Writing Dialogue
1 min read
Making Characters Talk
Dialogue Serves Multiple Purposes
- Reveals character personality and relationships
- Advances the plot through information exchange
- Creates tension and conflict between characters
- Breaks up narrative prose and increases pacing
Writing Natural Dialogue
- Listen to real speech but edit out the "ums" and repetitions
- Each character should sound distinct—vocabulary, sentence length, speech patterns
- Use subtext: What characters don't say is as important as what they do
- Avoid exposition dumps: Don't have characters explain things they would already know
- "Said" is invisible: Use "said" and "asked" most of the time. Fancy alternatives ("exclaimed," "retorted") draw attention away from the dialogue itself