to make dialogue sound natural. Gatsby tripping over his own words (even interrupting himself, as mar...
In this first meeting between the two heroes of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmesstories, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, John is introduced to Sherlock while the latter is hard at work in the lab. This passage uses a number of the key techniques for writing naturalistic and exciting dialogue, including characters speaking over one another and the int...
Here, our protagonist Wallace is questioned by Ramon, a friend-of-a-friend, over the fact that he is considering leaving his PhD program. Brandon Taylor’s Real Life is drawn from the author’s own experiences as a queer Black man, attempting to navigate the unwelcoming world of academia, navigating the world of academia, and so it’s no surprise that...
In this short story, an unnamed man and a young woman discuss whether or not they should terminate a pregnancy while sitting on a train platform. This example of dialogue from Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants moves at quite a clip. The conversation quickly bounces back and forthbetween the speakers, and the call-and-response forma...
In Madeline Miller’s retelling of Greek myth, we witness a conversation between the mythical enchantress Circe and Telemachus (son of Odysseus). This short and punchy exchange hits on a lot of the stylistic points we’ve covered so far. The conversation is a taut tennis match between the two speakers as they volley back and forth with short but impa...
Learn how to write dialogue that is witty, realistic, and engaging from 15 examples by Barbara Kingsolver, Jane Austen, Kazuo Ishiguro, and more. See how they use dialogue to reveal character, plot, and theme in their novels.
Learn how to write dialogue that brings your characters to life and serves multiple purposes in your story. Find out the difference between inner and outer dialogue, monologue, and how to format dialogue correctly.
Dialogue writing: Learn the basic rules, structure and format of dialogue writing in this article. Also analyse the sample dialogues given to master the art of dialogue writing.
- A dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conve...
- The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”.
- The basic structure and format of a dialogue is as follows: Dialogues are to be placed within quotation marks. Every speaker gets a new paragraph....
Learn what dialogue is and how it is used in different types of writing, such as novels, plays, and films. See examples of dialogue from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Romeo and Juliet, and Pride and Prejudice.
Jul 8, 2022 · Learn how to write dialogue with quotation marks and tags, and see examples from famous literature. Find out the difference between outer and inner dialogue, and how to use it effectively.
Dialogue is spoken lines by characters in a story that serve many functions such as adding context, establishing voice and tone, or setting forth conflict. Learn how dialogue is used in literature, movies, and poetry with examples and analysis.
