For a lot of beginning writers, writing dialogue is one of the most daunting tasks. Not only are there a bunch of rules, but this is the part of your story that really needs to be authentic because everyone knows what it is like to have a conversation. When writers are more advanced, they begin to experiment with the rules of dialogue, but for now, here are some of the basics.
These are the terms that may be relevant to discussion dialogue:
- Dialogue: the conversation between character(s)
- “Hey, John!”
- “Hey. Are you doing well?”
- “I’m doing great.”
- Dialogue tag: short phrases to identify the speaker or break up dialogue
- “This is great,” she said.
- “This is boring,” Mark yawned.
- Subtext: the underlying meaning of what your character is saying (they aren’t literally saying this).
- “Fine. Whatever.”
- The subtext of this phrase may be that the character is being sarcastic.
These are the basic rules of dialogue:
- Have what your character is saying inside the quotation marks. Also, all punctuation marks (periods, commas, dashes) all inside your quotation marks.
- “I have never been this cold in my life,” Janice said.
- Begin a new paragraph (enter key and indent/tab key) every time a different person speaks. This makes it clear to your readers who is talking.
“It’s never been this cold in May before,” Ruth said.
“Agreed. It could be January for all I know!”
“That is so true.” Ruth agreed.
- Your dialogue will usually end with a comma, not a period. This might seem weird at first, but it is because you are finishing the sentence by saying who is speaking. Therefore, you shouldn’t capitalize the dialogue tag.
- “I really love you,” she said.
- Even when your dialogue ends with an exclamation mark, a question mark, or elipses, if it has a dialogue tag, the pronoun will remain lowercase (for the reasons stated above).
- “Give me back my book!” she yelled.
- “Can I have my book back?” she asked.
- “My book…” she thought.
- Your dialogue will end with a period only when there is no dialogue tag or when an action is following the dialogue (often this happens when you are splitting up dialogue).
- “Don’t cross the street!
- “I hate you!” She kicked her foot.
- “I don’t care. Do whatever you want.” She threw the vase on the floor. “You never listen to me.”
- This rule is a bit subjective, but when you are quoting something or someone inside a quote, you only use one apostrophe (‘) instead of two (“)
- “Hey, Elizabeth, Dan just said ‘I hate you’ to me!”
These are some tips to help your dialogue feel natural
- Don’t overuse dialogue tags
- It’s unnatural when your dialogue is filled with tags because readers often realize who is speaking, whether from a character’s unique voice or context.
This should feel a bit wordy. | This should be a bit more natural |
“Hi, Jan!” Dan said. “Hello, Dan,” Jan said. “It’s a great day. Your hair looks nice,” Dan said. “Thank you,” Jan replied. | “Hi, Jan!” “Hello, Dan.” “It’s a great day. Your hair looks nice,” Dan said. “Thank you.” |
- Use dialogue to advance your story
- A typical note of advice is that dialogue should always be adding to your story in some way. Whether it is to highlight a character’s fear, cause an argument, or resolve an issue, dialogue should always be aiming to do something.
- Stale and unnecessary dialogue typically gets cut anyways after the first draft.
- Think of dialogue like music. It has beats and rhythms, crescendos, pianos, and rests
- When you’re speaking with someone, there are pauses, questions, and different tones that you use. You should try and bring this to your dialogue. You want your readers to feel the pauses and feel the tension, through the dialogue and things surrounding it.
Example of excellent musicality in dialogue (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) |
“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?” Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. “But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.” Mr. Bennet made no answer. “Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently. “You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.” This was invitation enough. “Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.” |
- Make sure each character has their own distinct voice
- One of the biggest problems that writers face, both beginning and advanced, is the voice of their characters. You have to put aside your own voice––the one that you use to speak and think––and create a new one for each of your characters.
- A lot of this comes through characterization (feel free to read our cheat sheet on characters!), but some things that impact a character’s voice in dialogue is certain slang, inflections, and common phrases.
- I.e. A character is known for always saying “what’s up” or “I’m fine”
- One character may be very mellow and say very little while another character is extremely bubbly and always blabbering
Example of two characters with distinct voices |
“Come on! You said you’d go to the party if I passed with an A.” Teddy tugged at me. “I don’t really want to go.” “But you’ll have so much fun! I promise to stay with you.” Alexa thought for a minute. She really didn’t want to go, but she had made a promise and she didn’t want to turn back on it now. “Okay, fine. But this is the first and last.” Teddy grinned. “You won’t regret this!” |
- People never truly say what they feel. When you are writing dialogue, their words shouldn’t be perfect and explain exactly how they’re feeling.
This should feel a bit unnatural. | This should be a bit more natural |
“What you said really upset me that day,” Brooke said. “I just had a really long day and when you said that it made me lose all focus on the things I had to do.” “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay. It’s just that sometimes you don’t really think about others.” | “Hey,” Brooke said, but Dan realized that her voice caught as she spoke. “Are you okay?” Dan asked. “I–” she thought for a bit. “I’m just thinking about what you said the other day.” |