Your dialogue is a huge part of your writing, especially if you write fiction. I read once that a story is a controlled release of information about an event or person.
It goes to follow, that in the spirit of “show, don’t tell,” your dialogue can play a very significant part in the telling of the story. What are some tips for writing better dialogue?
What should I do to make my dialogue do to sound natural and realistic?
Vary sentence length and structure to create a more dynamic conversation.
Use dialogue to reveal character.
Advance the plot.
Avoid excessive use of dialogue tags.
What are some tips for writing better dialogue?
Writing effective dialogue is an essential part of creating compelling and realistic stories. Here are some tips to improve your dialogue writing.
Listen to real conversations. Pay attention to how people speak in everyday conversations. Note the way they use slang, fillers, and pauses. This will help you create dialogue that sounds authentic.
Use contractions. People rarely speak in full sentences without using contractions. Using contractions in your dialogue will make it sound more natural and less formal.
Give each character a unique voice. Every character should have their own way of speaking. Think about their background, education, and personality when creating their dialogue.
Avoid info dump. Dialogue is not the place to load information on your readers. Instead, try to show, not tell. Also use action and gestures to convey information whenever possible.
Keep it short. Avoid long monologues and speeches. Dialogue should be concise and to the point.
Use subtext. What characters say is not always what they mean. Use subtext to create tension and conflict in your dialogue.
Use punctuation to convey a tone. Punctuation can convey tone and mood in dialogue. Use exclamation points, question marks, and ellipses to convey emotion and pacing.
Use silence. Sometimes what characters don’t say is just as important as what they do say. Use pauses and silence sometimes to create tension and anticipation.
Read your dialogue out loud. This will help you hear how it sounds and identify any odd and awkward phrasing or unnatural dialogue.
Edit, edit, edit. Kill your darlings. Once you’ve written your dialogue, go back and edit it. Remove unnecessary dialogue and make sure it flows naturally.
Photo by Julia Joppien on Unsplash
More of My Stories
If you enjoyed this story, you can find almost ALL of them HERE.
You can get my book, “A Year of Martin” FREE HERE.
You can get my book “I Heart Martin, stories 301–400” FREE HERE.
You can get my book “Martin Writes on Martin Writing” FREE HERE.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
(This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click, or make a purchase by clicking on them, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, that will help me continue to bring you valuable content. To that end, not all of the items on this page are affiliate links, as that is not a requirement to be on this page. Thanks for your support!)
Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
