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This article was co-written by Christopher Taylor, PhD. Christopher Taylor is an assistant professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014.
This article has been viewed 21,338 times.
Dialogue is an essential part of a story, and writers should try to make it as natural as possible whether in stories, books, plays, or movies. Conversation is how the writer conveys information to the audience in an interesting and emotional way. Write the dialogues once you’ve learned the characters, keep them simple and real, and then read them aloud to make sure they sound like real life.
Steps
Study the dialogue
- Skip unnecessary parts of the conversation. For example, you don’t need to clearly write “hello” and “goodbye”. Some conversations can skip the greeting and go straight to the main topic.
- Bring a notebook to jot down small conversations you hear in real life.
- Some authors you might refer to are Douglas Adams, Toni Morrison, and Judy Blume (these are just a few examples; there are many more!). Their conversations tend to be realistic, layered, and lively.
- Referencing and practicing scripting TV and radio shows will help in developing dialogue. Douglas Adams, one of the authors mentioned above, started his career as a radio scriptwriter, one of the factors that helped him write such great lines.
- You don’t have to write down the details of each character in your work, but you do have to understand them yourself.
- Details such as age, gender, education level, hometown, voice also make a difference in the dialogue of each character. For example, an American girl from a difficult family situation will speak differently to a rich, old British man.
- Each character has a unique way of speaking. Each character has a different way of using words, tone of voice or speed of speech. You need to ensure the difference between the characters.
- Floral dialogue is only effective if you want to clarify something, but in terms of language, it shouldn’t. For example: “Hi Mai, you look sad,” Binh said. “Yes Binh, I’m sad. Do you want to know why?” “Yes Mai, I want to know what makes you sad.” “I’m sad because my dog is sick, it makes me think of my father’s mysterious death two years ago.”
- You should edit the dialogue above like this: “Mai, what’s wrong?” Binh asked. Mai shrugged, her eyes still fixed on something outside the window. “Our dog is sick. They can’t find out what’s wrong with it.” “Too bad, but listen Mai… the dog is old too. Maybe it’s time.” Mai’s hand clutched tightly to the window sill. “It’s just, just, do you think the doctor knows?” “You mean veterinarian?” Binh frowned. “OK whatever”.
- The reason the following dialogue is better is that you don’t need to write down exactly Mai’s thoughts about her late father, instead prefer to explain through the word that she uses “doctor” instead of “” vet doctor”. The flow of text will be more fluent.
- An example of a case where rhetoric should be used is in The Lord of the Rings . The dialogue is not always rigid, but when hobbits speak, they use very eloquent (unrealistic) language. The only reason it’s appropriate (a lot of people disagree that it really does!) is because the story is written in the same old epic style as Beowulf or The Mabinogion .
Write a conversation
- Sometimes you may not use “say”, “answer” or “return” when appropriate. For example, you can use “interrupt” or “scream” or “whisper” but only at appropriate and specific parts of the story.
- Don’t write dialogues about the weather or ask how other characters are, even though this happens a lot in real life. Today, even a small conversation can create pressure. For example, if one character needs to gather information from another character, but the second character talks all the time “in the sky”, both the reader and the other character get impatient.
- Dialogues need a purpose. When writing dialogue, ask yourself “why do you write this part of the story?” “What am I going to show the reader about the story or the character?” If there is no answer, discard the dialogue.
- Example of what not to do: Mai turned to Binh and asked, “Binh, do you remember when my father mysteriously passed away and our family was kicked out of the house by an evil aunt?” “I remember, Mai. You were 12 years old then, you had to drop out of school to help support your family.”
- Better writing of the above dialogue: Mai pursed her lips and turned to look at Binh “I heard the news about that aunt today”. Binh was shocked. “But that’s the one who kicked your family out of the house. What does she want?” “Who knows, she suggests something about her father’s death.” “What?” Binh raised an eyebrow. “Maybe she thought your father’s death wasn’t simple.”
- There are many ways to say it. Therefore, if the character wants to say “I need you”, try letting them express it instead of saying it directly . Example: Car starter. Mai put her hand on his arm, she bit her lip. “This bottle, I… do you really have to go now?” she withdrew her hand. “We still don’t know what to do.”
- Don’t force the character to speak out all of their thoughts or feelings. This is revealing too many details, losing the suspense and nuance of the story.
- Let the character make arguments or say unexpected things, as long as it suits their personality. The conversation needs to have a focus. If everyone just agreed or asked and answered basic questions, the conversation would become boring.
- Alternate dialogue and action. When chatting, people are still working, laughing, washing dishes, walking, etc. Add a few details to bring the dialogue to life.
- For example: “I don’t think a healthy person like your father would get sick and die,” the aunt said. Mai calmly replied, “Everybody gets sick sometimes”. “Sometimes they get a little help from friends.” The aunt appeared smug, Mai just wanted to strangle her through the phone. “If someone wants to harm my father, do you know who?” “Oh, I know a little bit, but the decision is up to you.”
Read and check the conversation
- Ask a friend or family member you trust to read the dialogue. A keen eye can find the unnatural parts, the parts that need to be corrected.
- Quotation marks are placed at the end of a sentence followed by a comma. For example, “Hi, I’m Mai,” Mai says.
- If you add action in the middle of a conversation, you can write a compound sentence or split it into multiple sentences. For example: “I don’t believe he was the one who killed my father,” Mai said, tears welling in her eyes. “Not like him at all.” or write something like, “I don’t believe he was the one who killed my father,” said Mai, with tears in her eyes, “because that doesn’t look like you at all.”
- If there is no dialogue but only action, you can put a comma after the quotation marks. For example: “Bye auntie”, Mai hung up the phone.
- For example, instead of writing “I can’t believe that for so many years it was you who poisoned Dad’s evening cocktail and harmed him”, Mai said; you can write “I don’t believe it was you who poisoned my father!”
- Create your own character’s hometown in different ways. For example, use local words like “pineapple” instead of “pineapple” to create geographical differences. Be sure to use slang or dialects that are standard for the region your character lives in.
Advice
- Consult resources to help you write better conversations. Take a writing class, consult a book or website dedicated to writers to improve your conversational storytelling skills.
- Look for groups or classes for people who enjoy writing, including television scriptwriting. Working with people and getting lots of feedback will help you to progress fast!
Warning
- Don’t focus too much on the conversation when writing your first draft. It can’t be perfect, which is perfectly normal because you’ll be reading and correcting in the next draft.
This article was co-written by Christopher Taylor, PhD. Christopher Taylor is an assistant professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014.
This article has been viewed 21,338 times.
Dialogue is an essential part of a story, and writers should try to make it as natural as possible whether in stories, books, plays, or movies. Conversation is how the writer conveys information to the audience in an interesting and emotional way. Write the dialogue once you’ve learned about the characters, keep it simple and real, and then read it aloud to make sure they sound like real life.
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