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Nov 13, 2015 · #1: Every line of dialogue must serve a purpose. Dialogue shouldn’t exist solely to give your characters something to say. Rather, effective literary conversations serve many powerful purposes; they can explore characters, advance the plot, ramp up tension, reveal context, establish mood, and so on.
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Sep 3, 2021 · Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Sep 3, 2021 • 6 min read. Writing dynamic, believable, and lively dialogue is an important skill for any storyteller. But what is great dialogue?
- Use Quotation Marks to Signal Speech
- Pace Dialogue Lines by Three
- Use Action Beats
- Use ‘Said’ as A Dialogue Tag
- Write Scene-Based Dialogue
- Model Any Talk on Real Life
- Differentiate Character Voices
- "Show, Don't Tell" Information in Conversation
- Delete Superfluous Words
Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.” Similarly, I could say that good dialogue in a novel is a real conversation without all the fluff — and with quotation marks. Imagine, for instance, if every scene with dialogue in your novel started out with: 'Hey, buddy! How are you doing?" “Great! How are you?"" 'Great...
Screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb once proposed an idea called the “Three-Beat Rule.” What this recommends, essentially, is to introduce a maximum of three dialogue “beats” (the short phrases in speech you can say without pausing for breath) at a time. Only after these three dialogue beats should you insert a dialogue tag, action beat, or another chara...
Let’s take a look at another kind of “beats” now — action beats. Action beats are the descriptions of the expressions, movements, or even internal thoughts that accompany the speaker’s words. They’re always included in the same paragraph as the dialogue, so as to indicate that the person acting is also the person speaking. On a technical level, act...
If there’s one golden rule in writing dialogue, it’s this: ‘said’ is your friend. Yes, ‘said’ is nothing new. Yes, ‘said’ is used by all other authors out there already. But you know what? There’s a reason why ‘said’ is the king of dialogue tags: it works. The thinking goes that ‘said’ is so unpretentious, so unassuming that it focuses readers’ att...
So now that we have several guidelines in place, this is a good spot to pause, reflect, and say that there’s no wrong or right way to write dialogue. It depends on the demands of the scene, the characters, and the story. Great dialogue isn’t about following this or that rule — but rather learning what technique to use when. If you stick to one rule...
Dialogue isn’t always about writing grammatically perfect prose. The way a person speaks reflects the way a person is — and not all people are straight-A honor students who speak in impeccable English. In real life, the way people talk is fragmented, and punctuated by pauses. That’s something that you should also keep in mind when you’re aiming to ...
A distinctive voice for each character is perhaps the most important element to get right in dialogue. Just as no one person in the world talks the same as each other, no one person in your book should also talk similarly. To get this part of writing dialogue down pat, you need to start out by knowing your characters inside out. How does your chara...
“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most oft-repeated rules in writing, and a conversation on the page can be a gold mine for “showing.” Authors can use action beats and descriptions to provide clues for readers to read between the lines. Let’s revisit Sophie and Ethan in this example: While Sophie claims she hasn’t been obsessing over this project al...
As always when it comes to writing a novel: all roads lead back to The Edit, and the dialogue you’ve written is no exception. So while you’re editing your novel at the end, you may find that a “less is more” mentality will be helpful. Remember to cut out the unnecessary bits of dialogue, so that you can focus on making sure the dialogue you do keep...
- Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered. 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.
- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. 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.
- Naomi Alderman, The Power. 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.
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go. 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.
That’s why we’re going to dissect everything that makes good dialogue. That includes: Defining “good” Examples of great dialogue in authors, movies, and TV shows; What good dialogue brings to your story; Practical tips for writing good dialogue. But before diving any deeper, understand that quality dialogue can’t exist without quality ...
Lindsay Kramer. Updated on June 24, 2022 Writing Tips. “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.”
Mar 4, 2021 · Elements of good dialogue. You should think of the elements in two ways. First, as attributes that good dialogue possesses, and then as ways to create good dialogue. 1. Goal
