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How to Write Dialogue: 7 Great Tips for Writers (With Examples)

By Hannah Yang

Great dialogue serves multiple purposes. It moves your plot forward. It develops your characters and it makes the story more engaging.

It’s not easy to do all these things at once, but when you master the art of writing dialogue, readers won’t be able to put your book down.

In this article, we will teach you the rules for writing dialogue and share our top dialogue tips that will make your story sing.

Dialogue Rules

How to format dialogue, 7 tips for writing dialogue in a story or book, dialogue examples.

Before we look at tips for writing powerful dialogue , let’s start with an overview of basic dialogue rules.

• Start a new paragraph each time there’s a new speaker. Whenever a new character begins to speak, you should give them their own paragraph. This rule makes it easier for the reader to follow the conversation.
• Keep all speech between quotation marks . Everything that a character says should go between quotation marks, including the final punctuation marks. For example, periods and commas should always come before the final quotation mark, not after.
• Don’t use end quotations for paragraphs within long speeches. If a single character speaks for such a long time that you break their speech up into multiple paragraphs, you should omit the quotation marks at the end of each paragraph until they stop talking. The final quotation mark indicates that their speech is over.
• Use single quotes when a character quotes someone else. Whenever you have a quote within a quote, you should use single quotation marks (e.g. She said, “He had me at ‘hello.’”)
• Dialogue tags are optional. A dialogue tag is anything that indicates which character is speaking and how, such as “she said,” “he whispered,” or “I shouted.” You can use dialogue tags if you want to give the reader more information about who’s speaking, but you can also choose to omit them if you want the dialogue to flow more naturally. We’ll be discussing more about this rule in our tips below.

Let’s walk through some examples of how to format dialogue .

The simplest formatting option is to write a line of speech without a dialogue tag. In this case, the entire line of speech goes within the quotation marks, including the period at the end.

• Example: “I think I need a nap.”

Another common formatting option is to write a single line of speech that ends with a dialogue tag.

Here, you should separate the speech from the dialogue tag with a comma, which should go inside the quotation marks.

• Example: “I think I need a nap,” Maria said.

You can also write a line of speech that starts with a dialogue tag. Again, you separate the dialogue tag with a comma, but this time, the comma goes outside the quotation marks.

• Example: Maria said, “I think I need a nap.”

As an alternative to a simple dialogue tag, you can write a line of speech accompanied by an action beat. In this case, you should use a period rather than a comma, because the action beat is a full sentence.

• Example: Maria sat down on the bed. “I think I need a nap.”

Finally, you can choose to include an action beat while the character is talking.

In this case, you would use em-dashes to separate the action from the dialogue, to indicate that the action happens without a pause in the speech.

• Example: “I think I need”—Maria sat down on the bed—“a nap.”

Now that we’ve covered the basics, we can move on to the more nuanced aspects of writing dialogue.

Here are our seven favorite tips for writing strong, powerful dialogue that will keep your readers engaged.

Tip #1: Create Character Voices

Dialogue is a great way to reveal your characters. What your characters say, and how they say it, can tell us so much about what kind of people they are.

Some characters are witty and gregarious. Others are timid and unobtrusive.

Speech patterns vary drastically from person to person.

To make someone stop talking to them, one character might say “I would rather not talk about this right now,” while another might say, “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

When you’re writing dialogue, think about your character’s education level, personality, and interests.

• What kind of slang do they use?
• Do they prefer long or short sentences?
• Do they ask questions or make assertions?

Each character should have their own voice.

Ideally, you want to write dialogue that lets your reader identify the person speaking at any point in your story just by looking at what’s between the quotation marks.

Tip #2: Write Realistic Dialogue

Good dialogue should sound natural. Listen to how people talk in real life and try to replicate it on the page when you write dialogue.

Don’t be afraid to break the rules of grammar, or to use an occasional exclamation point to punctuate dialogue.

It’s okay to use contractions , sentence fragments , and run-on sentences , even if you wouldn’t use them in other parts of the story.

This doesn’t mean that realistic dialogue should sound exactly like the way people speak in the real world.

If you’ve ever read a court transcript, you know that real-life speech is riddled with “ums” and “ahs” and repeated words and phrases. A few paragraphs of this might put your readers to sleep.

Compelling dialogue should sound like a real conversation, while still being wittier, smoother, and better worded than real speech.

Tip #3: Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

A dialogue tag is anything that tells the reader which character is talking within that same paragraph, such as “she said” or “I asked.”

When you’re writing dialogue, remember that simple dialogue tags are the most effective .

Often, you can omit dialogue tags after the conversation has started flowing, especially if only two characters are participating.

The reader will be able to keep up with who’s speaking as long as you start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

When you do need to use a dialogue tag, a simple “he said” or “she said” will do the trick.

Our brains generally skip over the word “said” when we’re reading, while other dialogue tags are a distraction.

A common mistake beginner writers make is to avoid using the word “said.”

Characters in amateur novels tend to mutter, whisper, declare, or chuckle at every line of dialogue. This feels overblown and distracts from the actual story.

Another common mistake is to attach an adverb to the word “said.” Characters in amateur novels rarely just say things—they have to say things loudly, quietly, cheerfully, or angrily.

If you’re writing great dialogue, readers should be able to figure out whether your character is cheerful or angry from what’s within the quotation marks.

The only exception to this rule is if the dialogue tag contradicts the dialogue itself. For example, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said angrily.

The word “angrily” is redundant here because the words inside the quotation marks already imply that the character is speaking angrily.

In contrast, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said thoughtfully.

Here, the word “thoughtfully” is well-placed because it contrasts with what we might otherwise assume. It adds an additional nuance to the sentence inside the quotation marks.

You can use the ProWritingAid dialogue check when you write dialogue to make sure your dialogue tags are pulling their weight and aren’t distracting readers from the main storyline.

Sign up for your free ProWritingAid account to check your dialogue tags today.

Tip #4: Balance Speech with Action

When you’re writing dialogue, you can use action beats —descriptions of body language or physical action—to show what each character is doing throughout the conversation.

Learning how to write action beats is an important component of learning how to write dialogue.

Good dialogue becomes even more interesting when the characters are doing something active at the same time.

You can watch people in real life, or even characters in movies, to see what kinds of body language they have. Some pick at their fingernails. Some pace the room. Some tap their feet on the floor.

Including physical action when writing dialogue can have multiple benefits:

• It changes the pace of your dialogue and makes the rhythm more interesting
• It prevents “white room syndrome,” which is when a scene feels like it’s happening in a white room because it’s all dialogue and no description
• It shows the reader who’s speaking without using speaker tags

You can decide how often to include physical descriptions in each scene. All dialogue has an ebb and flow to it, and you can use beats to control the pace of your dialogue scenes.

If you want a lot of tension in your scene, you can use fewer action beats to let the dialogue ping-pong back and forth.

If you want a slower scene, you can write dialogue that includes long, detailed action beats to help the reader relax.

You should start a separate sentence, or even a new paragraph, for each of these longer beats.

Tip #5: Write Conversations with Subtext

Every conversation has subtext , because we rarely say exactly what we mean. The best dialogue should include both what is said and what is not said.

I once had a roommate who cared a lot about the tidiness of our apartment, but would never say it outright. We soon figured out that whenever she said something like “I might bring some friends over tonight,” what she meant was “Please wash your dishes, because there are no clean plates left for my friends to use.”

When you’re writing dialogue, it’s important to think about what’s not being said. Even pleasant conversations can hide a lot beneath the surface.

Is one character secretly mad at the other?

Is one secretly in love with the other?

Is one thinking about tomorrow’s math test and only pretending to pay attention to what the other person is saying?

Personally, I find it really hard to use subtext when I write dialogue from scratch.

In my first drafts I let my characters say what they really mean. Then, when I’m editing, I go back and figure out how to convey the same information through subtext instead.

Tip #6: Show, Don’t Tell

When I was in high school, I once wrote a story in which the protagonist’s mother tells her: “As you know, Susan, your dad left us when you were five.”

I’ve learned a lot about the writing craft since high school, but it doesn’t take a brilliant writer to figure out that this is not something any mother would say to her daughter in real life.

The reason I wrote that line of dialogue was because I wanted to tell the reader when Susan last saw her father, but I didn’t do it in a realistic way.

Don’t shoehorn information into your characters’ conversations if they’re not likely to say it to each other.

One useful trick is to have your characters get into an argument.

You can convey a lot of information about a topic through their conflicting opinions, without making it sound like either of the characters is saying things for the reader’s benefit.

Here’s one way my high school self could have conveyed the same information in a more realistic way in just a few lines:

Susan: “Why didn’t you tell me Dad was leaving? Why didn’t you let me say goodbye?”

Mom: “You were only five. I wanted to protect you.”

Tip #7: Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Dialogue tends to flow out easily when you’re drafting your story, so in the editing process, you’ll need to be ruthless. Cut anything that doesn’t move the story forward.

Try not to write dialogue that feels like small talk.

You can eliminate most hellos and goodbyes, or summarize them instead of showing them. Readers don’t want to waste their time reading dialogue that they hear every day.

In addition, try not to write dialogue with too many trigger phrases, which are questions that trigger the next line of dialogue, such as:

• “And then what?”
• “What do you mean?”

It’s tempting to slip these in when you’re writing dialogue because they keep the conversation flowing. I still catch myself doing this from time to time.

Remember that you don’t need three lines of dialogue when one line could accomplish the same thing.

Let’s look at some dialogue examples from successful novels that follow each of our seven tips.

Dialogue Example #1: How to Create Character Voice

Let’s start with an example of a character with a distinct voice from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling.

“What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can’t you?” Colin had run down from his seat and was now dancing alongside them as they left the field. Ron gave a huge heave and more slugs dribbled down his front. “Oooh,” said Colin, fascinated and raising his camera. “Can you hold him still, Harry?”

Most readers could figure out that this was Colin Creevey speaking, even if his name hadn’t been mentioned in the passage.

This is because Colin Creevey is the only character who speaks with such extreme enthusiasm, even at a time when Ron is belching slugs.

This snippet of written dialogue does a great job of showing us Colin’s personality and how much he worships his hero Harry.

Dialogue Example #2: How to Write Realistic Dialogue

Here’s an example of how to write dialogue that feels realistic from A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

“As much as I love this land, some days I think about leaving it,” Babi said. “Where to?” “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget. Pakistan first, I suppose. For a year, maybe two. Wait for our paperwork to get processed.” “And then?” “And then, well, it is a big world. Maybe America. Somewhere near the sea. Like California.”

Notice the punctuation and grammar that these two characters use when they speak.

There are many sentence fragments in this conversation like, “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget.” and “Somewhere near the sea.”

Babi often omits the verbs from his sentences, just like people do in real life. He speaks in short fragments instead of long, flowing paragraphs.

This dialogue shows who Babi is and feels similar to the way a real person would talk, while still remaining concise.

Dialogue Example #3: How to Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

Here’s an example of effective dialogue tags in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

In this passage, the narrator’s been caught exploring the forbidden west wing of her new husband’s house, and she’s trying to make excuses for being there.

“I lost my way,” I said, “I was trying to find my room.” “You have come to the opposite side of the house,” she said; “this is the west wing.” “Yes, I know,” I said. “Did you go into any of the rooms?” she asked me. “No,” I said. “No, I just opened a door, I did not go in. Everything was dark, covered up in dust sheets. I’m sorry. I did not mean to disturb anything. I expect you like to keep all this shut up.” “If you wish to open up the rooms I will have it done,” she said; “you have only to tell me. The rooms are all furnished, and can be used.” “Oh, no,” I said. “No. I did not mean you to think that.”

In this passage, the only dialogue tags Du Maurier uses are “I said,” “she said,” and “she asked.”

Even so, you can feel the narrator’s dread and nervousness. Her emotions are conveyed through what she actually says, rather than through the dialogue tags.

This is a splendid example of evocative speech that doesn’t need fancy dialogue tags to make it come to life.

Dialogue Example #4: How to Balance Speech with Action

Let’s look at a passage from The Princess Bride by William Goldman, where dialogue is melded with physical action.

With a smile the hunchback pushed the knife harder against Buttercup’s throat. It was about to bring blood. “If you wish her dead, by all means keep moving," Vizzini said. The man in black froze. “Better,” Vizzini nodded. No sound now beneath the moonlight. “I understand completely what you are trying to do,” the Sicilian said finally, “and I want it quite clear that I resent your behavior. You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen, and I think it quite ungentlemanly.” “Let me explain,” the man in black began, starting to edge forward. “You’re killing her!” the Sicilian screamed, shoving harder with the knife. A drop of blood appeared now at Buttercup’s throat, red against white.

In this passage, William Goldman brings our attention seamlessly from the action to the dialogue and back again.

This makes the scene twice as interesting, because we’re paying attention not just to what Vizzini and the man in black are saying, but also to what they’re doing.

This is a great way to keep tension high and move the plot forward.

Dialogue Example #5: How to Write Conversations with Subtext

This example from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card shows how to write dialogue with subtext.

Here is the scene when Ender and his sister Valentine are reunited for the first time, after Ender’s spent most of his childhood away from home training to be a soldier.

Ender didn’t wave when she walked down the hill toward him, didn’t smile when she stepped onto the floating boat slip. But she knew that he was glad to see her, knew it because of the way his eyes never left her face. “You’re bigger than I remembered,” she said stupidly. “You too,” he said. “I also remembered that you were beautiful.” “Memory does play tricks on us.” “No. Your face is the same, but I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore. Come on. Let’s go out into the lake.”

In this scene, we can tell that Valentine missed her brother terribly, and that Ender went through a lot of trauma at Battle School, without either of them saying it outright.

The conversation could have started with Valentine saying “I missed you,” but instead, she goes for a subtler opening: “You’re bigger than I remembered.”

Similarly, Ender could say “You have no idea what I’ve been through,” but instead he says, “I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore.”

We can deduce what each of these characters is thinking and feeling from what they say and from what they leave unsaid.

Dialogue Example #6: How to Show, Not Tell

Let’s look at an example from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This scene is the story’s first introduction of the ancient creatures called the Chandrian.

“I didn’t know the Chandrian were demons,” the boy said. “I’d heard—” “They ain’t demons,” Jake said firmly. “They were the first six people to refuse Tehlu’s choice of the path, and he cursed them to wander the corners—” “Are you telling this story, Jacob Walker?” Cob said sharply. “Cause if you are, I’ll just let you get on with it.” The two men glared at each other for a long moment. Eventually Jake looked away, muttering something that could, conceivably, have been an apology. Cob turned back to the boy. “That’s the mystery of the Chandrian,” he explained. “Where do they come from? Where do they go after they’ve done their bloody deeds? Are they men who sold their souls? Demons? Spirits? No one knows.” Cob shot Jake a profoundly disdainful look. “Though every half-wit claims he knows...”

The three characters taking part in this conversation all know what the Chandrian are.

Imagine if Cob had said “As we all know, the Chandrian are mysterious demon-spirits.” We would feel like he was talking to us, not to the two other characters.

Instead, Rothfuss has all three characters try to explain their own understanding of what the Chandrian are, and then shoot each other’s explanations down.

When Cob reprimands Jake for interrupting him and then calls him a half-wit for claiming to know what he’s talking about, it feels like a realistic interaction.

This is a clever way for Rothfuss to introduce the Chandrian in a believable way.

Dialogue Example #7: How to Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Here’s an example of concise dialogue from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

“Do you blame me for flunking you, boy?” he said. “No, sir! I certainly don’t,” I said. I wished to hell he’d stop calling me “boy” all the time. He tried chucking my exam paper on the bed when he was through with it. Only, he missed again, naturally. I had to get up again and pick it up and put it on top of the Atlantic Monthly. It’s boring to do that every two minutes. “What would you have done in my place?” he said. “Tell the truth, boy.” Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told him how I would’ve done exactly the same thing if I’d been in his place, and how most people didn’t appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull.

Here, the last paragraph diverges from the prior ones. After the teacher says “Tell the truth, boy,” the rest of the conversation is summarized, rather than shown.

The summary of what the narrator says in the last paragraph—“I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff”—serves to hammer home that this is the type of “old bull” that the narrator has fed to his teachers over and over before.

It doesn’t need to be shown because it’s not important to the narrator—it’s just “all that stuff.”

Salinger could have written out the entire conversation in dialogue, but instead he kept the dialogue concise.

Final Words

Now you know how to write clear, effective dialogue! Start with the basic rules for dialogue and try implementing the more advanced tips as you go.

What are your favorite dialogue tips? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you know how to craft memorable, compelling characters? Download this free book now:

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Hannah Yang

Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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Writing dialogue: Complete guide to storied speech

Writing dialogue is an important skill to develop so that characters’ speech is imbued with voice and advances the story. Learn more in this complete guide to dialogue writing and formatting, with examples.

• Post author By Jordan
• 37 Comments on Writing dialogue: Complete guide to storied speech

This guide to writing dialogue is all about using speech and conversation in storytelling to make your characters’ voices drive plot, tension and drama. Use the links to jump to the dialogue-writing topic you want to learn more about right now.

What is dialogue? Key terms

Dialogue in writing is conversation between two or more people/animated voices (animated voices because it could be speech between a person and an inanimate object they personify, for example, an imaginary or supernatural voice, and so forth).

Dialogue can be compared to:

• A tennis or fencing match: Speakers may spar, score points, volley arguments or statements (and rebuttals to them) back and forth
• A dance: One speaker says one line, the other replies, and sometimes one person may lead, at other times, the other leads
• Pieces in a puzzle coming together: What different characters say may build up a gradual picture, for example an idea of the persona of a character who has not yet appeared in a story scene but has been spoken about by others
• Music: sometimes there is harmony (working together), other times discord (strife, heated conversation or disagreement)

Key terms in writing dialogue

There are several terms in dialogue worth knowing as they crop up often in discussing this element of writing craft:

Active listening: Dialogue is (usually) responsive

When somebody is engaged in ‘active listening’, they aren’t just waiting for their turn to speak. In a true conversation, people hear one another, respond.

There may be instances where your dialogue’s subtext or context (more on these below) calls for characters not to actively listen to one another, of course. There may be cause for them to interrupt, speak over, speak at cross purposes.

In these cases, it should be contextually or otherwise clear why characters aren’t properly responding to each other’s speech (the dialogue should not read or sound like random non sequiturs, each person’s utterances totally disconnected for no clear reason).

Context for dialogue

Effective dialogue involves its context. For example, in a frenzied car chase, the squeal of tires may drown out the exchange here or there. Speech and action in this context may reflect rapid decision-making, keeping pace.

In the middle of a bank heist, people may be curt, decisive (of course, inept thieves could wax lyrical and by talking too much make rookie mistakes).

Either way, context will inform how readers make sense of your dialogue, and helps to fill dialogue with tone and mood . Nobody whispers to each other standing next to Niagara falls (if they want to be heard).

Subtext and dialogue

Subtext in dialogue is the underlying meaning, motivation or feeling behind the words characters speak.

For example, a boss starts a casual conversation with a new employee but the subtext is that they’re having regrets at hiring the person and trying to come to a decision on whether to terminate in the trial period. The subtext will inform what language they will use (and this language would be different to someone ecstatic with their employee’s performance).

Subtext adds depth and complexity to dialogue, strata of the said and unsaid.

Purpose in dialogue

Why is the information you are writing in a scene given as dialogue? Knowing the purpose of dialogue (and writing dialogue that feels purpose-driven) is useful to ensure that every spoken line counts. In a stage play, dialogue and action are the two drivers of story.

In narrative fiction, you also get to use narration to convey meaning. A story where all character information is conveyed through narration may read oddly voiceless, impersonal. Dialogue makes your characters pause, take a breath, like real flesh and blood.

Recommended reading

Learn more about writing conversations that feel real and draw on cause and effect, call and response:

• Context and subtext in dialogue: Creating layered speech
• How to make dialogue in writing carry your story
• 7 dialogue rules for writing fantastic conversations

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I write plays because writing dialogue is the only respectable way of contradicting yourself. I put a position, rebut it, refute the rebuttal, and rebut the refutation. Tom Stoppard

GET YOUR FREE GUIDE TO SCENE STRUCTURE

Read a guide to writing scenes with purpose that move your story forward.

Why dialogue matters

Why do most stories benefit from liberal use of dialogue?

1. Dialogue brings characters and their differences to life

In dialogue, you could show a character’s personality in a handful of words. Here, for example, Dostoyevsky creates the sense of a decisive doctor, used to dealing with uncertain, anxious patients in The Double :

‘Krestyan Ivanovich … I …’ ‘Hm,’ interrupted the doctor, ‘what I’m telling you is that you need to radically change your whole lifestyle and in a sense you must completely transform your character.’ (Krestyan Ivanovich particularly emphasized the word ‘transform’ and paused for a moment with an extremely significant look.) Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Double , trans. Ronald Wilks (1846, 2009), p. 11

There is an immediate sense of power dynamic (and differential) – the hesitating patient and his decisive doctor.

2. Dialogue splits up exposition into varied parts

If all the revelation of your characters and world is in long, wall-of-text narration, it becomes slightly draining to read.

Dialogue lifts us out of a ‘this happened, then that’ sense of explanation and throws us into the immediate – sound striking the eardrum. Tweet This

3. Dialogue advances a story

Characters may tell each other things that reveal – or shift – goals, motivations, conflicts. ‘But first, I must tell you Mr Bond…’ A villain may say too much, a lover, too little (or vice versa).

4. Conversation builds relationships

Some of the most beautiful relationships (or the most ugly) emerge through what people say to one another.

Ed’s note: As an undergraduate in English Literature, I attended a lecture on Pride and Prejudice where the lecturer illustrated how Lizzie and Darcy’s love is established through the grammar of their language and how it shifts. At one point, Darcy says, ‘You are loved by me’ – a different structure to the standard ‘I love you’ that places the subject first, in a way that reads as full of care.

We detect attraction and resentment in the language people use with one another. A conversation about the weather may imply feelings – it comes down to tone, address, mood, agreement and disagreement.

5. Dialogue brings humor, levity and persona to stories

Dialogue is often a vehicle for comedy. It’s a crucial part of how to write a funny story .

You can narrate that a character has grown wealthy and fallen out of touch with their humble origins. But in Dickens’ Great Expectations, when a character named ‘Trabb’s boy’, the tailor’s son, follows the main character Pip down the street mimicking him and saying, ‘Don’t know ya!’ after Pip is left wealth, it’s a brilliant and funny illustration of how people change (and perceive and react to changes in others).

Pip seems ‘too good for’ others now that he has wealth, and three words convey Trabb’s boy’s contempt with sly humor. Three words (paired with action, the following and mimicking) convey complex social dynamics and feelings.

Why else do you think dialogue matters? Tell us in the comments.

Learn more about writing dialogue that drives stories:

10 dialogue tips to hook readers

Hook readers into your story with dialogue that catches their attention.

• Writing movement and action in dialogue: 6 tips

How can movement and action make your dialogue more immersive? Find out.

Dialogue is the place that books are most alive and forge the most direct connection with readers. It is also where we as writers discover our characters and allow them to become real. Laini Taylor

How to format dialogue

Speech marks or quotation marks, and where do the line breaks go? Read on for how to format dialogue, common differences between UK and US formatting styles, and more:

Why do we format dialogue? Clarity, ease and flow

Try to write an exchange in dialogue all as block paragraph text and it becomes a nightmare trying to keep track of who says what:

“You’re late,” she said. “But I didn’t say what time I was coming.” “I don’t care, I’ve been waiting half an hour.” There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. “Well don’t say anything, whatever.”

It’s not clear from the above dialogue without line breaks and with no attribution for the last spoken sentence who says what at all times.

This is much easier to read because line breaks signal when the speaker changes:

It’s much easier to follow the back and forth (and because only two characters are present, the dialogue does not need excess attribution of who says what thanks to the line breaks clarifying this).

How to format dialogue in stories: 8 tips

To make sure it’s clear who’s speaking, when it changes, and when speech begins and ends (and narration or description interrupts):

1. Use quotation or speech marks to show when speech starts and stops

If a character is still speaking, don’t close speech marks prematurely.

2. Start a new line each time the speaker changes

Although it is common practice to use an indent for each change of speaker, make sure to use paragraph formatting in your word processor rather than the tab button as this can make indentation too large or wonky (using paragraph-wide settings is most precise).

3. Decide how you’ll format dialogue (and stick with it)

Speech marks with double quotations like the example from Colleen Hoover above (“) are more commonly used in the US, single quotation marks (‘) in books published in the UK.

Some contemporary novels don’t use speech marks at all, using an em dash at the start of a line or presenting dialogue another way. Whichever approach you use, consistency is key.

Example: Using single quotation marks to indicate speech

4. Always use a comma if there is an attributing tag

If dialogue is attributed using a tag such as ‘she said’ (read more on dialogue tags below), use a comma and not a period/full stop. For example:

“Writing dialogue is harder than I thought.” She said. ❌ “Writing dialogue is harder than I thought,” she said. ✔️

Remember: the tag continues the sentence.

5. Split long monologue over multiple paragraphs

What if the same character is speaking for a long time in dialogue?

To format this, the convention is to open speech marks for each new paragraph without closing speech marks for the previous one, until the speaker is finished talking.

Example: Dialogue where one speaker continues over paragraphs

“First I want to thank you all for being here on our special day. It does take a village (but you can put down the pitchforks, take off the creepy masks, and relax a little, guys, it’s not that kind of village) … Er eheh… OK I’m firing my joke writers.

“But in all seriousness, I couldn’t have chosen a better bride…zilla.”

6. Use the appropriate dialogue punctuation

If a speaker pauses, put it in with a comma or something longer such as a semicolon. This is where it helps to read dialogue out loud as you will hear where there is a natural pause that needs punctuating. Colons have an announcing effect. Example: “OK, here’s the kicker: The guard changes every forty-five minutes.”

If there is a question or exclamation, use the appropriate speech mark (that includes the occasional special effect, such as an interrobang (!?).

7. Write interruption or other changes in dialogue’s flow clearly

Ellipses are effective in showing a character trailing off or pausing to think for longer, mid-dialogue.

“Oh yes, I remember, it was … whatshername.”

There are several ways to show interruption. You could:

• Use an em-dash just after cut-off speech. Example: “If you’d just let me fini—”
• Use parentheses to show self-interruption. Example: “If you’d just let me finish what I was (actually, it’s fine, carry on).”

8. Format narration interrupting dialogue clearly

If you want to describe a character’s manner, movement, expression mid-dialogue, remember to use a comma before and resume dialogue without capitalization (unless the word is a proper noun):

“I can’t believe you said that,” John said, shaking his head, “and with absolutely zero remorse, too.”

Read more on how to ensure your dialogue reads clearly, including how to write ensemble dialogue with multiple characters present:

• Writing dialogue between multiple characters

Nothing teaches you as much about dialogue as listening to it. Judy Blume

Effective vs weak dialogue

Why does some dialogue scintillate, stir interest, while other dialogue reads like talking heads saying nothing of great impact in an inky void? There are several hallmarks of effective and less effective dialogue:

What makes dialogue effective:

• An authentic sense of voice. Do characters sound like cipher’s for an author’s pretension (this may be true to a specific stylistic choice, though) or like real people talking?
• Purpose-driven dialogue. Each line of dialogue should have identifiable purpose, whether it’s establishing character, advancing the story, building tone and mood, or dialogue serves another purpose.
• Aptness for type (or explicable ‘against type’ voice). Avoid confusing your reader by having a five-year old speak like a fifty-year-old (unless there’s a plot-given or other explicable reason for this anomaly).
• Varied structure. If every sentence is clipped or brusque, or every sentence is long and meandering, the eye (and ear) may tire. Switch it up if possible.
• Natural language. Contractions (e.g. ‘it’s’ for ‘it is’) and other ways people naturally speak (colloquial language or slang) lend further authenticity to voice.
• Conflict and tension . ‘As you know, Bob’ info dumps and happy people in happy land don’t make dialogue exciting (but tension, disagreement, doubt – sparks of contradiction – do).
• Movement and gesture. A gesture may change the entire meaning of a spoken phrase (a shrug, turn, sitting down, standing up, waving arms, and so on).
• Subtext and inference. What a character is truly thinking or feeling might not match up perfectly with what they’re saying. People lie, omit, embellish, and so forth.

What can weaken dialogue in fiction?

Dialogue in stories may feel bland or confusing (or too over the top and melodramatic) when:

• It’s all one note. If every utterance is an exclamation (with an exclamation mark), that gets old fast. Use special effects like salt – just enough to enhance the conversation.
• Connection is absent. Your reader may be confused if what characters reply to each other seems as though they’re having two different conversations (unless there is contextual explanation, e.g. both are hard of hearing).
• The scenery stays outside. If your characters are having an argument in the kitchen, does someone bang a pot, slam a drawer? Bring in surrounds.
• There is no differentiation. If everyone has the exact same vocabulary, mannerisms, and pattern of speech, characters start to become clone-like, like so many Agent Smiths.
• Excessive or bizarre tags. Characters shouldn’t honk or trumpet speech too often. Favor tags that you can say or express (no, “What!” she flabbergasted’). Leave out tags entirely if context tells your reader who speaks (and content of speech gives tone/mood).
• Excessive dialect or accent. At best excessive dialect or accent may read distracting, at worst, like hurtful stereotype or caricature.
• Adverbs clutter speech. Instead of overusing ‘she says softly’, leave space for the silence to come through.
• Dialogue dumps information. ‘As you know, Bob’ is a phrase used for dialogue where characters tell each other things both already know solely for the reader’s benefit. Find ways to make the retelling new/fresh, find what Bob doesn’t yet know and needs to be told.

Keep reading about ways to make dialogue characterful and engaging:

• Dialogue words: Other words for ‘said’ (and what to avoid)
• How to write accents and dialects: 6 tips
• Realistic dialogue: Creating characters’ speech patterns

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Dialogue devices for characterful speech

There are several dialogue devices that help to advance stories and create a sense of movement, tension and change:

Dialogue tags and action tags

What are dialogue tags and action tags?

Dialogue tag: The words added after dialogue that attribute who has spoken (and often the mood, emotion, or volume of speech).

“You might want that tattoo, but I know all your secrets and your twenty-first is coming up and don’t think for a second I’m above making an awkward speech,” mom warned.

“Shh!” he hissed in a half-whisper. “This freaking place is haunted.”

Action tag: Indicates the speaker’s movements or gestures in dialogue. This can be used to attribute speech and make dialogue livelier.

“You might want that tattoo, but …” Mom leaned over theatrically as though to confide something important. “I know all your secrets and […]’

Movement and gesture

Movement and gesture may punctuate dialogue, immersing the reader in a scene further.

‘Then go,’ said Mrs Williams, handing him the buckets and the coil of rope. ‘Swim,’ she said maliciously. She knew he was afraid of the sea. He carried his fear coiled and tangled in him like other boys carry twine and string in their crumb-filled pockets. Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda (1988), p. 16

Interruption

Interruption is a useful device in dialogue for argument, dramatic scenes with high stakes where characters are speaking over one another, and so forth.

“I could have killed you.” “Or I could have killed you,” Percy said. Jason shrugged. “If there’d been an ocean in Kansas, maybe.” “I don’t need an ocean—” “Boys,” Annabeth interrupted, “I’m sure you both would’ve been wonderful at killing each other. But right now, you need some rest.” Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena (2012).

Conflict and suspense

Conflict and suspense in dialogue keep the reader intrigued. Characters may argue, refuse to speak, tell a fib the reader may know to be untrue, or otherwise stir tension.

“What’s this for?” Tessie asked suspiciously. “What do you mean, what is it for?” “It’s not my birthday. It’s not our anniversary. So why are you giving me a present?” “Do I have to have a reason to give you a present? Go on, open it.” Tessie crumpled up one corner of her mouth, unconvinced. Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (2002), p. 10.

Read more on devices in dialogue, including dialogue tags vs action tags and how to create tension:

• 421 ways to say said? Simplify dialogue instead
• Dialogue 101: Using dialogue tags vs action tags
• Writing tense dialogue: 5 ways to add arresting tension

I never say ‘She says softly.’ If it’s not already soft, you know, I have to leave a lot of space around it so a reader can hear that it’s soft. Toni Morrison

Dialogue examples that work

Read examples of dialogue that works from a cross-selection of genres including fantasy, romance, science fiction, thriller, historical, contemporary and more:

1. Fantasy dialogue example ( A Game of Thrones )

Note how George R. R. Martin weaves in setting to create mood between utterances in this exchange from the prologue to A Game of Thrones :

“We should start back,” Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. “The wildlings are dead.” “Do the dead frighten you?” Ser Waymar Royce asked with just the hint of a smile. Gared did not rise to the bait. He was an old man, past fifty, and he had seen the lordlings come and go. “Dead is dead,” he said. “We have no business with the dead.” George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (1996).

2. Historical romance dialogue example ( The Duke and I )

Julia Quinn begins the first chapter in the first of her popular Regency-set romance novels with a typical Regency setting – a drawing room (and drama in letters):

“Oooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!” Violet Bridgerton crumped the single-page newspaper into a ball and hurled it across the elegant drawing room. Her daughter Daphne wisely made no comment and pretended to be engrossed in her embroidery. “Did you read what she said?” Violet demanded. “Did you?” Julia Quinn, The Duke and I (2000).

3. Mystery dialogue example ( The Murder of Roger Ackroyd )

Dame Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is often voted one of her best detective novels. In the first chapter already, conversation turns to death and the topic of who knows what about whom (and how):

My sister’s nose, which is long and thin, quivered a little at the tip, as it always does when she is interested or excited over anything. “Well?” she demanded. “A bad business. Nothing to be done. Must have died in her sleep.” “I know, said my sister again. This time I was annoyed. “You can’t know,” I snapped. “I didn’t know myself until I got there and I haven’t mentioned it to a soul yet. If that girl Annie knows, she must be a clairvoyant.” Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)

4. Science fiction dialogue example ( Hyperion )

Dan Simmons’ Hyperion which won a Hugo Award was hailed as ‘The book that reinvented Space Opera’. Note the weaving in of dialogue between human and machine in the prologue:

‘We need your help,’ said Meina Gladstone. ‘It is essential that the secrets of the Time Tombs and Shrike be uncovered. This pilgrimage may be our last chance. If the Ousters conquer Hyperion, their agent must be eliminated and the Time Tombs sealed at all cost. The fate of the Hegemony may depend upon it.’ The transmission ended except for the pulse of rendezvous coordinates. ‘Response?’ asked the ship’s computer. Dan Simmons, Hyperion (1989).

5. Psychological thriller dialogue example ( Sharp Objects )

Notice how in Gillian Flynn’s debut Sharp Objects how even a simple conversation between reporter Camille Preaker and her editor at the St. Louis Chronicle who sends her back to her hometown on assignment is laced with a sense of tension and avoidance:

“Tell me about Wind Gap.” Curry held the tip of a ballpoint pen at his grizzled chin. I could picture the tiny prick of blue it would leave among the stubble. “It’s at the very bottom of Missouri, in the boot heel. Spitting distance from Tennessee and Arkansas,” I said, hustling for my facts. Curry loved to drill reporters on any topics he deemed pertinent – the number of murders in Chicago last year, the demographics for Cook County, or, for some reason, the story of my hometown, a topic I preferred to avoid. Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects (2006).

6. Humor dialogue example ( Lessons in Chemistry )

See here how Bonnie Garmus weaves together humorous dialogue and character description to create the portrait of a man who does not have much luck in love:

“I can’t believe you’re having trouble,” his Cambridge teammates would tell him. “Girls love rowers.” Which wasn’t true. “And even though you’re an American, you’re not bad looking.” Which was also not true. Part of the problem was Calvin’s posture. He was six feet four inches tall, lanky and long, but he slouched to the right – probably a by-product of always rowing stroke side. Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry (2022).

7. Historical/fantasy dialogue example ( The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue )

V.E. Schwab creates a sense of early, 17th Century times in this conversation about prayer and witches’ fates in her historical fantasy novel that involves immortality and contemporary romance:

“How do you talk to them?” she asks. “The old gods. Do you call them by name?” Estele straightens, joints cracking like dry sticks. If she’s surprised by the question, it doesn’t show. “They have no names.” “Is there a spell?” Estele gives her a pointed look. “Spells are for witches, and witches are too often burned.” V.E. Schwab, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).

8. Literary fiction dialogue example ( Home )

Toni Morrison is a master of capturing the authentic ring of a real human voice. See the difference between the Reverend and his wife who dismisses his jaundiced view of the world as ‘foolishness’ in this dialogue example:

“You from down the street? At that hospital?” Frank nodded while stamping his feet and trying to rub life back into his fingers. Reverend Locke grunted. “Have a seat,” he said, then, shaking his head, added, “You lucky, Mr. Money. They sell a lot of bodies out of there.” “Bodies?” Frank sank down on the sofa, only vaguely caring or wondering what the man was talking about. “Uh-huh. To the medical school.” “They sell dead bodies? What for?” “Well, you know, doctors need to work on the dead poor so they can help the live rich.” “John, stop.” Jean Locke came down the stairs, tightening the belt of her robe. “That’s just foolishness.” Toni Morrison, Home (2012).

What is a favorite section of dialogue from a book in your favorite genre? Share in the comments below.

Join The Process for weekly feedback on dialogue and other writing, webinars on dialogue writing and other writing craft topic, and structured writing tools to brainstorm and develop your story.

Now Novel has been invaluable in helping me learn about the craft of novel writing. The feedback has been encouraging, insightful and useful. I’m sure I wouldn’t have got as far as I have without the support of Jordan and the writers in the groups. Highly recommend to anyone seeking help, support or encouragement with their first or next novel. – Oliver

Recommended Reading

Read further examples of effective dialogue:

• Dialogue writing examples from top books vs AI (2023)
• Writing conversations using setting (examples)
• 5 types of dialogue your novel needs

Related Posts:

• Realistic dialogue: Creating characters' speech patterns
• Writing process: From discovery to done (complete guide)
• Tags dialogue examples , dialogue tags , how to write dialogue

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

37 replies on “Writing dialogue: Complete guide to storied speech”

Thank you for this! I notice these are all first person narratives; could you do something also with stories told in third person?

It’s a pleasure! Happily. While not on dialogue specifically, you might find this post on starting a story in third person helpful: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/how-to-start-a-novel-in-third-person/

“Very illuminating,” I said.

Thanks, Rob!

thanks this really helped

I’m thrilled to hear that, Randolyn. Thank you for the feedback.

As Rob said, very illuminating!

Do you have any recommendations on books with similar dialogue? Or should I give Tartt’s whole bibliography a go?

Thanks for the insight! Dialogue is one of my worker points in writing and I aim to correct that.

Hi Marco! It’s a pleasure. Tartt’s writing is very punchy, but there are many authors who write fantastic dialogue. Another great one is Toni Morrison – she’s a great master of every element of story, from exposition to dialogue to description and more.

Good luck, with focus I’m sure it’ll improve to the level you want it to be quickly.

This was immensely helpful. I’ve always handed dialogue fairly well, I think, but these tips will help me clean it up and use it to move the story forward, rather than just using it as page filler.

That’s great to hear, Brianna. I hope your current WIP is coming along well 🙂

yes helpfull

Hi Umer, thank you for the feedback. Good luck with your story!

Hello this is a nice example…….

Thanks, Joel!

This is truly helpful. Thanks!

I’m glad to hear that, April. It’s a pleasure! I hope you’re writing great dialogue.

I am doing a class project on figurative language and i need examples but short ones do you have any i could use

This was surprisingly helpful. I’m so glad I came across this website. Writing dialogue has always been something I’ve had difficulty doing, but these tips have significantly improved my dialogue writing. Thank you so much.

We’re glad to hear that, Prakhar! Keep writing 🙂

it is really usefull to me madam thank u so much

I’m glad to hear that, Manjunatha. Have a great weekend!

Thanks, Nathan, I’m glad to hear that.

kinda helpful to me 😀

I got my 18,5 mark from this Amazing ?

Fantastic, Chihab – do give yourself some of the credit! Well done.

Very useful to me… Thanks !!☺☺

It’s a pleasure, thank you for reading our articles and taking the time to share your feedback ?

[…] some dialogue writing tips at the following blog and evaluate them with some fellow […]

I want to know about the rule of using open quotation mark at the end of the dialogue 1 ‘We are not allowed to-‘

Hi Jagadishkk, thank you for sharing your question. From the example you’ve written, do you mean using interruption at the end of a line of dialogue? The way you’ve written that example is correct, you would usually use a dash with the interrupting person’s dialogue appearing immediately below on a new line (with indentation if indenting changes of speaker as is a common formatting style choice).

Hi I want you to help me with dialogue first draft

Hi Peggy, you can get constructive feedback from our community in our writing groups, they’re free to join. You can sign up here .

What is a favorite section of dialogue from a book in your favorite genre? Here is one of mine from “Bring up the bodies” by H. Mantel.

“Majesty, the Muscovites has taken three hundred miles of Polish territory. They say fifty thousand men are dead.” “Oh,” Henry says. “I hope they spare the libraries. The scholars. There are very fine scholars in Poland.” “Mm? Hope so too.”

Tells us something about Henry VIII — he “doesn’t give a hoot” about libraries and scholars in Poland or dead men.

Hi Nara, thanks so much for sharing that dialogue example. I like that Henry VIII seems preoccupied or disinterested in his responses, the simplicity of monosyllabic words and even how Mantel has him drop the subject ‘I’ to make it read more cursory, saying the bare minimum. He was probably too busy marrying and remarrying (and beheading) 🙂

Hey Jordan,

fantastic article, thank you very much – it helped me a lot, especially because i am translating my German Novel into English right now! However there is still an open question to me:



Here is an example/ little excerpt of my novel, which I already translated but kept the original German Formatting. I am asking myself if the colon can stay like this ( Then she said: ) or do I have to replace it with a comma ( Then she said, ) and begin with the dialogue in the next line. 
Here is the example ->>

After my mother echoed Michael’s exact words, she looked at me with a fixed gaze for several seconds. Then she said: “Do you understand now, Jordan, why I opened my eyes so wide just now?” “Yes… I feel as if he is here right now, Mother. I know him, but I don‘t know where…” “But now I really want to ask you, were you aware of his words, Jordan?”

I really hope you can help me with this little question. Thank you in advance 🙂



Greetings from Germany
 Yannic

Hi Yannic, thank you for your kind feedback, I’m glad you found this guide to dialogue helpful. One can use a colon or a comma to precede quoted speech. Technically, it is usual to only use a colon if the introductory words form an independent clause or the quotation is a complete sentence. Because the mother’s words fit this rule, a colon is totally acceptable in this case.

Good luck with your translation, that is quite the undertaking.

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Writing dialogue in a story requires us to step into the minds of our characters. When our characters speak, they should speak as fully developed human beings, complete with their own linguistic quirks and unique pronunciations.

Indeed, dialogue writing is essential to the art of storytelling . In real life, we learn about other people through their ideas and the words they use to express them. It is much the same for dialogue in fiction. Knowing how to write dialogue in a story will transform your character development , your prose style , and your story as a whole.

We’ve packed this article with dialogue writing tips and good examples of dialogue in a story. These tools will help your characters speak with their full uniqueness and complexity, while also helping you fully inhabit the people that populate your stories.

Let’s get into how to write dialogue effectively. First, what is dialogue in a story?

Inner Dialogue Definition

Indirect dialogue definition.

• How to Write Dialogue: Elements of Good Dialogue Writing

How to Write Dialogue in a Story: 4 DOs of Dialogue Writing

• How to Write Dialogue in a Story: 4 DON’Ts of Dialogue Writing

9 Devices for Writing Dialogue in a Story

Dialogue writing exercises, how to format dialogue, what is dialogue in a story.

Dialogue refers to any direct communication from one or more characters in the text. This communication is almost always verbal, except for instances of inner dialogue, where the character is speaking to themselves.

Dialogue definition: Direct communication from one or more characters in the text.

In works of Fantasy or Science Fiction, characters might communicate with each other telepathically or through non-human means. This would also count as dialogue in a story.

The importance of dialogue in a story cannot be overstated. The words that characters speak act as windows into their psyches: we can learn lots about people by what they say, as well as what they omit.

Additionally, dialogue allows for the exchange of information, which will advance the story’s plot. Any story that involves conflict between two or more people must involve dialogue, or else the story will never reach its climax and resolution.

Inner dialogue is a form of communication in which a character speaks with themselves. This is, essentially, a form of monologue or soliloquy . Inner dialogue allows the reader to view the character’s thoughts as they happen, transcribing their doubts, ideas, and emotions onto the page.

Inner dialogue definition: a form of communication in which a character speaks with themselves.

Inner dialogue can also be a memory or reminiscence, even if the character is not consciously speaking to themselves. If the narrator shows us a memory that the character is currently thinking about, then that character is still offering something to the narrative by means of unspoken conversation.

It is not necessary for any story to have inner dialogue. However, if you plan to use dynamic characters in your writing, then it probably makes sense to show the reader what that character’s inner world looks like. Developing complex, three dimensional characters is essential to telling a good story, which requires us to have some sort of window into those characters’ minds.

Indirect dialogue is dialogue, summarized. It is not put in quotes or italics; rather, it neatly sums up what a character said, without going into detail.

Indirect dialogue definition: dialogued, summarized.

In other words, we don’t get to see  how the character said something , we are only told what they said. This is useful for when the information is better summarized than told in excruciating details, because the narrator wants to get to the important dialogue, the dialogue that introduces new information or reveals important aspects of the character’s personality.

Haruki Murakami gives us a great example in  Kafka on the Shore :

I tell her that I’m actually fifteen, in junior high, that I stole my father’s money and ran away from my home in Nakano Ward in Tokyo. That I’m staying in a hotel in Takamatsu and spending my days reading at a library. That all of a sudden I found myself collapsed outside a shrine, covered in blood. Everything. Well,  almost everything. Not the important stuff I can’t talk about.

How to Write Dialogue: The Elements of Good Dialogue Writing

Every story needs dialogue. Unless you’re writing highly experimental fiction , your story will have main characters, and those characters will interact with the world and its other people.

That said, there’s no “correct” way to write dialogue. It all depends on who your characters are, the decisions they make, and how they interact with one another.

Nonetheless, good dialogue writing should do the following:

Develop Your Characters

A close study in how to write dialogue requires a close study in characterization. Your characters reveal who they are through dialogue: by paying close attention to your characters’ word choice , you can clue your reader into their personality traits and hidden psyches.

Your characters will often reveal key aspects of their personality through dialogue.

One character who can’t stop characterizing himself is Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye . J. D. Salinger’s anti-hero could be psychoanalyzed for hours. Take, for example, this excerpt from Holden’s inner dialogue:

“Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phony. I could puke every time I hear it.”

What do we learn about Holden through this line? For starters, we learn that Holden is the type of person who analyzes and scrutinizes each word – just like writers do, perhaps. We also learn that Holden hates anything positive. Always a downer, Holden despises words of praise or grandeur, thinking the whole world is irresolvably flat, boring, and monotonous. He hates grandness almost as much as he hates phoniness, and both concepts are sure to make him sick.

Holden is a character who puts his entire personality on the page, and as readers, we can’t help but understand him – no matter how much we like him or hate him.

Set the Scene

Dialogue is a great way to explore the setting of your story. When the setting is explored through dialogue writing, both the characters and the reader experience the world of the story at the same time, making the writing feel more intimate and immediate.

When the setting is explored through dialogue writing, the writing feels more intimate and immediate.

You might have your character wander through the streets of New York, as Theo does in The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Here’s an excerpt of inner dialogue:

“It was rainy, trees leafing out, spring deepening into summer; and the forlorn cry of horns on the street, the dank smell of the wet pavement had an electricity about it, a sense of crowds and static, lonely secretaries and fat guys with bags of carry-out, everywhere the ungainly sadness of creatures pushing and struggling to live.”

Notice Theo’s attention to detail, and the vibrant imagery he uses to capture the city’s energy. Of course, you might set the scene more simply, as Dorothy does when she says:

“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

In only a few words, this line of dialogue advances not only the setting but also Dorothy’s characterization. She is innocent and operating from a limited frame of reference, and the setting could not be more different from her homely Kansas background.

Both methods of scene setting help advance the world that the reader is exploring. However, don’t explore the setting exclusively through dialogue. Characters are not objective observers of their world, so some information is better explained through narration since the narrator is (often) a more reliable voice.

Advance the Plot

Dialogue doesn’t just tell us about the story and the people inside it; good dialogue writing also advances the plot . We often need dialogue to reveal important details to the protagonist , and sometimes, an emotionally tense conversation will lead to the next event in the story.

At times, dialogue will advance the plot by offering a twist or revealing sudden information. We can all agree that the following lines of dialogue advanced the plot of Star Wars :

“Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.”

“He told me enough! He told me you killed him!”

“No. I am your father.”

And the following bit of dialogue catalyzed the plot of the entire Harry Potter series:

“You’re a wizard, Harry.”

The exchange of information is often what accelerates (0r resolves) a story’s conflict. Paying attention to word choice and the strategic revelation of information is key to using dialogue in a story.

Just like in real life, your characters don’t always say what they mean. Characters can lie, hint, suggest, confuse, conceal, and deceive. But one of the most powerful uses of dialogue writing is to foreshadow future events.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet , Romeo foreshadows the death of both lovers when he exclaims to Juliet:

“Life were better ended by their hate, / Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.”

In saying he would rather die lovers than live in longing, Romeo unknowingly predicts what will soon happen in the play.

Foreshadowing is an important literary device that many fiction stories should utilize. Foreshadowing helps build suspense in the story, and it also underlines the important events that make your story worth reading. Don’t try to trick your readers, but definitely use foreshadowing to keep them reading.

Learn more about foreshadowing here:

Foreshadowing Definition: How to Use Foreshadowing in Your Fiction

We’ve talked about what dialogue writing should accomplish, but that doesn’t answer the question of how to write dialogue in a story. Let’s answer that question now—with some more dialogue writing examples in the mix.

1. How to Write Dialogue in a Story: Differentiate Each Character

Each character will have their own style of speaking, and will emphasize different things when they talk.

Your characters’ dialogue should be like thumbprints, because no two people are alike. Each character will have their own style of speaking, and will emphasize different things when they talk. You can make each character unique by altering the following elements of dialogue style:

• Sentence length: Some people are verbose and loquacious, others terse and stoic.
• Dialogue Punctuation: Do your characters let their sentences linger… or do they ask a lot of questions? Are they really excited all the time?! Or do they interrupt themselves frequently—always remembering something they forgot to mention—struggling to put their complex thoughts into words?
• Adjectives/adverbs: Characters that are expressive and verbose tend to use a lot of adjectives and adverbs, whereas characters that are quiet or less expressive might stick to their nouns and verbs.
• Spellings and pronunciation: Do your characters omit certain vowels? Do they lisp? The way you write a line of dialogue might reveal a character’s dialect, and adding consistent quirks to a character’s speech will certainly make them more memorable.
• Repetitions and emphasis:  Do your characters have any catchphrases? Do they use any words or phrases as crutches? Maybe they emphasize words periodically, or have a strange cadence as they speak. We tend to repeat certain words and phrases in our own everyday vocabularies; repetition is also a useful device for writing dialogue in a story.

You’ve already seen character differentiation from the previous quotes in this article. In this scene from The Catcher in the Rye , notice how differently Holden Caulfield speaks from the young woman he’s talking to—and just how much characterization is implied in their divergent voices:

“You don’t come from New York, do you?” I said finally. That’s all I could think of.

“Hollywood,” she said. Then she got up and went over to where she’d put her dress down, on the bed. “Ya got a hanger? I don’t want to get my dress all wrinkly. It’s brand-clean.”

“Sure,” I said right away. I was only too glad to get up and do something.

Aside from these two characters being different from one another, Holden speak differently than characters in other works of fiction. Can you imagine Holden Caulfield being Romeo in R&J ? He’d say something stupid, like “Juliet’s family are all phonies, but the funny thing is you can’t help but fall half in love with her.”

A more contemporary example comes from  White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Every character in this novel is exceptionally well differentiated, even the minor characters—like Brother Ibrahim ad-Din Shukrallah, who appears only briefly towards the novel’s end. Here’s an excerpt:

“Look around you. And what do you see? What is the result of this so-called democracy, this so-called freedom, this so-called liberty ? Oppression, persecution, slaughter . Brothers, you can see it on national television every day, every evening, every night ! Chaos, disorder, confusion . They are not ashamed or embarrassed or self-conscious ! They don’t try to hide, to conceal, to disguise . They know as we know: the entire world is in a turmoil!”

Pay attention to the dialogue. What do you notice? What’s odd about the way he speaks? If you don’t notice it, the novel’s narrator gives us a hint:

“No one in the hall was going to admit it, but Brother Ibrahim ad-Din Shukrallah was no great speaker, when you got down to it. Even if you overlooked his habit of using three words where one would do, of emphasizing the last word of such triplets with his see-saw Caribbean inflections, even if you ignored these as everybody tried to, he was still physically disappointing.”

For more advice on characterization, check out our article on character development.

https://writers.com/character-development-definition

2. How to Write Dialogue in a Story: Consider the Context

A common mistake writers often make when writing dialogue in a story: they use the same speaking style for that character throughout the entire story.

For example, if you have a character that tends to speak in wordy, roundabout sentences, you might think that every sentence of dialogue should be wordy and roundabout.

However, your character’s dialogue needs to take context into consideration. A wordy character probably won’t be so wordy if they’re being held at gunpoint, and their words might stammer or falter when talking to a crush. Or, in the case of Jane Eyre , the context might make your statement more powerful. Jane proclaims:

“Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! I have as much soul as you—and full as much heart!”

As she lives in a society with strict gender roles, Jane’s statement—to a man, no less—is thrillingly bold and controversial for its time.

Your characters aren’t monotonous, they’re dynamic and fluid, so let them speak according to their surroundings.

3. How to Write Dialogue in a Story: Space Out Moments of Dialogue

If your characters just had a lengthy conversation, give them a page or two before they start speaking again. Dialogue is an important part of storytelling, but equally important is narration and description.

The following excerpt from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy has a great balance of dialogue (underlined) and narration.

“Are there any papers from the office?” asked Stepan Arkadyevitch, taking the telegram and seating himself at the looking-glass.

“On the table,” replied Matvey, glancing with inquiring sympathy at his master; and, after a short pause, he added with a sly smile, “ They’ve sent from the carriage-jobbers.”

Stepan Arkadyevitch made no reply, he merely glanced at Matvey in the looking-glass. In the glance, in which their eyes met in the looking-glass, it was clear that they understood one another. Stepan Arkadyevitch’s eyes asked: “Why do you tell me that? don’t you know?”

Matvey put his hands in his jacket pockets, thrust out one leg, and gazed silently, good-humoredly, with a faint smile, at his master.

“I told them to come on Sunday, and till then not to trouble you or themselves for nothing,” he said. He had obviously prepared the sentence beforehand.

You can see, in the above text, that about 1/3 of the writing is dialogue. This allows the reader to see the full scene while still viewing the conversation, making this an excellent balance of narration and dialogue writing.

Simply put: balance dialogue with your narrator’s voice, or else the reader might lose their attention, or else miss out on key information.

4. How to Write Dialogue in a Story: Use Consistent Formatting

There are several different ways to format your dialogue, which we explain later in this article. For now, make sure you’re consistent with how you format your dialogue. If you choose to indent your characters’ speech, make sure every new exchange is indented. Inconsistent formatting will throw the reader out of the story, and it could also prevent your story from being published.

How to Write Dialogue in a Story: 4 DON’Ts of Dialogue Writing

Just as important as the DOs, the DON’Ts of dialogue writing are just as important to crafting an effective story. Let’s further our discussion of how to write dialogue in a story: we’ll dive into what you shouldn’t do when writing dialogue, alongside some more dialogue examples.

1. DON’T Include Every Verbal Interjection

When people talk, they don’t always talk linearly. People interrupt themselves, they change direction, they forget what they were talking about, they use pauses and “ums” and “ohs” and “ehs.” You can include a few of these verbal interjections from time to time, but don’t make your dialogue too true-to-life. Otherwise, the dialogue becomes hard to read, and the reader loses interest.

Let’s take a famous line from The Catcher in the Rye and fill it in with verbal interjections.

“I have a feeling that you are riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don’t honestly know what kind.”

With interjections:

Oh, man—I have a feeling, like, that you are riding for some kind of… a terrible, terrible fall. But, uh, I don’t honestly know what kind?

What do you think of the edited quote? The interjections make it much harder to read, much less personable, and honestly, they become kind of annoying. However, the quote with interjections is much more “true to life” than the original quote. Your characters don’t need to speak perfectly, but the dialogue needs to be enjoyable to read.

2. DON’T Overwrite Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags are how your character expresses what they say. In the quote “‘You’re all phonies,’ Holden said,” the dialogue tag is “Holden said.”

Unique dialogue tags are fine to use on occasion. Your characters might yell, stammer, whisper, or even explode with words! However, don’t use these tags too frequently—the tag “said” is often perfectly fine. Notice how overused dialogue tags ruin the following conversation:

“How are you?” I stammered.

“Great! How are you?” she inquired.

“I’m hungry,” I announced.

“We should get lunch,” she blurted.

“I’m on a diet,” I cried.

“You poor thing,” she rejoined.

Sure, the conversation isn’t interesting to begin with, but the dialogue tags make this writing cringe-worthy. All of this dialogue can be described with “said” or “replied,” and many of these quotes don’t even need dialogue tags, because it’s clear who’s speaking each time.

This is doubly serious when dialogue tags are combined with adverbs : adjectives that modify the verbs themselves. Our intent with these adverbs is to intensify our writing, but what results is a strong case of diminishing returns. Let’s see an example:

“I don’t love you anymore,” she said.

“I don’t love you anymore,” she spat contemptuously.

Yikes! If your dialogue tags start distracting the reader, then your dialogue isn’t doing enough work on its own. The reader’s focus should be on the character’s statement, not on the way they delivered that statement. If she spoke those words with contempt, show the reader this in the dialogue itself, or even in the character’s body language.

Lastly: if you’re going to use a dialogue tag other than “said,” make sure the verb you use actually corresponds to dialogue. In other words, there needs to be a speaking verb before you describe some other sort of action.

Here’s an example of what NOT to do:

“I don’t love you anymore,” she stomped.

She might have stomped while saying that line, but “to stomp” is not a kind of communication.

The dialogue tag “said” is perfectly fine for most situations.

3. DON’T Stereotype

Everybody’s speech has a myriad of influences. Your characters’ way of speaking will be influenced by their parents, upbringing, schooling, socioeconomic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, and their own unique personality traits.

Of course, these personal backgrounds will influence your character’s dialogue. However, you shouldn’t let those traits overpower the character’s dialogue—otherwise, you’ll end up stereotyping.

Stereotyped characters are both glaringly obvious and embarrassing for the author. For example, J. K. Rowling didn’t do herself any favors by naming a character Cho Chang—both of which are Korean last names. Similarly, if all of your male characters are strong, charismatic, and loud, while all of your female characters are meek, helpless, and insecure, your writing will be both offensive and inaccurate to life.

Let’s explore this with two ways of writing a policeman.

“Don’t stand here,” said the policeman in front of the caution tape. “We need to keep this street clear.”

And here is lazy writing that takes no real interest in the character beyond one-dimensional surface traits:

“Move it along, folks, move it along,” said the policeman in front of the caution tape. “Nothing to see here.”

Neither policeman is going to win a dialogue award, but the second policeman doesn’t even seem like a real person . He’s written in unconsidered cliché: phrases we’ve all heard a thousand times, general ideas of what policemen tend to say.

Simply put, stereotyped dialogue is bad writing. Not only does it make your characters one-dimensional, it’s also offensive to whomever your characters resemble. If you’re going to be writing your characters from a careless, surface-level take, you might reconsider whether you want to write them at all.

What to do about this? The safest way to avoid stereotyping is to write using identities that you know both personally and intimately. If your writing takes you beyond those identities, then do your research: seek out, and truly work to internalize, a diverse array of input from people whose identities resemble those you’d like to write about.

4. DON’T Get Discouraged

For some writers, dialogue is the hardest part about writing fiction. It’s much easier to describe a character than to get in the character’s head, transcribing their thoughts into language.

If you feel like your characters aren’t saying the right things, or if the dialogue feels tricky to master, don’t get discouraged. Dialogue writing is difficult!

The following devices and exercises will help you master the art of writing dialogue in a story.

An important consideration for your characters is giving them distinct speech patterns. In real life, everyone talks differently; in fiction it’s much the same. The following devices will help you write dialogue in a story, as they offer ways to make your characters unique, compelling, and conversational.

Note: don’t try to use all nine of these devices for one character. Your dialogue should flow and feel consistent with the way people speak in real life, but if you overload your character’s speech with idioms, colloquialisms, proverbs, slang, and jargon, they won’t speak like anyone in the real world.

Use these devices as quirks for your characters. You can even use colloquialisms and vernacular to establish the setting, or use jargon to assign your character their occupation and social standing. Be wise, be strategic, and keep an ear for how people sound in real life.

Now, here’s how to write dialogue using 9 specific devices.

1. Colloquialism

A colloquialism is a word or phrase that’s specific to a language, geographical region, and/or historical period. Mostly used in informal speech, colloquialisms will rarely show up in the boardroom or the courtroom, but they pop up all the time in casual conversation.

We often use colloquialisms without realizing it. Take, for example, the shopping cart. Someone in the U.S. Northeast might call it a “cart,” while someone in the South might call it a “buggy.”

In fact, colloquialisms abound in the history of the English language. When it rains but the sun is out, a native Floridian might call it a sunshower. A Wisconsinite will call a water fountain a “bubbler.” In the 1950s, a small child might have been called an “ankle-biter.” Nowadays, a New Yorker might describe cold weather as being “brick outside.” (Yes, brick.)

Colloquialisms help define a character’s geographic background and historical time period. They also help signify when the character feels comfortable and informal, versus when they are speaking in an uncomfortable or professional situation.

2. Vernacular

Vernacular refers to language that is simple and commonplace. When a character’s speech is unadorned and everyday, they are speaking in vernacular, using words that can be understood by every person in that character’s time period. (A colloquialism is often an example of vernacular.) For dialogue in a story, your characters will likely use vernacular, unless they try to avoid it at all costs.

The opposite of vernacular would be dialect, which is speech that is tailored to a specific setting, and is therefore not commonplace or universally understood. An example of vernacular is contrasted with dialect below.

A dialect is a type of speech reserved for a particular time period, geographical location, social class, group of people, or other specific setting. It is language that the entire population might not comprehend, as it uses words, phrases, and grammatical decisions that aren’t universally understood.

Here’s an example of modern day vernacular. The same sentence has been rewritten as though it were spoken by someone with a Southern dialect.

Vernacular: I am craving some coleslaw and a soft drink.

Southern Dialect: I’m fixin’ for some slaw and soda pop.

An English speaker who doesn’t hail from the American South may be tripped up by “fixing” and “slaw,” as those terms aren’t universally understood.

Do note: the words “coleslaw” and “soft drink” can also be considered dialects of other regions in the United States. However, these words will likely be understood across the nation.

A slang is a word or phrase that is not part of conventional language usage, but which is still used in everyday speech. Generally, younger generations coin slang words, as well as queer communities and communities of color. (Some of the terms below started in AAVE , or African American Vernacular English.) Those words then become dictionary entries when the word has circulated long enough in popular usage. Slang is a form of colloquialism, as well as a form of dialect, because slang terms are not universally understood and are often associated with a specific age group in a specific region.

Some recent examples of slang words and phrases include:

• No cap—“no lie.”
• Boots—this is a sort of grammatical intensifier, placed  after the thing being intensified. “I’m hungry, boots” is basically the same as “I’m  so hungry.”
• Bop—a catchy or irresistible song.
• Drip—a particularly fashionable or interesting style of clothes.
• It’s sending me—“that’s hilarious.”
• Periodt—a more “final” use of the word “period” when a salient point has been made.
• Snatched—used when someone’s fashion is impeccable. In the case of someone’s waist size, snatched refers to an hourglass figure.
• Pressed—“stressed” or “annoyed.”
• Slaps—“exceptionally good.”
• Stan—stan is a portmanteau of “stalker fan,” but really what it means is that you enjoy something intensely or obsessively. You “stan” a song or a movie, for example.
• Werk—a term to describe something done exceedingly well. If you’re dancing tremendously, I might just yell “werk!”
• Wig—when something shocks, excites, or moves you, just say “wig.”

Jargon is a word or phrase that is specific to a profession or industry. Usually, a jargon word intentionally obfuscates the meaning of what it represents, as the word is meant to be understood solely by people within a certain profession.

Often, people let jargon slip from their tongues without realizing the word is inaccessible. For example, a doctor might tell their friend they have rhinitis, rather than a seasonal allergy. Or, someone well-versed in mid-century diner lingo might ask for “Adam and Eve on a raft” rather than “two poached eggs on toast.”

When it comes to dialogue in a story, the occasional use of jargon can help characterize someone through their profession. However, too much jargon usage will start to sound comical and inane, as most people don’t speak in jargon all the time.

An idiom is a phrase that is specifically understood by speakers of a certain language, and which has a figurative meaning that differs from its literal one. Idioms are incredibly hard to translate, because the meaning conveyed by the idiom does not appear within the words themselves.

For example, a common idiom in the United States is to say someone is “under the weather” when they’re feeling ill. No part of the phrase “under the weather” conveys a sense of sickness; at most, it might communicate that that person feels pushed down by the weather. But then, what weather? Could they be under “good” weather, too? These are questions that someone who doesn’t speak English natively will likely ask.

So, the literal meaning of “under the weather” is different from the figurative meaning, which is “ill.” Some other idioms in the English language include:

• Pulling your leg—just having fun with someone or messing with them.
• Bat a thousand—to be successful 100% of the time.
• The last straw—the final incident before something (usually negative) occurs.
• Big fish in a little sea—someone is famous or hugely successful, but in a very small corner of the world.
• Eat your heart out—be envious of something.

An idiom can also reveal regionality, as some idioms are only spoken in certain dialects. For example, when it rains while the sun is shining, a common idiom in the South is that “the devil is beating his wife.” This phrase is understood in other parts of the U.S. and might have its roots in folklore, but it is primarily spoken by people in the American South.

7. Euphemism

A euphemism is the substitution of one word for another, more innocuous word. We often use euphemisms in place of words and phrases that are sexual, uncomfortable, or otherwise taboo.

For example, when someone dies, you might hear their family member say “they kicked the bucket.” Or, if someone were unemployed but didn’t want to say it, they might say they are “between jobs” or “searching for better opportunities.”

Euphemisms present something psychologically interesting to a person’s dialogue. We often use language to mask that which upsets us most but which we are unwilling to confront or communicate. A euphemism for death is intended to mask the pain of death; a euphemism about unemployment is intended to mask the shame of unemployment.

We might also use euphemisms to hide information from people we don’t trust. Let’s say you’re in an intimate relationship, and don’t want the person you’re conversing with to know about it. You might pull out your knowledge of Middle English and say you’re “giving a girl a green gown.” Or, you might simply say you’re rolling in the hay with someone, to communicate your relationship while also communicating you don’t want to talk about it.

Note: even “intimate relationship” is a bit of a euphemism!

In dialogue writing, use euphemisms as hints to your characters’ psyches. In speech, what is omitted often says more than what is included.

A proverb is a short, oft-repeated saying that bears a wise and powerful message. Proverbs are often based on common sense advice, but they use metaphors and symbols to convey that advice, prompting the listener to place themselves in the world of the proverb.

For example, a common English proverb is “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” This means that it’s better to take away modest gains than to sacrifice those gains for something that may be unobtainable. Sacrificing the bird in your hand for two birds which may be impossible to own is a risky endeavor.

When it comes to writing dialogue in a story, proverbs educate both the protagonist and the audience. A proverb will often be spoken by an elder or someone with relevant experience to help guide the protagonist. The story’s events might also be a reaction to that proverb, either fulfilling or complicating it. Finally, a proverb might characterize the speaker themselves, cluing the reader into the speaker’s beliefs. Not all stories have proverbs, but stories with wise characters often do.

9. Neologism

A neologism is a coined word that describes something new. Some neologisms are coined by authors themselves—Shakespeare, for example, coined over 2,000 words, many of which we use today. “Baseless,” “footfall,” and “murkiest” come from The Tempest , just one of Shakespeare’s many plays and poems.

Nowadays, most neologisms describe advancements in technology, medicine, and society. “Doomscrolling,” for example, describes the act of consuming large quantities of negative news, often to the detriment of one’s mental health. The word was likely invented in 2018, due in part to the increased access to information that technology gives us.

Other modern day neologisms include:

• Google (as a verb: to google something)
• Crowdsourcing

Some neologisms are portmanteaus, which is a word made from two other words combined in both sound and meaning. For example, “smog” is a portmanteau of “smoke and fog,” and it’s a neologism only relevant to the Industrial Revolution and beyond.

Neologisms are not to be confused with grandiloquent words , which are invented words used for the sole purpose of sounding intelligent (and which have become enduring facets of modern English).

In dialogue writing, neologisms primarily help situate the reader in the story’s temporal setting. No one would use the word malware in the year 1920. Additionally, words like “crowdsourcing” are far more likely to be used by younger generations, and they signify a certain sense of tech savviness and modernity that not everyone has.

Finally, neologisms are fun! You might even invent some new words in your own writing, though a neologism should be elegant and relevant, without drawing too much attention to itself.

Of course, the best way to learn how to write dialogue in a story is to practice it yourself. Below are some dialogue writing exercises to try in your fiction.

Dialogue Writing Exercise: Write out a character’s “personal vocabulary.”

All of us have a personal vocabulary, meaning that we tend to choose the same set of words to describe something, even though our vocabularies are much larger. For example, I have a tendency to use the word “scandalous” when describing something. I often use it ironically or as a compliment, which is a trait of word-usage associated with Millennials and older Gen Z kids. This word is a part of my personal vocabulary, and though I don’t say it constantly, I often use it when I can’t think of a better word.

Your characters are the same way! Writing out a personal vocabulary for your characters might jumpstart your dialogue writing, and it also gives you something to fall back on in your dialogue while still providing depth and character.

Coming back—once again—to Holden Caulfield, his personal vocabulary might include words like: phony , prostitute , goddam , miserable , lousy , jerk . These words and phrases are rare overall, but they’re exceedingly common in his own personal way of verbalizing his experience of the world.

Dialogue Writing Exercise: Consider different settings.

Sometimes, you just need to generate dialogue until you come across the right line or turn-of-phrase. One way to do that is to write what your character would say in different situations.

On a separate document or piece of paper, write what would happen if your character was talking to different people or talking in different situations. For example, your character might:

• Talk to a grocery store clerk
• Be a hostage in a bank robbery
• Take the SAT
• Run into their crush
• Get pulled over for speeding

Explore what your character would say in each of these (and other) different scenarios, and you might just trick your brain into writing the next sentence of your story.

Dialogue Writing Exercise: Pretend you are your character.

Instead of writing your character in different settings, be your character in different settings. Think about what your character would think while you’re doing the laundry, driving to work, or paying the bills. This habit will help you approach this character’s dialogue, as you develop the ability to turn their personality on in your brain, like a switch!

(Hopefully, you’re never caught in a bank robbery. If you are, maybe your character can save you.)

We’ve covered how to write dialogue in a story, but not how to format dialogue. Dialogue formatting is a relatively minor concern for fiction writers, but it’s still important to format correctly. Otherwise, you’ll waste hours of your writing time trying to fix formatting errors, and you might prevent your stories from finding publication.

There are a few different ways to format dialogue; for each of these examples, we will reformat the sentence “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” said Chief Brody.

Most writers and publishers use standard quotation marks at the beginning and end of the dialogue.

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” said Chief Brody.

A comma always separates the dialogue from the speaker. In this case, the comma goes inside of the quotation marks. Periods, semicolons, and em dashes also go inside the quotation marks. If you’re writing in British English, some conventions place the dialogue punctuation outside of the quotation, but both ways are acceptable.

Another way some people format their dialogue is by italicizing instead of using quotation marks.

You’re gonna need a bigger boat, said Chief Brody.

In this instance, you would fit the comma within the italicized text, as you would any other punctuation in the dialogue. Only the quote is italicized; the speaker remains unitalicized. The drawback of this formatting is that your dialogue might be confused with the character’s inner dialogue, which should also be italicized.

Finally, your dialogue formatting can eschew the use of quotation marks and italics. In this case, you would indent any part of the text that is dialogue, and leave narration un-indented.

Suddenly, the shark loomed behind the orca.

This way of formatting makes it easier to write without worrying about punctuation marks, but be warned that most publishers will change that formatting before publication.

If your sentence starts with the dialogue tag, put a comma before the quotation mark. Do capitalize the first letter inside the quotation marks, as this is, grammatically, the start of a sentence.

Chief Brody said, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

And, if your dialogue spans multiple paragraphs, do not use the end-quote until the very end of the dialogue, but start each paragraph with a new start-quote.

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat. “A boat this size can’t handle a shark,” Chief Brody continued.

Looking for More Dialogue Writing Tips?

Great dialogue is the true test of whether you understand your characters or not. However, developing this skill takes a lot of time and practice. If you’re looking for more advice on how to write dialogue in a story, check out our online fiction writing courses for dialogue writing tips from the best instructors on the net!

Sean Glatch

10 comments.

This was very helpful: I’m a French Canadian, living here in the US for the past 28 years, very fluent in English and this article will help me to polish my stories telling. I love to write spending a lot of time doing so, whether it’s a story, an email, documentation in my field (I’m an IT guy) and I’m now more confident about my writing.

I’m so happy to hear that, Richard. Happy writing!

As an aspiring writer, this helped me a lot!

Great article! Nice job capturing so many elements and explaining things so well. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

The only thing that puzzled me was in the following section (watch for the **):

If your sentence starts with the dialogue tag, put a comma before the quotation mark. **In this case, do not capitalize the first letter inside the quotation marks.**

Chief Brody said, “you’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

I’ve never seen that guidance before. I thought you were supposed to capitalize the first word of complete dialogue sentences regardless of speaker attribution placement. Might this be a mistake? Or a vestige from a previous edit?

You’re absolutely right–that bit of advice was written in error. The start of a new sentence of dialogue should always begin with a capital letter. I’ve updated the text accordingly. Many thanks for your comment!

[…] How to Write Dialogue in a Story […]

Thank you, Nicole! I’m so glad you found it helpful. Happy writing!

Directed here from somewhere else. A novice when it comes to fiction writing and the proper use of English. I fid dialogue my most difficult in writing. I am glad for this. I get most of the gist now.

I came across your website while doing some research for my writing students and I have to say this is one of the best resources I’ve found when it comes to writing dialogue. Thank you for taking the time to put together such a valuable resource and one which I’ll be passing on to my students.

Thank you again!

Really great advice. One thing I often do is get my students to ‘capture conversations’ so they can hear the cadence of real dialogue. Then we look at how to make it more powerful by taking out most if not all of the ‘um’s, ah’s’ and other interruptions or interjections. It has improved the quality of my students written dialogue immensely. 🙂

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Blogs / Character / How to Write Dialogue (with Examples)

Write Your Dream Book

How to write dialogue (with examples).

Writing dialogue provides the subtext, irony, and complexity required for compelling characters and stories. Small words carry heavy loads, when skilfully handled.

“There is only one plot: things are not what they seem.” — Jim Thompson

However, writing dialogue precisely and getting the words right is challenging.

Let’s examine how to transform filler chat to fulfilling dialogue , starting with the basics.

What is Dialogue?

Dialogue is the reported speech between two or more characters in a book, poem, film, or play. In prose, it’s distinguished with apostrophes. When writing dialogue, Americans generally use “double” apostrophes, while Brits use ‘single’ ones.

What Is Dialogue in a Story?

In a story, dialogue is an excellent way to give a glimpse into the thoughts or a character. It can also be used to reveal the setting or actions to readers.

Dialogue can create tension, but too much dialogue can be boring and actually reduce the tension. Getting the balance right can be challenging, but there are a few things you can consider.

How to Use Dialogue

When writing dialogue, consider the following. Dialogue helps you:

• Advance the plot whilst bringing a scene to life: readers ‘watch’ characters interact, feeling immersed.
• Readers ‘hear’ individual characters’ voices, without narrative intrusion.
• Writers ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ details of characters’ personalities, especially though subtext and irony: what characters don’t say is often as or more important than what they do .
• With fictional world-building, e.g. when a seasoned character teaches an ingénue the ways of the world (but apply with caution!).

How to Format Dialogue

New writers may feel overwhelmed by the various rules. An in-depth examination of every rule is beyond this article’s scope, but here’s a brief run-down of the key rules.

• In prose, we format dialogue with apostrophes .
• Dialogue tags indicate who is speaking, and are formatted as follows:

‘I’m cold,’ Jasper said. Or: Jasper said, ‘I’m cold.’

• You can replace dialogue tags with actions. Actions help readers ‘see’ the scene , like this:

Jasper shivered. ‘I’m cold.’

• Or, to show a particular characteristic through subtext , you could write your dialogue this way:

Jasper steeled himself, gritting his teeth. ‘No need to put the central heating on yet.’

• When writing dialogue, you don’t need dialogue tags for every line when context indicates who’s speaking. However, don’t go too long without a reminder. Consider this example:

The guests dispersed, leaving Jasper and Sasha in the room. ‘Aren’t you cold?’ asked Sasha. Jasper wrapped his arms around himself. ‘No.’ ‘Cheapskate. Just put the heating on!’ ‘It’s perfectly cosy in—’ Sasha stood up. ‘Fine. I’ll leave.’

• When someone is interrupted, as above, place the ‘em’ dash (—) inside the apostrophes.
• Always start a new paragraph for a new speaker, ensuring you close the apostrophes of the pervious person, as above.
• But when the same speaker begins a new paragraph of speech, leave the apostrophes open at the paragraph’s end, indicating the speaker hasn’t changed.
• Include an apostrophe opening the first line of dialogue in the new paragraph. This helps the reader know they’re still reading dialogue, not narration, like so:

Jasper drew the curtains. Silver frost carpeted the lawn outside.He glanced at Sasha. ‘I’m not cold at all.’ Sasha headed towards the door, briefcase under arm, buttoning her wool coat. ‘Don’t worry about me. Funny, I was just reading about the need to reduce carbon footprints. Ha! Easy enough when you can’t afford gas in the first place. ‘Change of subject, but talking about gas prices makes me remember the coldest I’ve ever been.’ She paused, hand on the doorknob. ‘That road trip I took. Winter of ‘99. Ran out of petrol on the motorway, didn’t have enough cash for more. A café owner let me wash dishes to cover the tank refill.’ Sasha’s voice grew dreamy. ‘Working for money – those were the days, eh?’ Jasper stomped out of the room without a word.

Sasha’s accusation here is implied through subtext and action , not directly stated.

Writing Dialogue Tip

Said and replied are generally better than exclaimed, protested, expounded , etc. Elaborate dialogue tags draw readers’ attention to your writing, thus taking them out of the story’s action.

For example:

‘I’m cold,’ whispered Sasha. ‘Stop moaning!’ yelled Jasper. ‘Go die of hypothermia,’ cursed Sasha.

Annoyingly melodramatic, right?

That said, exceptions exist for every rule, even when you’re writing dialogue.

Firstly, excessive use of said can be as distracting for the reader as elaborate tags:

‘I’m moving out tomorrow,’ said Sasha. ‘I don’t care,’ said Jasper. Sasha said, ‘You’ll miss me when I’m gone.’

That, in contrast, is annoyingly dull.

Hint: Reading your work out loud can help you hear when your dialogue tags might benefit from variation.

Secondly, your story’s narrative voice may lean towards using more grandiloquent speech tags.

Dialogue in a Story Example

In the Bridgerton Regency Romance novels, Julia Quinn often uses elaborate dialogue tags: flick through The Duke and I and you’ll find extensive use of tags such as shrieked, snapped, admitted, spat out , and so on.

But the elaborate dialogue tags here form part and parcel of the ironic narrative tone.

Quinn leans in to the 18 th Century inspired melodrama for comedic effect, having fun with her speech tags.

She layers her wry, Austen-inspired narrative voice over the characters’ individual voices, laughing good-naturedly at both them and herself.

This works brilliantly: sophisticated readers can excuse themselves for revelling in this historically-inaccurate melodrama by acknowledging that no-one, not even its (Harvard-educated) author, takes it too seriously.

But unless melodrama (whether real or ironic) is your intention, use elaborate dialogue tags sparingly.

Final Tips for How to Write Dialogue in a Narrative

When you’re putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys) and writing dialogue:

• Avoid the dreaded ‘talking heads’ syndrome by interspersing dialogue with action/ setting, reminding the reader where the scene is playing out.
• Expository dialogue (when ‘info-dumping’) can be dull and unrealistic, unless masterfully handled: use cautiously.
• Avoid ‘holding’/ ‘filler’ dialogue: ‘Hi, how are you?’ etc. No-one cares about this.
• Beware overusing (or underusing) dialogue. Stories need a balance of dialogue, action, thought and setting. The correct balance depends on your story and genre.
• Never forget your characters’ goals when writing their dialogue. Simple, direct, honest communication – whilst an admirable goal in real life – often falls flat in fiction.

The strongest dialogue incorporates subtext and irony, giving us a deeper understanding of the characters than they themselves possess, whilst illuminating the story’s themes. In a skilled writer’s hands, fictional dialogue offers readers new perceptions of themselves and their place in the world.

Now, go have fun writing dialogue!

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How To Write Dialogue In A Story (With Examples)

One of the biggest mistakes made by writers is how they use dialogue in their stories. Today, we are going to teach you how to write dialogue in a story using some easy and effective techniques. So, get ready to learn some of the best techniques and tips for writing dialogue!

There are two main reasons why good dialogue is so important in works of fiction. First, good dialogue helps keep the reader interested and engaged in the story. Second, it makes your work easier to write, read and understand. So, if you want to write dialogue that is interesting, engaging and easy to read, keep on reading. We will be teaching you the best techniques and tips for writing dialogue in a story.

Internal vs External Dialogue

Direct vs indirect dialogue, 20 tips for formatting dialogue in stories, step 1: use a dialogue outline, step 2: write down a script, step 3: edit & review your script, step 4: sprinkle in some narrative, step 5: format your dialogue, what is dialogue .

Dialogue is the spoken words that are spoken between the characters of a story. It is also known as the conversation between the characters. Dialogue is a vital part of a story. It is the vehicle of the characters’ thoughts and emotions. Good dialogue helps show the reader how the characters think and feel. It also helps the reader better understand what is happening in the story. Good dialogue should be interesting, informative and natural. 

In a story, dialogue can be expressed internally as thoughts, or externally through conversations between characters. A character thinking to themself would be considered internal dialogue. Here there is no one else, just one character thinking or speaking to themselves:

Mary thought to herself, “what if I can do better…”

While two or more characters talking to each other in a scene would be an external dialogue:

“Watch out!” cried Sam. “What’s wrong with you?” laughed Kate.

In most cases, the words spoken by your character will be inside quotation marks. This is called direct dialogue. And then everything outside the quotation marks is called narrative:

“What do you want?” shrieked Penelope as she grabbed her notebooks. “Oh, nothing… Just checking if you needed anything,” sneered Peter as he tried to peek over at her notes.

Indirect dialogue is a summary of your dialogue. It lets the reader know that a conversation happened without repeating it exactly. For example:

She was still fuming from last night’s argument. After being called a liar and a thief, she had no choice but to leave home for good.

Direct dialogue is useful for quick conversations, while indirect dialogue is useful for summarising long pieces of dialogue. Which otherwise can get boring for the reader. Writers can combine both types of dialogue to increase tension and add drama to their stories.

Now you know some of the different types of dialogue in stories, let’s learn how to write dialogue in a story.

Here are the main tips to remember when formatting dialogue in stories or works of fiction:

• Always use quotation marks: All direct dialogue is written inside quotation marks, along with any punctuation relating to that dialogue.

• Don’t forget about dialogue tags: Dialogue tags are used to explain how a character said something.  Each tag has at least one noun or pronoun, and one verb indicating how the dialogue is spoken. For example, he said, she cried, they laughed and so on.

• Dialogue before tags: Dialogue before the dialogue tags should start with an uppercase. The dialogue tag itself begins with a lowercase.

• Dialogue after tags: Both the dialogue and dialogue tags start with an uppercase to signify the start of a conversation. The dialogue tags also have a comma afterwards, before the first set of quotation marks.

• Lowercase for continued dialogue: If the same character continues to speak after the dialogue tags or action, then this dialogue continues with a lowercase.

• Action after complete dialogue: Any action or narrative text after completed dialogue starts with an uppercase as a new sentence.

• Action interrupting dialogue: If the same character pauses their dialogue to do an action, then this action starts with a lowercase.

• Interruptions by other characters: If another character Interrupts a character’s dialogue, then their action starts with an uppercase on a new line. And an em dash (-) is used inside the quotation marks of the dialogue that was interrupted. 

• Use single quotes correctly: Single quotes mean that a character is quoting someone else.

• New paragraphs equal new speaker: When a new character starts speaking, it should be written in a new paragraph. 

• Use question marks correctly: If the dialogue ends with a question mark, then the part after the dialogue should begin with a lowercase.

• Exclamation marks: Similar to question marks, the next sentence should begin with a lowercase. 

• Em dashes equal being cut off: When a character has been interrupted or cut off in the middle of their speech, use an em dash (-).

• Ellipses mean trailing speech: When a character is trailing off in their speech or going on and on about something use ellipses (…). This is also good to use when a character does not know what to say.

• Spilt long dialogue into paragraphs: If a character is giving a long speech, then you can split this dialogue into multiple paragraphs. 

• Use commas appropriately: If it is not the end of the sentence then end the dialogue with a comma.

• Full stops to end dialogue: Dialogue ending with a full stop means it is the end of the entire sentence. 

• Avoid fancy dialogue tags: For example, ‘he moderated’ or ‘she articulated’. As this can distract the reader from what your characters are actually saying and the content of your story. It’s better to keep things simple, such as using he said or she said.
• No need for names: Avoid repeating your character’s name too many times. You could use pronouns or even nicknames. 
• Keep it informal: Think about how real conversations happen. Do people use technical or fancy language when speaking? Think about your character’s tone of voice and personality, what would they say in a given situation? 

Remember these rules, and you’ll be able to master dialogue writing in no time!

How to Write Dialogue in 5 Steps

Dialogue is tricky. Follow these easy steps to write effective dialogue in your stories or works of fiction:

A dialogue outline is a draft of what your characters will say before you actually write the dialogue down. This draft can be in the form of notes or any scribblings about your planned dialogue. Using your overall book outline , you can pinpoint the areas where you expect to see the most dialogue used in your story. You can then plan out the conversation between characters in these areas. 

A good thing about using a dialogue outline is that you can avoid your characters saying the same thing over and over again. You can also skim out any unnecessary dialogue scenes if you think they are unnecessary or pointless. 

Here is an example of a dialogue outline for a story:

You even use a spreadsheet to outline your story’s dialogue scenes.

In this step, you will just write down what the characters are saying in full. Don’t worry too much about punctuation and the correct formatting of dialogue. The purpose of this step is to determine what the characters will actually say in the scene and whether this provides any interesting information to your readers.

Start by writing down the full script of your character’s conversations for each major dialogue scene in your story. Here is an example of a dialogue script for a story:

Review your script from the previous step, and think about how it can be shortened or made more interesting. You might think about changing a few words that the characters use to make it sound more natural. Normally the use of slang words and informal language is a great way to make dialogue between characters sound more natural. You might also think about replacing any names with nicknames that characters in a close relationship would use. 

The script might also be too long with plenty of unnecessary details that can be removed or summarised as part of the narration in your story (or as indirect dialogue). Remember the purpose of dialogue is to give your story emotion and make your characters more realistic. At this point you might also want to refer back to your character profiles , to see if the script of each character matches their personality. 

Once your script has been perfected, you can add some actions to make your dialogue feel more believable to readers. Action or narrative is the stuff that your characters are actually doing throughout or in between dialogue. For example, a character might be packing up their suitcase, as they are talking about their holiday plans. This ‘narrative’ is a great way to break up a long piece of dialogue which otherwise could become boring and tedious for readers. 

You have now planned your dialogue for your story. The final step is to incorporate these dialogue scenes into your story. Remember to follow our formatting dialogue formatting rules explained above to create effective dialogue for your stories!

That’s all for today! We hope this post has taught you how to write dialogue in a story effectively. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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Dialogue Writing – Tips, Style, Format and Example

“Are you good at talking or listening well? If so, you’ve probably had moments where something someone said, or you said, really stood out to you. This happens because those words touched your heart or made you think. That’s the power of a good conversation. Even a simple chat with family, friends, or strangers can give you ideas and thoughts to think about Dialogue Writing.

This article will teach you about the skill of writing dialogues and provide you with all the information you need to know. Additionally, you can read some examples of Dialogue Writing and see how they create an impact.”

What is the purpose of writing a dialogue?

Types of dialogues, some common examples of ‘direct dialogue’, some common examples of ‘indirect dialogue’, fundamental rules of writing a dialogue with example, faqs about dialogue writing.

Table of Contents

What is dialogue writing?

Dialogue writing is the art of creating conversations between characters in a written work, such as a story, play, or script. It involves capturing the way people speak, expressing their thoughts, emotions, and interactions through written words. Effective dialogue should sound natural and authentic, reflecting the unique voices and personalities of the characters.

In dialogue writing, punctuation, formatting, and the choice of words are crucial to convey the tone, rhythm, and dynamics of a conversation. It plays a significant role in advancing the plot, revealing character traits, and engaging the readers or audience. Good dialogue enhances the overall flow of a narrative and contributes to a deeper understanding of the characters and the story.

Writing a dialogue serves several important purposes. Firstly, it brings characters to life by allowing them to communicate, sharing their thoughts, feelings, and personalities with the reader. Through dialogue, characters become real and relatable, forming a connection with the audience.

Secondly, dialogue moves the story forward. It’s a powerful tool for advancing the plot, revealing key information, and creating tension or resolution. When characters engage in conversation, it propels the narrative, keeping readers interested and invested in the unfolding events.

Moreover, dialogue adds authenticity to a story. By mimicking the way people speak, it makes characters and their interactions more genuine. This authenticity makes the fictional world more immersive, allowing readers to fully engage with the narrative.

In essence, the purpose of writing a dialogue is to breathe life into characters, propel the storyline, and create a vivid and authentic reading experience for the audience.

The two main types of dialogues are direct dialogue and indirect dialogue .

• Direct Dialogue: Direct dialogue involves the characters speaking for themselves. It is presented within quotation marks and includes the exact words spoken by the characters. This type of dialogue provides a direct and immediate connection between the characters and the reader, allowing the audience to hear the characters’ voices directly. Example:Sarah exclaimed, “I can’t believe we won the game!”
• Indirect Dialogue: Indirect dialogue, on the other hand, conveys the substance of the conversation without quoting the exact words. It is often presented in a narrative form, summarizing what was said rather than providing a verbatim account. This type is useful for conveying information efficiently without focusing on the specific wording. Example:Tom told Mary that he was excited about the upcoming trip.

Understanding when to use direct or indirect dialogue depends on the desired effect, pacing, and the information the writer intends to convey to the audience.

• Expressing Surprise: Sarah gasped, “Oh, I didn’t see that coming!”
• Sharing Excitement: Jake shouted, “I got an A+ on my test!”
• Asking a Question: Emily wondered, “What time is the party?”
• Expressing Disappointment: Alex sighed, “I didn’t win the competition.”
• Showing Happiness: Lisa smiled, “This is the best day ever!”
• Giving a Greeting: Tom waved and said, “Hi, how are you?”
• Expressing Confusion: Mark scratched his head, “I don’t understand this at all.”

Direct dialogue helps bring characters to life by allowing them to speak directly to the reader, making the conversation more engaging and relatable.

• She said, “I love chocolate ice cream.”
• She said that she loves chocolate ice cream.
• Tom said, “I will go to the park tomorrow.”
• Tom said that he would go to the park tomorrow.
• Mary exclaimed, “What a beautiful sunset!”
• Mary exclaimed that it was a beautiful sunset.
• He asked, “Can you help me with my homework?”
• He asked if I could help him with his homework.
• They shouted, “Happy Birthday!”
• They shouted that it was a happy birthday.

In indirect dialogue, we use reporting verbs like “said,” “asked,” “exclaimed,” and adjust the tense and pronouns accordingly.

Writing a dialogue involves a few fundamental rules to make it effective and engaging. Here’s a step-by-step guide with examples:

• Identify the Characters:
• Clearly establish who the characters are in the dialogue.
• Example: Sarah and James are sitting in a café.
• Set the Tone:
• Determine the mood or atmosphere of the conversation.
• Example: The air was filled with tension as Sarah hesitated to speak.
• Use Proper Punctuation:
• Include quotation marks to indicate speech.
• Example: Sarah said, “I have something important to tell you.”
• Keep Sentences Short and Simple:
• Avoid long, complicated sentences. People speak in a more straightforward manner.
• Example: “I need your help,” James stated.
• Show, Don’t Tell:
• Use descriptive language to convey emotions and actions.
• Example: Sarah sighed, “I’ve been feeling lost lately.”
• Add Action Beats:
• Intersperse dialogue with actions to make it dynamic.
• Example: James raised an eyebrow, “Lost? What’s going on?”
• Be Consistent with Character Voices:
• Each character should have a distinct way of speaking.
• Example: Sarah spoke softly, “I didn’t expect things to get so complicated.”
• Include Interruptions and Pauses:
• Mimic natural speech patterns with interruptions and pauses.
• Example: James interrupted, “Complicated? How so?”
• Avoid Information Dumps:
• Provide information gradually, avoiding long monologues.
• Example: Sarah hesitated, “Well, you see, it’s about the job offer I got…”
• If appropriate, use dialects or slang to make dialogue authentic.
• Example: James grinned, “You’re gonna rock that job, no doubt!”
• Conclude the dialogue with a purpose or a question, encouraging continuation.
• Example: Sarah smiled, “I hope so. What do you think I should do?”
• Read through the dialogue, ensuring clarity and relevance.
• Example: James pondered, “Maybe take the job and see where it leads?”

Remember, the key to writing engaging dialogue is to make it sound natural and true to the characters. Experiment with different styles until you find what works best for your story or scene.

Examples of Dialogue Writing

To help you learn how to write dialogue, here are some examples from well-known novels, plays, films and television shows.

• Elizabeth Bennet: “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”
• Hamlet: “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them.”
• Rick Blaine: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
• Don Vito Corleone: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
• Chandler Bing: “Could there be more pressure on this jam?”
• Walter White: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive.”
• Andy Dufresne: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
• President Josiah Bartlet: “What’s next?”
• Rhett Butler: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
• Tony Soprano: “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”

These examples showcase the diversity of dialogue in different genres and mediums. Each line is memorable and contributes to the overall impact of the story or character. Studying such examples can offer insights into effective dialogue writing and characterization.

1. From “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994): Scene: Andy Dufresne and Red are talking in the prison yard.

Andy: You know, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Red: Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

Andy: Well, I guess I’m gonna have to be insane then, because I have hope. Hope that one day you’ll see those bars, and you’ll say, “I was in Shawshank.”

2. From “Friends” (TV Series): Scene: Chandler and Joey are in their apartment, having a conversation about relationships.

Chandler: You know, it’s always better to be the one who loves less than to be the one who’s loved.

Joey: Says who?

Chandler: Says everyone. It’s like relationship law.

Joey: Well, maybe I’m not a love expert, but the more you love someone, the crazier you’re willing to act for them.

Chandler: Oh, so you’re saying love makes you crazy?

Joey: No, man, love makes you want to do crazy, stupid, ridiculous stuff. There’s a difference.

3. From “The Dark Knight” (2008): Scene: Batman and the Joker are having a conversation in an interrogation room.

Joker: You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength.

Batman: Don’t worry. I’m gonna tell them the whole thing was your idea.

Joker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just… do things.

Batman: You’re garbage who kills for money.

Joker: Don’t talk like you’re one of them! You’re not, even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me. They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper!

These dialogues are memorable moments from iconic movies and TV shows.

Dialogue writing is the creation of conversation between characters in a narrative, such as a story, script, or play. It serves to advance the plot, reveal character traits, and engage the audience.

In English, use double quotation marks to enclose spoken words. Punctuation like commas and periods go inside the quotation marks, and each new speaker gets a new paragraph.

To make dialogue sound natural, listen to real conversations, pay attention to speech patterns, and avoid overly formal language. Use contractions, pauses, and interruptions to mimic real-life speech.

Dialogue serves several purposes, including advancing the plot, developing characters, providing information, creating tension, and engaging readers or viewers on an emotional level.

Use unique speech patterns, vocabulary, and tone for each character. Consider their background, experiences, and motivations to shape how they express themselves in conversation.

Instead of repeatedly using “he said” or “she said,” incorporate action beats and context to indicate the speaker. This makes dialogue flow more naturally and reduces redundancy.

Avoid unrealistic dialogue, excessive exposition, overly formal language, and lack of conflict. Also, be mindful of each character having a distinct voice and purpose in the conversation.

Dialogue length varies, but it should be concise and purposeful. Break it up with action and description to maintain a balance and prevent it from becoming monotonous.

While dialects or accents can add authenticity, use them sparingly to avoid making the dialogue difficult to understand. Clearly convey the character’s speech without sacrificing clarity.

Focus on subtext, create tension, and let characters speak with intention. Show, don’t tell, and use dialogue to reveal emotions and conflicts, making it a dynamic and integral part of your narrative.

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How to Format Dialogue: Complete Guide

Dialogue formatting matters. Whether you’re working on an essay, novel, or any other form of creative writing. Perfectly formatted dialogue makes your work more readable and engaging for the audience.

In this article, you’ll learn the dialogue formatting rules. Also, we’ll share examples of dialogue in essays for you to see the details.

What is a Dialogue Format?

Dialogue format is a writing form authors use to present characters' communication. It's common for play scripts, literature works, and other forms of storytelling.

A good format helps the audience understand who is speaking and what they say. It makes the communication clear and enjoyable. In dialogue writing, we follow the basic grammar rules like punctuation and capitalization. They help us illustrate the speaker’s ideas.

General Rules to Follow When Formatting a Dialogue

Dialogue writing is an essential skill for both professionals and scholars . It shows your ability to express the issues and ideas of other people in different setups. The core rules of formatting are about punctuation. So, below is a quick reminder on punctuation marks’ names:

And now, to practice.

Please follow these rules for proper dialogue formatting:

•  Use quotation marks. Enclose the speaker’s words in double quotations. It helps readers distinguish between a character’s speech and a narrator’s comments.
•  Place punctuation inside quotation marks. All punctuation like commas, exclamations, or interrogation marks, go inside the double quotations.
•  Keep dialogue tags behind quotation marks. A dialogue tag is (1) words framing direct speech to convey the context and emotions of a conversation. For example, in (“I can’t believe this is you,” she replied.), the dialogue tag is “she replied.”
•  Use an ellipsis or em-dashes for pauses or interruptions. To show interruptions or pauses, end phrases with ellipses inside quotations. Em-dashes go outside quotations. No other extra marks are necessary here.
•  Remember a character’s voice.  Ensure that each character’s phrases reflect their background and personality.

5 More Rules to Know (+ Examples of Dialogue)

For proper formatting of dialogue in writing, stick to the following rules:

1. Each speaker’s saying comes in a new paragraph

Begin a new paragraph whenever a new character starts speaking. It allows you to differentiate speakers and make their conversation look more organized. (2)

“Has Mr. de Winter been in?” I said.    “Yes, Madam,” said Robert; “he came in just after two, and had a quick lunch, and then went out again. He asked for you and Frith said he thought you must have gone down to see the ship.”    “Did he say when he would be back again?” I asked.    “No, Madam.” — from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

2. Separate dialogue tags with commas

When using dialogue tags ( e.g., “she said,” “he replied,”), separate them with commas. 

For example:

“You’ve got to do something right now , ” Aaron said , “Mom is really hurting. She says you have to drive her to the hospital.” “Actually, Dad , ” said Caleb, sidling in with his catalog , “There’s someplace you can drive me, too.” “No, Caleb.” — from The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

3. When quoting within dialogue, place single quotes

If a character cites somebody or something while speaking, we call it a reported dialogue. In this case, use single quotations within double ones you place for a direct speech. It will help readers see that it’s a quote.

John started to cry. “When you said, ‘I never wanted to meet you again in my life!’ It hurts my feelings.”

4. You can divide a character’s long speech into paragraphs

Dialogue writing is different when a person speaks for a longer time. It’s fine to divide it into shorter paragraphs. Ensure the proper quotation marks placing:

 The first quotation mark goes at the beginning of the dialogue. Each later paragraph also starts with it until that direct speech ends.

 The second quotation mark — the one “closing” the monologue — goes at the dialogue’s end.

Josphat took a deep breath and began. “ Here’s the things about lions. They’re dangerous creatures. They only know how to kill. Have you ever seen a lion in an open area? Probably not. Because if you had you’d be dead now. “ I saw a lion once. I was fetching firewood to cook lunch. All of a sudden I found myself face to face with a lion. My heart stopped. I knew it was my end on earth. If it wasn’t the poachers we wouldn’t be having this talk. ”

Yet, you can keep a long text as a whole by adding some context with dialogue tags. Like here:

As you can see, there’s no quotation mark at the end of the paragraph in red. It’s because the next “Ha! ha!” paragraph continues the character’s speech.

5. Use action beats

Describe actions to provide context and keep readers engaged. Help them “hear” your characters. Punctuation also helps here: exclamation (!) or interrogation with exclamations (?!) demonstrate the corresponding tone of your narrative.

He slammed the door and shouted , “I can’t believe you did that ! “

Mistakes to Avoid When Formatting Dialogue

A good dialogue is a powerful instrument for a writer to show the character’s nature to the audience. Below are the mistakes to avoid in formatting if you want to reach that goal.

 So, please don’t :

• Allow characters to speak for too long. Writing long paragraphs will bore the reader, making them skip through your speech. Short but sweet talk is the best. When writing, aim to be brief, dynamic, and purposeful. If your character speaks too much, generating opinion essays , ensure this speech makes sense and serves a bigger purpose.
• Overburden dialogue with exposition.  Avoid telling the story background or building sophisticated words in your characters’ speeches. Instead, reveal the narrative content in small bursts and blend it around the rest of the prose. Convey it through your character’s actions and thoughts rather than summaries and explanations.
• Create rhetorical flourishes. Make your characters sound natural. Let them speak the way they’d do if they were real people. Consider their age, profession, and cultural background — and choose lexical items that fit them most.
• Use repetitive dialogue tags. Constant “he asked” and “she said” sounds monotonous. Diversify your tags: use power verbs, synonyms, and dialogue beats.

Frequently Asked Questions by Students

How to format dialogue in an essay.

Formatting a dialogue in an essay is tricky for most students. Here’s how to do it: Enclose the speaker’s words with double quotations and start every other character’s line from a new paragraph. Stick to the citation styles like APA or MLA to ensure credibility. 

How to format dialogue in a novel?

 A dialogue in a novel follows all the standard rules for clarity and readability. Ensure to use attributions, quotation marks, and paragraph format. It makes your dialogue flow, grabbing the reader’s attention.

How to format dialogue in a book?

Dialogue formatting in a book is critical for storytelling. It helps the audience distinguish the hero’s words. Follow the general rules we’ve discussed above:

Use double quotations and isolate dialogue tags with commas. Remember to place the discussion in blocks for better readability.

How to format dialogue between two characters?

A two-character dialogue offers the best way to prove successful formatting skills. Ensure you use action beats, quotations, and attribution tags. It allows readers to follow the conversation and understand it better.

What is the purpose of dialogue in a narrative essay?  

Dialogue writing is the exchange of views between two or more people to reach a consensus. It reveals the character’s attitude and argumentation. Last but not least, it helps convey the descriptive nature of your narrative essay.

References:

• https://valenciacollege.edu/students/learning-support/winter-park/communications/documents/WritingDialogueCSSCTipSheet_Revised_.pdf
• https://www.ursinus.edu/live/files/1158-formatting-dialogue
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When it comes to writing dialogue in a story, even the best of the best writers take a pause. How to write dialogue correctly? Let’s take a look at some rules of writing dialogue to find out how you should write conversations in a story. If you need some examples of dialogue writing to ease the process, we’ve got that covered too!

But before we learn how to correctly write dialogue, we need to know the purpose of dialogue. Why is dialogue important? What does it achieve in a story?

Ensure crisp and engaging dialogues with perfect editing! Learn more

Importance of dialogue in a book

A conversation between two characters brings them to life. It provides insight into their psyche and informs the reader what they feel in that moment. It is through dialogue that different types of characters reveal themselves, other characters, and events in the story.

Of course, the chief purpose of dialogue is to develop the story. For a novel to progress, the characters need to communicate with each other. This applies not only to short stories , but also to nonfiction books!

Here is the different ways in which dialogue is useful:

• Helps develop characters and deepen their relationships with each other
• Provides space to play around with the main ideas in your novel
• Adds dramatic moments to your story, without which it is boring
• Matches the rhythms of human speech, making your characters more real
• Reveals the characters’ desires, fears, and motivations
• Lends a tone to the story and the characters
• Depicts, deepens, or reflects upon the theme of your story
• Changes the direction of plot
• Holds the reader’s attention

Knowing how dialogue is important to your book will help you better appreciate how it should be written. Now, there are a few rules of writing dialogue you must learn. Before you understand how to write character dialogue, you need to understand the rules that you need to follow.

Rules of writing dialogue

Writing dialogue in a story or a novel has a few basic rules. If you follow them well, you’ll have nothing to fear from writing dialogues. We’ve added some handy examples of dialogue writing so you can understand these rules better.

Here are the rules of writing dialogue that you should always keep in mind:

1. Use double quotation marks for your dialogue

It is the oldest rule of dialogue writing to enclose the spoken words in double quotation marks. Here’s a sample dialogue:

“Mr. Bennet, you have no compassion for my poor nerves!”

However, there is an exception to this rule. In British English, single quotation marks are used instead of double to show dialogue.

2. Use single quotation marks for quotes within a dialogue

In American English, single quotation marks are used to show a quote within a quote. So if your character is quoting someone else, that phrase should be enclosed within single quotation marks. For example:

“I heard Percy say, ‘the new teacher is absolutely brilliant!’”

3. Every new speaker gets a new paragraph

Every dialogue begins with a new paragraph. Each time a character says something, even if it is only a word, the dialogue should begin on a new paragraph. Here’s a dialogue writing example:

“Don’t worry, the information they have of our whereabouts is misleading.”

“So this was a trap?”

“Precisely.”

4. When (and how) to use dialogue tags

Dialogue tags are a means for you to connect the narration with the dialogue. The “he said” and “she said” you often come across? They’re the most widely used dialogue tags.

Take a look at this:

“Did you think it was over,” screeched Dr. Octavia. “My plan has just begun!”

In the above example of dialogue writing, the dialogue combines the narration and the speech to create the villain in our minds. However, it also provides an interruption in the character’s words. So, a dialogue tag is useful to add a pause in the dialogues.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered, “everything will be alright.”

If the dialogue tag ends the sentence, then use a period after it. But as in the example above, the tag can also occur in the middle of a dialogue to indicate a pause in speech. In that case, you can use commas to separate the speech from the narration.

5. When (and how) to use action tags

Action tags, also called action beats or dialogue beats, are short descriptions of action that break up the dialogue. You can use them to avoid repeating the usage of dialogue tags.

When it’s established that only a certain number of characters are speaking, it’s safe to use an action tag without confusing the reader. Let’s have a look at this example:

“Don’t tell me you lost it again!” She rolled her eyes, flopping down on the bean bag chair. “We’re so grounded.”

6. How to write longer dialogues

When a character delivers a long monologue, you have to create multiple paragraphs for a single dialogue. This can happen when a character narrates a story within your story, or during a flashback sequence.

In this case, end quotes are not used at the end of every paragraph. They only appear at the very end, when the character stops speaking.

“It was a long time ago,” said the old man. “The forests were yet untouched and man hadn’t succumbed to greed. I remember going to forage for produce with my mother. And then the machines came.

“By the time I was a grown man, they had already cut a long line through the forest.”

7. Use italics for internal speech

Your characters’ thoughts and internal monologue is represented through italics. This helps readers differentiate between what is said and what is thought. This is useful when you narrate your novel in the third person or through an omniscient narrator.

“I have no idea where to go,” said Martha. But I will keep you all safe.

Note that the end punctuation mark of the inner speech is also italicized. Think of it like this: instead of enclosing the sentence in quotes, we’re italicizing it.

Some writers choose to use double or single quotation marks to represent inner thoughts as well as dialogue. The key thing is to maintain consistency in your novel, no matter what style you choose to follow.

As is clear from the above examples of dialogue writing, there is much room for error while writing dialogue. Simple mistakes in dialogue punctuation can hamper the reading experience and take your reader out of the fictional world you have created. This is where an expert proofreader comes in.

Of course, any manuscript editing service will help ensure that you follow the important rules of writing dialogue. It’s their job to ensure consistency in your writing, even if you choose to deviate from the norm!

Now you understand the importance of dialogue and rules of writing dialogue. It’s time to understand how to write conversations in a story.

How to write dialogue in a story?

When it comes to writing dialogue in fiction , novelists and short story writers have a challenge at hand. They have to weave in dialogue while they construct scenes, setting, action, and context, also maintaining the flow and narrative of the story.

In his book The Anatomy of Story , John Truby says that dialogue is a “highly selective language that sounds like it could be real.” It is “always more intelligent, wittier, more metaphorical, and better argued than in real life.”

So, terrific dialogue isn’t just important when writing fiction— it’s essential. To impress the agent to win a book deal, and for your readers to keep coming back to your next book, you need to deliver superb dialogue in every scene.

 So, how to write dialogue that always hits the mark? Here are some tips to write dialogue:

1. Punctuate your dialogue properly

Writing dialogue punctuation is tricky, but extremely important. How you punctuate your dialogue determines the tone and meaning of your sentences. More than that, your use of punctuation also reflects upon the characters’ personality.

Take note of the following examples of dialogue writing:

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I really don’t know!”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I really don’t know!”

“I— I really don’t know.”

“I don’t know… I don’t know, I really don’t know.”

All the variations create different images inside your head. This is because dialogue punctuation creates a speech pattern for your character, and all memorable characters have unique speech patterns.

After all, aren’t you immediately reminded of a certain Star Wars character when you read:

“Know that, I don’t.”

So, the key to writing successful dialogue is to format it properly. Dialogue formatting hinges on five essential punctuation marks. Let’s go through them one by one.

Don’t worry, you’ll find plenty of dialogue formatting examples in the infographic below!

1. Quotation marks

Your dialogue, including all punctuation in the utterance, goes inside double quotations. If you’re in the UK, just replace this with single quotes.

US: “Whatever is said here— the deal, the discussions, the results, everything stays between us.”

UK: ‘Whatever is said here— the deal, the discussions, the results, everything stays between us.’

The end punctuation of a dialogue always goes inside quotation marks.

“When do we leave ? ” Fatima asked.

“Who goes there ! ” s he challenged.

Note that the first word of the dialogue tag is in lowercase. This is because your sentence is a combination of the dialogue and the tag. Since the sentence isn’t complete when the dialogue ends, there is no reason to write the tag in uppercase.

Unless, of course, if the first word happens to be a proper noun!

2. Quotes within dialogue

When you’re quoting a complete sentence, the punctuation remains inside the quote. But when your quote is an incomplete sentence, a book title, or an explanation of something, the punctuation goes outside of the quote

“Samantha called me up and said, ‘I want to see you right now !’ ”

“Samantha called me up and insisted on meeting ‘right now ’. ”

Commas appear with the dialogue tags. So, they connect the narration with the dialogue. Here is the correct way to punctuate with dialogue tags:

Tom said , “I will perform the main act tomorrow, when the time is right.”

“I will perform the main act tomorrow , ” said Tom. “When the time is right.”

“I will perform the main act tomorrow , ” said Tom , “when the time is right.”

Em-dashes are instrumental in setting a rhythm for dialogue. They represent disjointed speech or sentences that are abruptly broken off.

“I didn’t— I didn’t do anything!” Kyle was bewildered. “You— you have to believe me— I’m innocent!”

“They haven’t said—”

“We don’t have the time for this right now!” Anika yelled.

“I wish I could help—”

The alarm sounded: it was time for Wuxian to leave.

Aside from this, em-dashes can also be used to show when characters speak over each other. Here’s a dialogue writing example for overlapping speech:

“Mr. Jackson couldn’t see us—”

“Are you being serious right now!”

“—but he’s headed over here within the next hour.”

Sometimes, action and dialogue overlap to an extent where neither action tags nor dialogue tags are sufficient. In this case, a couple of em-dashes help the writer sprinkle narration between the dialogue.

“Little does our little prince know” — the witch stirred her potion — “what I have in store for him!”

5. Ellipsis

When a character gets stunned into silence or trails off while speaking, ellipses are the way to show it. Consider this:

“When did they…”

“Last night, when half our troops were asleep.”

He looked out at the distant stars. “I thought I had more time…”

It’s easy to deduce from the above examples of dialogue formatting that punctuation can make a huge difference. Different ways of writing dialogue in a story create different meanings. If you want to be a master dialogue writer, mastering dialogue punctuation is an absolute essential!

Also read: How to Punctuate Dialogue in Fiction

2. Character-specific dialogue

Obviously, writing effective dialogue requires a good understanding of your characters. Develop a speech pattern for your character that reflects their personality. Then, take into account their worldview, their present mental and emotional state, their accent, or some sayings they love to use.

Remember two things when you write dialogue for your characters:

Characters aren’t mouthpieces for the writer

Your characters have a life of their own. The dialogue you write for them needs to reflect this. Beware of setting two heads talking in space: scene and setting influence dialogue as much as they influence plot and story.

Dialogue between characters can engage with the surrounding to build tension and add drama. Don’t settle for anything less than the most character-specific, setting-influenced conversations between your characters!

All your characters can’t sound the same

Some characters talk a lot, some talk a little. Some talk wisely, and some talk frivolously. Effective dialogue writing lets the readers know exactly who is speaking.

A stuttering child will obviously have a different style of talking from a hotheaded matriarch. Idioms, catchphrases, accent: it all goes into the making of great dialogue.

3. Balance dialogue with narration

Dialogue from stories and novels is always more intelligent, metaphorical, and sassy than it is in real life. The simple reason for this is that dialogue is not real talk. It is a highly vetted language that is cleverly constructed to depict action, movement, and conflict.

Consider this:

“Hey, Eric,” Wendy said.

“Oh, hi! What’s up?”

“Do you know where Kenny is? He hasn’t been home in two days”

“I’ve been busy lately, don’t have a clue”

Your texts with random colleagues are more interesting than this, right? The dialogue in this example sounds realistic, but it’s also boring because it has no weight.

It does not contain any tensions and adds nothing to the plot. It tells you nothing about the characters, aside from the surface information.

A dialogue writing sample

Dialogue and internal monologue are necessary to the story but can quickly turn boring. So, your dialogue needs to be rich in conflict. More than this, it needs to be balanced with conflict in action and narration!

Make sure that your dialogue has an impact. It should change the direction of the plot, the movement of the story, and the behavior of your characters. If characters talk and nothing happens, your readers will lose interest.

This is how you can achieve a balance between narration and dialogue to depict a better picture:

“Hey, Eric,” Wendy said, trying to play it cool.

“Oh, hi!” Eric said brightly, rubbing the back of his neck. “What’s up?”

“Do you know where Kenny is?” She observed his expression. “He hasn’t been home in two days.”

Eric won’t give away anything so casually, she thought. I must corner him after the meeting.

“I’ve been busy lately,” he smirked, shrugging. “No clue.”

See how some well-placed narration makes the same lines more engrossing? A drab conversation takes on more meaning if you use the right dialogue tags and action beats.

4. Avoid exposition

Exposition is the writer’s way of giving context to their readers. It tells the readers more about the setting, the backstory, and the recent or distant events before the story begins.

It’s important for the readers to know where the characters come from and where they are going. But this doesn’t have to be told through a dialogue between two characters. Too much exposition in dialogue makes your characters talking heads, rather than the real people they’re supposed to be.

Relying heavily on your dialogue is as harmful as not using it enough.

Ideally, a large part of the exposition should be set in the story’s narrative. Other developments like suspense, revelations, or secrets can unravel through dialogue. This adds dramatic effect to your narrative.

5. Revising your dialogue is important

No one can write good dialogue in one go. If it’s impactful, it tends to be unrealistic. If it’s believable, it becomes lackluster. This is why revising your dialogue is so important. Aside from the content, even changes in dialogue formatting and punctuation can make it more substantial.

It’s natural to come up with a clunky length of conversations in your first go at writing dialogue. But a round of revision helps you refine it by leaps and bounds.

Go through individual dialogue segments and inspect them carefully. Ask if the dialogue is logical for the character’s disposition. Is it true to the story’s time and character’s maturity? Does it fit the character’s credible thinking?

Create a list of such questions to suit your individual process. Include things that you often forget to consider. Add considerations like personality, slang, rhythm, mood, and emotion to your list.

If you lack the critical eye to examine and correct your writing, seek expert help. As always, your novel editors and proofreaders are here to help ! 

6. Study and practice 

Finally, the most important advice from anyone who has mastered any art: practice!

Observe how your favorite author writes dialogue in their books. Note down all remarkable examples of dialogue writing and study them for why they work. You can also make use of some dialogue writing exercises.

A dialogue writing exercise can be as simple as starting with a prompt and making it intriguing. Basic as it sounds, there’s nothing like some good old writing practice to get you going! So, here are some quick dialogue writing prompts that can help you practice:

• “I heard you’ve been missing something.”
• “Ah, how the mighty have fallen!”
• “I never said—”
• “Have you heard? Old man Lan is dead.”
• “Her mother knew. All this time.”
• “Did they help? You don’t look any better.”
• “It’s time to finish what we started.”
• “I never thought it could go this wrong.”
• “How did you…”
• “How old are you again? I keep forgetting!”

We hope these dialogue prompts get you excited to write. Of course, knowing what you need to do isn’t enough to make powerful dialogue. You also need to know what to avoid .

Avoid these dialogue writing mistakes

There are two reasons that dialogues become boring: either writers expect dialogue to do the heavy lifting, or they don’t rely on it at all. There is a fine balance for dialogue in a story: it needs to do enough, but never too much.

But how can you achieve this? Where does the limit lie? Now that we’ve told you how to write dialogue, we’ll also inform you about some common dialogue mistakes you need to avoid. It’s all about that balance, isn’t it!

Avoid these pitfalls in when you write dialogue in a story:

1. Boring dialogue tags

There is a wide variety of tags you can use, aside from “he said”, “she said”, and “they said”. The common mistake to make while writing dialogue in a story is using the same or similar tags too often. This gets repetitive and boring for the reader.

No one wants to read something like this:

“Barry,” said Melanie, “I didn’t know you were in town!”

“You hardly know yourself these days,” he said.

“Hey!” she said. “No fair!”

Let’s make some corrections:

“Barry,” beamed Melanie, “I didn’t know you were in town!”

“You hardly know yourself these days,” he mocked .

“Hey!” she protested. “No fair!”

You know what? I still feel like this is lacking, and we’ll soon see why.

2. Too many tags, not enough beats

Using an abundance of dialogue beats and no action tags make for poor dialogue. The reverse is also true; what you need is a proper mix of both.

Tags tell you how the words are being said, but beats tell you what action is happening alongside the words. For engaging dialogue, you need both! Here’s our previous dialogue writing example, edited, proofread, and improved:

“Barry!” Melanie hugged him, smiling brightly. “I didn’t know you were in town!”

“You hardly know yourself these days,” he mocked.

“Hey!” She punched him on the shoulder. “No fair!”

3. An abundance of the same style

We’ve seen multiple ways to write and punctuate dialogue. You can write it with a tag, a beat, or an interruption. Find ways to mix and match between these styles, so the repetition doesn’t become boring.

Here’s an example that mixes various styles of dialogue writing:

“Barry!” — Melanie hugged him, smiling brightly — “I didn’t know you were in town!”

4. Scene-blindness

A scene is a moment in your story: it includes action, conflict, and some immediate consequences. To maintain the flow of action, nothing should interrupt the scene.

Let dialogue build tension, and cut back on it when the tension is highest. Too much dialogue can dilute the scene and create no impact. Assess the needs of every scene, and write your dialogue accordingly.

Now that you know how to creatively use dialogue, you can create intriguing dialogues to hook the reader to your text. The next step after writing is editing. As experts in editing and proofreading services , we’d love to refine your text! 

Here are some other articles that you might find useful: 

• How to Write a Novel in Past Tense? 3 Steps & Examples
• How to Write Unforgettable Antagonists

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Dialogue Writing - Style, Format and Examples

Are you a good speaker or a great listener? If you are, you should have definitely come across multiple instances where something you said or you heard someone say stuck to your mind. This happens mainly because those words touched your heart or made you think. That is the effect of a good dialogue. Even a simple conversation with your family, friends or even an unknown group of people can give you ideas and thoughts to ponder on.

This article will introduce you to the art of dialogue writing and give you information about all that you need to know. Furthermore, go through the sample dialogues and analyse how they make an effect.

Table of Contents

What is dialogue writing, the purposes of writing a dialogue, inner dialogue, outer dialogue, basic format and structure of a dialogue, punctuation, what not to do when writing a dialogue – points to remember, dialogues from stories and plays, dialogues from movies and tv shows, frequently asked questions on dialogue writing in english.

The term ‘dialogue’ is something all of you would be familiar with. As social beings, people (irrespective of being young or old, male or female) communicate with each other. Such a communication where both parties involved in the conversation have something to say about the topic being discussed can be said to be dialogue. A dialogue can be on any topic – a very simple talk about a daily chore, a serious talk about a social or medical problem, a discussion about what has to be done for an event and so on. The only point that you should remember is that a dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically.

The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conversation in text is referred to as dialogue writing.

What do you think is the reason behind writing dialogues in a story, play or film? Is it mandatory to include dialogues in a story? There are stories where you have a third person narrator or one of the characters of the story presenting the story from their perspective. What difference does it make when there are dialogues instead of just someone narrating each and everything that is happening in the story?

Having dialogues along with stage directions instead of just narrations can be said to be a better writing technique as it gives the readers a clear picture of the characteristics of the various characters in the story, play or movie. It also gives your characters life, and above all, a voice of their own. Dialogues portray the emotional state, mindset, background information and attitude of the speakers. This will always be more effective as it would let the readers connect with the characters on a more personal level.

Dialogue writing is also one area where the writers get to be creative even to the extent of breaking some conventional grammatical rules. For instance, elongating a word or writing the whole word in capital letters or using multiple question marks or exclamation marks to stress on whatever is being said. For example: YESSSS!!

Another component of dialogue writing is adding stage directions. Stage directions are short phrases written in brackets that give the reader an idea of what the character is doing as they engage in the dialogue. For example: Dan (rubbing his eyes): I am still tired.

Types of Dialogues

Dialogues can be classified into two main types namely,

The term ‘inner dialogue’ refers to the individual character’s thoughts which are not spoken aloud; in other words, said to anyone else. They can be something a character is thinking as the other character is speaking and their thoughts about what is going on or what the other character is doing. These inner dialogues are not placed within quotation marks .

As the name suggests, ‘outer dialogues’ are thoughts that are spoken aloud. They refer to everything the two characters involved in the dialogue say to each other. Outer dialogues are usually placed with quotation marks.

Fundamental Rules to Be Followed When Writing a Dialogue

Dialogue writing can look and sound simple; however, when actually putting dialogue in writing, there are certain rules regarding the structure and format you need to follow. Go through each of these in detail in the sections given below.

Dialogues can be part of a story, a play or a movie. Each one has a different structure and format in which the dialogues have to be presented; however, there is a basic structure that can be followed. Go through the following points to learn the essential attributes a dialogue must have.

• The first thing you have to do before you write a dialogue is to decide who the characters are.
• You should also have a clear idea of the plot of the story, or in general, the context of the dialogue.
• Dialogues can be just a sentence, two or three lines or even a short paragraph. Whatever be the case, always remember that each character’s dialogue, no matter how short or long, has to be written on the next line. In other words, no two dialogues should appear on the same line. Also see to it that you indent each dialogue.
• If the dialogues are one-liners, you can write them one after the other. On the contrary, if each of your characters are speaking in chunks (short or long paragraphs), it is mandatory that you show the difference by using an optimum line spacing.
• Be very careful with the tense used in the dialogue.
• It is better to skip the small talk (including greetings) and start off with the point of discussion unless the small talk is crucial to setting the mood of the conversation.

In every form of writing, punctuation is an important factor that makes it sensible. In the same manner, dialogue writing also would not make any sense without proper punctuation. Learn how to punctuate dialogues by going through the following points.

• The first rule would be adding a colon after the name of the character to indicate that the particular character is the one speaking at the moment. Sometimes, a hyphen is used instead of a colon.
• The name of the character should always start with a capital letter as it is a proper noun. Sometimes, you will have characters such as villagers, student 1, student 2, etc. In these cases also, you will have to use a capital letter.
• Dialogues are to be placed within quotation marks.
• If you are including a character’s dialogue in another character’s dialogue, it has to be placed within single quotation marks. For example: “Don’t you think Rakesh saying ‘I will take the lead’ has some hidden agenda?”
• Also remember that any punctuation mark corresponding to the dialogue should always be placed within double quotation marks. For instance, if the dialogue is an interrogative sentence , the question mark has to come first marking the end of the sentence followed by the double quotation marks marking the end of the dialogue.
• When you insert the tag in the middle of the dialogue, make sure you close the quotation marks before the tag. The tag is preceded and followed by a comma . When you open quotation marks to continue the dialogue, see to it that you use a small letter to begin with if it is the continuation of the dialogue, and close the quotation marks once the dialogue is complete. For example: “Do you know”, he shouted to everyone, “who the new manager is?”
• If the dialogue tag is positioned in the beginning of the sentence, see to it that you start it with a capital letter as you are starting a new sentence. Place a comma after the dialogue tag followed by open quotation marks, the dialogue starting with a capital letter followed by the punctuation mark of the quote and close quotation marks. For example: Josh mumbled, “Nobody understands the main problem here.”
• A dialogue can also appear at the end of the sentence. In this case, the quotation comes first. Once you punctuate the quote and close the quotation marks, place the dialogue tag. Note that the dialogue tag is not capitalised. For example: “Are you coming with us?” Sarah asked.
• If a character’s dialogue is being interrupted by another character, use a dash to indicate the interference. For example: “I was wondering –”

“Are you ready to go?”

• Actions and body language of characters can be described in sentences and they can appear in between dialogues. For example: “I am not interested.” She shrugged her shoulders. “But, I will do it just for you.”

Now that you know how to write a dialogue, let us also look at what all you are not supposed to do when writing a dialogue.

• Using dialogue tags does give some clarity about the action and body language of the characters, but see to it that you do not use dialogue tags with every single dialogue. Also, make sure you don’t use too little.
• Using colloquial language is allowed in dialogue writing, but use them only if it matches the context.
• Dialogues need not be grammatically correct all the time. That does not mean you can write structureless sentences. You can have individual words or phrases as a dialogue. For example: “What?”, “Of course!”, “She started the fight?”

Examples of Dialogue Writing

To help you understand and learn the art of dialogue writing, here are a few examples from some famous stories, plays, movies and TV shows.

A few examples from ‘The Crocodile and the Monkey’ are given below. Go through them and try to analyse how the description and dialogues are written.

• The crocodile’s wife thought to herself, “If the monkey eats only these sweet rose-apples, his flesh must be sweet too. He would be a delicious dinner.”
• When they reached, the monkey climbed up the tree to safety. He looked at the crocodile and said, “Now you can go back to your wicked wife and tell her that her husband is the biggest fool in this world. Your foolishness has no parallel. You were ready to take my life because of an unjust demand from your wife. Then you were stupid enough to believe me and brought me back to the tree.”

Here are a few examples from the short story, ‘The Gift of the Magi’ by O. Henry. Check them out.

• “Twenty dollars,” said Mrs. Sofronie, lifting the hair to feel its weight.

“Give it to me quick,” said Della.

• “Jim, dear,” she cried, “don’t look at me like that. I had my hair cut off and sold it. I couldn’t live through Christmas without giving you a gift. My hair will grow again. You won’t care, will you? My hair grows very fast. It’s Christmas, Jim. Let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I got for you.”

Here are a few quotes from the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare.

• Shylock: Three thousand ducats; well.

Bassanio: Ay, sir, for three months.

Shylock: For three months; well.

Bassanio: For which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.

Shylock: Antonio shall become bound; well.

Bassanio: May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? shall I know your answer?

Shylock: Three thousand ducats for three months and Antonio bound.

• Bassanio: And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

Gratiano: Yes, faith, my lord.

Bassanio: Our feast shall be much honour’d in your marriage.

Gratiano: We’ll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.

Check out the following section to learn how dialogues from movies and TV shows are written. Furthermore, analyse the style and language used.

The following sample conversation is from the Disney movie ‘Moana’. Check it out.

Maui: Boat! A boat! The Gods have given me a (screams)

Moana: Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea. I am Moana…

Maui: Hero of Man.

Moana: Wh..What?

Maui: It’s actually Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of man. I

interrupted, from the top, hero of man. Go.

Moana: I am Mo…

Maui: Sorry, Sorry, sorry, sorry. And women. Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy-girl

thing. Ah, you know, Maui is a hero to all. You’re doing great.

Moana: What? No, I came here to…

Maui: Oh, of course, of course. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Maui always has time for his fans.

When you use a bird to write with, it’s called tweeting. (laughs) I know, not every day you

get a chance to meet your hero.

Moana: You are not my hero. And I’m not here so you can sign my oar. I’m here because

you stole the heart of Te Fiti and you will board my boat, sail across the sea, and put it

The following example is taken from the series ‘Anne with an E’.

• Diana: Anne!

Anne: Hello, Diana!

Diana: My, what have you done to your hat?

Anne: Well, I wanted to make a good first impression and it was so plain.

Diana: You’re making an impression all right.

Anne: I’m glad you found your way.

Diana: I expect we should be able to walk together soon.

Anne: We can’t?

Diana: I’m sure it won’t be long until my parents accept you, now that you’re a Cuthbert and all.

Also check out: Conversation between Teacher and Student │ Conversation between Doctor and Patient │ Conversation between Two Friends │ Conversation between Shopkeeper and Customer

What is dialogue writing?

A dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conversation in text is referred to as dialogue writing.

What is the definition of a dialogue?

The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”.

What is the format of dialogue writing?

The basic structure and format of a dialogue is as follows:

• Every speaker gets a new paragraph.
• The name of the character is followed by a colon and then the dialogue within quotes is written.
• If dialogue tags are used, use a comma after it if it comes in the beginning, a comma before and after if it comes in the middle and place it immediately after the quotation marks if it comes at the end.

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Dialogue Definition

What is dialogue? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Dialogue is the exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a book, play, or other written work. In prose writing, lines of dialogue are typically identified by the use of quotation marks and a dialogue tag, such as "she said." In plays, lines of dialogue are preceded by the name of the person speaking. Here's a bit of dialogue from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : "Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here."

Some additional key details about dialogue:

• Dialogue is defined in contrast to monologue , when only one person is speaking.
• Dialogue is often critical for moving the plot of a story forward, and can be a great way of conveying key information about characters and the plot.
• Dialogue is also a specific and ancient genre of writing, which often takes the form of a philosophical investigation carried out by two people in conversation, as in the works of Plato. This entry, however, deals with dialogue as a narrative element, not as a genre.

How to Pronounce Dialogue

Here's how to pronounce dialogue: dye -uh-log

Dialogue in Depth

Dialogue is used in all forms of writing, from novels to news articles to plays—and even in some poetry. It's a useful tool for exposition (i.e., conveying the key details and background information of a story) as well as characterization (i.e., fleshing out characters to make them seem lifelike and unique).

Dialogue as an Expository Tool

Dialogue is often a crucial expository tool for writers—which is just another way of saying that dialogue can help convey important information to the reader about the characters or the plot without requiring the narrator to state the information directly. For instance:

• In a book with a first person narrator, the narrator might identify themselves outright (as in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , which begins "My name is Kathy H. I am thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.").
• Tom Buchanan, who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder. "What you doing, Nick?”

The above example is just one scenario in which important information might be conveyed indirectly through dialogue, allowing writers to show rather than tell their readers the most important details of the plot.

Expository Dialogue in Plays and Films

Dialogue is an especially important tool for playwrights and screenwriters, because most plays and films rely primarily on a combination of visual storytelling and dialogue to introduce the world of the story and its characters. In plays especially, the most basic information (like time of day) often needs to be conveyed through dialogue, as in the following exchange from Romeo and Juliet :

BENVOLIO Good-morrow, cousin. ROMEO Is the day so young? BENVOLIO But new struck nine. ROMEO Ay me! sad hours seem long.

Here you can see that what in prose writing might have been conveyed with a simple introductory clause like "Early the next morning..." instead has to be conveyed through dialogue.

Dialogue as a Tool for Characterization

In all forms of writing, dialogue can help writers flesh out their characters to make them more lifelike, and give readers a stronger sense of who each character is and where they come from. This can be achieved using a combination of:

• Colloquialisms and slang: Colloquialism is the use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech. This can be used in dialogue to establish that a character is from a particular time, place, or class background. Similarly, slang can be used to associate a character with a particular social group or age group.
• The form the dialogue takes: for instance, multiple books have now been written in the form of text messages between characters—a form which immediately gives readers some hint as to the demographic of the characters in the "dialogue."
• The subject matter: This is the obvious one. What characters talk about can tell readers more about them than how the characters speak. What characters talk about reveals their fears and desires, their virtues and vices, their strengths and their flaws.

For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's narrator uses dialogue to introduce Mrs. and Mr. Bennet, their relationship, and their differing attitudes towards arranging marriages for their daughters:

"A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” “How so? How can it affect them?” “My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.” “Is that his design in settling here?” “Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”

This conversation is an example of the use of dialogue as a tool of characterization , showing readers—without explaining it directly—that Mrs. Bennet is preoccupied with arranging marriages for her daughters, and that Mr. Bennet has a deadpan sense of humor and enjoys teasing his wife.

Recognizing Dialogue in Different Types of Writing

It's important to note that how a writer uses dialogue changes depending on the form in which they're writing, so it's useful to have a basic understanding of the form dialogue takes in prose writing (i.e., fiction and nonfiction) versus the form it takes in plays and screenplays—as well as the different functions it can serve in each. We'll cover that in greater depth in the sections that follow.

Dialogue in Prose

In prose writing, which includes fiction and nonfiction, there are certain grammatical and stylistic conventions governing the use of dialogue within a text. We won't cover all of them in detail here (we'll skip over the placement of commas and such), but here are some of the basic rules for organizing dialogue in prose:

• Punctuation : Generally speaking, lines of dialogue are encased in double quotation marks "such as this," but they may also be encased in single quotation marks, 'such as this.' However, single quotation marks are generally reserved for quotations within a quotation, e.g., "Even when I dared him he said 'No way,' so I dropped the subject."
• "Where did you go?" she asked .
• I said , "Leave me alone."
• "Answer my question," said Monica , "or I'm leaving."
• Line breaks : Lines of dialogue spoken by different speakers are generally separated by line breaks. This is helpful for determining who is speaking when dialogue tags have been omitted.

Of course, some writers ignore these conventions entirely, choosing instead to italicize lines of dialogue, for example, or not to use quotation marks, leaving lines of dialogue undifferentiated from other text except for the occasional use of a dialogue tag. Writers that use nonstandard ways of conveying dialogue, however, usually do so in a consistent way, so it's not hard to figure out when someone is speaking, even if it doesn't look like normal dialogue.

Indirect vs. Direct Dialogue

In prose, there are two main ways for writers to convey the content of a conversation between two characters: directly, and indirectly. Here's an overview of the difference between direct and indirect dialogue:

• This type of dialogue can often help lend credibility or verisimilitude to dialogue in a story narrated in the first-person, since it's unlikely that a real person would remember every line of dialogue that they had overheard or spoken.
• Direct Dialogue: This is what most people are referring to when they talk about dialogue. In contrast to indirect dialogue, direct dialogue is when two people are speaking and their words are in quotations.

Of these two types of dialogue, direct dialogue is the only one that counts as dialogue strictly speaking. Indirect dialogue, by contrast, is technically considered to be part of a story's narration.

A Note on Dialogue Tags and "Said Bookisms"

It is pretty common for writers to use verbs other than "said" and "asked"  to attribute a line of dialogue to a speaker in a text. For instance, it's perfectly acceptable for someone to write:

• Robert was beginning to get worried. "Hurry!" he shouted.
• "I am hurrying," Nick replied.

However, depending on how it's done, substituting different verbs for "said" can be quite distracting, since it shifts the reader's attention away from the dialogue and onto the dialogue tag itself. Here's an example where the use of  non-standard dialogue tags begins to feel a bit clumsy:

• Helen was thrilled. "Nice to meet you," she beamed .
• "Nice to meet you, too," Wendy chimed .

Dialogue tags that use verbs other than the standard set (which is generally thought to include "said," "asked," "replied," and "shouted") are known as "said bookisms," and are generally ill-advised. But these "bookisms" can be easily avoided by using adverbs or simple descriptions in conjunction with one of the more standard dialogue tags, as in:

• Helen was thrilled. "Nice to meet you," she said, beaming.
• "Nice to meet you, too," Wendy replied brightly.

In the earlier version, the irregular verbs (or "said bookisms") draw attention to themselves, distracting the reader from the dialogue. By comparison, this second version reads much more smoothly.

Dialogue in Plays

Dialogue in plays (and screenplays) is easy to identify because, aside from the stage directions, dialogue is the only thing a play is made of. Here's a quick rundown of the basic rules governing dialogue in plays:

• Names: Every line of dialogue is preceded by the name of the person speaking.
• Mama (outraged)  : What kind of way is that to talk about your brother?
• Line breaks: Each time someone new begins speaking, just as in prose, the new line of dialogue is separated from the previous one by a line break.

Rolling all that together, here's an example of what dialogue looks like in plays, from Edward Albee's Zoo Story:

JERRY: And what is that cross street there; that one, to the right? PETER: That? Oh, that's Seventy-fourth Street. JERRY: And the zoo is around Sixty-5th Street; so, I've been walking north. PETER: [anxious to get back to his reading] Yes; it would seem so. JERRY: Good old north. PETER: [lightly, by reflex] Ha, ha.

Dialogue Examples

The following examples are taken from all types of literature, from ancient philosophical texts to contemporary novels, showing that dialogue has always been an integral feature of many different types of writing.

Dialogue in Shakespeare's Othello

In this scene from Othello , the dialogue serves an expository purpose, as the messenger enters to deliver news about the unfolding military campaign by the Ottomites against the city of Rhodes.

First Officer Here is more news. Enter a Messenger Messenger The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after fleet. First Senator Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess? Messenger Of thirty sail: and now they do restem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance Their purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano, Your trusty and most valiant servitor, With his free duty recommends you thus, And prays you to believe him.

Dialogue in Madeleine L'Engel's A Wrinkle in Time

From the classic children's book  A Wrinkle in Time , here's a good example of dialogue that uses a description of a character's tone of voice instead of using unconventional verbiage to tag the line of dialogue. In other words, L'Engel doesn't follow Calvin's line of dialogue with a distracting tag like "Calvin barked." Rather, she simply states that his voice was unnaturally loud.

"I'm different, and I like being different." Calvin's voice was unnaturally loud. "Maybe I don't like being different," Meg said, "but I don't want to be like everybody else, either."

It's also worth noting that this dialogue helps characterize Calvin as a misfit who embraces his difference from others, and Meg as someone who is concerned with fitting in.

Dialogue in A Visit From the Good Squad

This passage from Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Good Squad doesn't use dialogue tags at all. In this exchange between Alex and the unnamed woman, it's always clear who's speaking even though most of the lines of dialogue are not explicitly attributed to a speaker using tags like "he said."

Alex turns to the woman. “Where did this happen?” “In the ladies’ room. I think.” “Who else was there?” “No one.” “It was empty?” “There might have been someone, but I didn’t see her.” Alex swung around to Sasha. “You were just in the bathroom,” he said. “Did you see anyone?”

Elsewhere in the book, Egan peppers her dialogue with colloquialisms and slang to help with characterization . Here, the washed-up, alcoholic rock star Bosco says:

"I want interviews, features, you name it," Bosco went on. "Fill up my life with that shit. Let's document every fucking humiliation. This is reality, right? You don't look good anymore twenty years later, especially when you've had half your guts removed. Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?"

In this passage, Bosco's speech is littered with colloquialisms, including profanity and his use of the word "guts" to describe his liver, establishing him as a character with a unique way of speaking.

Dialogue in Plato's Meno

The following passage is excerpted from a dialogue by Plato titled Meno.  This text is one of the more well-known Socratic dialogues. The two characters speaking are Socrates (abbreviated, "Soc.") and Meno (abbreviated, "Men."). They're exploring the subject of virtue together.

Soc. Now, if there be any sort-of good which is distinct from knowledge, virtue may be that good; but if knowledge embraces all good, then we shall be right in think in that virtue is knowledge? Men. True. Soc. And virtue makes us good? Men. Yes. Soc. And if we are good, then we are profitable; for all good things are profitable? Men. Yes. Soc. Then virtue is profitable? Men. That is the only inference.

Indirect Dialogue in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

This passage from O'Brien's The Things They Carried exemplifies the use of indirect dialogue to summarize a conversation. Here, the third-person narrator tells how Kiowa recounts the death of a soldier named Ted Lavender. Notice how the summary of the dialogue is interwoven with the rest of the narrative.

They marched until dusk, then dug their holes, and that night Kiowa kept explaining how you had to be there, how fast it was, how the poor guy just dropped like so much concrete. Boom-down, he said. Like cement.

O'Brien takes liberties in his use of quotation marks and dialogue tags, making it difficult at times to distinguish between the voices of different speakers and the voice of the narrator. In the following passage, for instance, it's unclear who is the speaker of the final sentence:

The cheekbone was gone. Oh shit, Rat Kiley said, the guy's dead. The guy's dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound—the guy's dead. I mean really.

Why Do Writers Use Dialogue in Literature?

Most writers use dialogue simply because there is more than one character in their story, and dialogue is a major part of how the plot progresses and characters interact. But in addition to the fact that dialogue is virtually a necessary component of fiction, theater, and film, writers use dialogue in their work because:

• It aids in characterization , helping to flesh out the various characters and make them feel lifelike and individual.
• It is a useful tool of exposition , since it can help convey key information abut the world of the story and its characters.
• It moves the plot along. Whether it takes the form of an argument, an admission of love, or the delivery of an important piece of news, the information conveyed through dialogue is often essential not only to readers' understanding of what's going on, but to generating the action that furthers the story's plot line.

Other Helpful Dialogue Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Dialogue: A bare-bones explanation of dialogue in writing, with one or two examples.
• The Dictionary Definition of Dialogue: A basic definition, with a bit on the etymology of the word (it comes from the Greek meaning "through discourse."
• Cinefix's video with their take on the 14 best dialogues of all time : A smart overview of what dialogue can accomplish in film.

• Characterization
• Colloquialism
• Falling Action
• Climax (Plot)
• Dramatic Irony
• Tragic Hero
• Slant Rhyme
• Round Character
• Point of View
• Rhetorical Question
• Understatement
• Connotation
• Foreshadowing
• Figurative Language

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

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He Said, She Said: How to Use Speech Tags & Dialogue Tags Effectively

by Fija Callaghan

What is dialogue?

Dialogue is the spoken interaction between two or more characters. Usually, dialogue is spoken out loud, but it can also be things like sign language or telekinesis — it’s any form of expression, as long as the characters can understand each other. Dialogue can be used to develop characters, convey exposition about your story’s world, or move the plot forward.

Ultimately, learning how to write dialogue in a story is one of the most important skills in a writer’s toolbox.

In order to write clear, concise dialogue that will elevate your story and engage your readers, you’ll need to understand how to use dialogue tags. Also called speech tags, these unassuming words can make or break an otherwise well-written scene. But what is a dialogue tag, exactly, and how do we use it to take our story to the next level? By following a few basic principles, you’ll be writing compelling dialogue in no time. Let’s dive in.

What are dialogue tags?

Dialogue tags (or speech tags) are short phrases that identify the speaker of a line of dialogue. They can occur before, during, or after a character’s spoken dialogue. They’re used to make it clear who’s speaking and help the reader follow the conversation. The most common dialogue tag in writing is “he said” or “she said.”

There are a few different ways to write dialogue tags, and we’ll look at them all in more detail below. Here’s a quick example:

“I made some coffee,” said Julie.

Here, “‘I made some coffee’” is the dialogue, and “said Julie” is the dialogue tag. They both appear on the same line in the story.

Why do we use dialogue tags in fiction writing?

We use dialogue tags and speech tags in a story to clarify who’s talking so that the reader doesn’t get confused, as well as to give more depth and context to the words that are being said. If your on-page conversation goes too long without a dialogue tag, your reader can lose track of who’s saying what. When this happens, they need to stop reading, go back to the top of the conversation, and count each line to try and remember whose turn it is to talk. At this point, you’ve broken their connection to the story.

However, be mindful of using repetitive dialogue tags. Punctuating dialogue with too many tags is one of the common mistakes new writers often make. Using too many can weigh down the actual dialogue and distract from the story. Instead, use tags only when needed or when they add another layer to the characters speaking.

Dialogue tags also give us a way to break up long stretches of story dialogue, to add movement to the scene, and to reveal something new about the character. Here are a few examples of effective dialogue tags:

“So you’re finally done with that jerk?” he said, leaning forward.

She took a sip of her drink. “Looks that way.”

The first speaker has an action attached to his speech tag that gives us a hint about how he’s feeling. The second speaker has an action preceding her dialogue that also gives a hint about how she’s feeling. With just these two simple lines, we can already imagine the story building up around them.

Sometimes, a speech tag can change the inflection of a line of story dialogue. For example,

“Look at that!” he said, spreading his cards out on the table. “A full house.”

“You’ve had a lot of luck this evening,” said John irritably.

What if we changed the dialogue tag?

“You’ve had a lot of luck this evening,” said John, grinning.

The dialogue stays exactly the same, but the context and the relationship between the two characters shifts because we’ve used a different dialogue tag. If you were to just use “said John” as your dialogue tag, the reader could imagine several different scenarios. You’d have to find other places to sneak in the background information they needed to understand the dialogue’s subtext.

Used in this way, a well-placed dialogue tag can communicate something a lot bigger about your story. We’ll look at different ways to say “said” in writing and other words for “said” when writing story dialogue later on in this article.

You may also notice that the capitalization changes when the line ends in an exclamation mark. We’ll take a closer look at placing dialogue tags and the rules of appropriate punctuation below.

When to use speech tags in writing

You’ll notice from the examples above that the placement of the dialogue tags can shift from one line to another; they don’t always stay in the same place. Let’s look at how to format dialogue when using dialogue tags before, during, and after a line of speech.

How to use speech tags before dialogue

In some older novels, you’ll see speech tags being used before the dialogue:

Shane said, “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

This sentence structure has generally fallen out of favor in contemporary writing. The exception? If your character is quoting someone else:

“And then what happened?”

“Well, then Shane said, ‘I didn’t think you’d mind.’”

Usually, the best way to use a dialogue tag before a line of speech is to choose an action for your character:

Sheila gasped. “He really said that?”

Here, the action tag identifies Sheila as the speaker. We’ll look closer at using action tags further below.

How to use speech tags in the middle of dialogue

Using dialogue tags can be a good way to break up long lines of dialogue, to imply a natural pause in the line, or to convey a shift in tone. For example:

“I just feel so tired all the time,” she said. “Like nothing matters anymore.”

Compare with the dialogue tag used at the end:

“I just feel so tired all the time. Like nothing matters anymore,” she said.

In the latter, the line of dialogue feels faster, like a singular thought. In the former, we feel like the speaker has paused for breath, or paused to add a new idea. Neither one of these is right or wrong; it’s up to you to decide which one is the best fit for that particular moment of your story.

Here’s another example:

“I just feel so tired all the time. Like nothing matters anymore,” she said. “But after tomorrow, things will be different.”

Here, the dialogue tag serves as an axis between one tone and another. The line begins feeling despondent, hinges on the dialogue tag, and ends feeling hopeful.

How to use tags at the end of the dialogue

Many contemporary writers favor placing speech tags after a line of dialogue. For example:

“It smells wonderful in here,” said Kate.

This structure puts the emphasis on the dialogue, rather than the dialogue tag. The reader’s attention focuses on what the character is saying, and the speech tag works on a near-subconscious level to make sure they don’t get confused about who’s saying what.

You can also give the character an action after their dialogue:

“It smells wonderful in here.” Kate opened the oven and peeked inside.

This gives the reader a bit more context about what’s happening and makes the scene come alive.

How to punctuate dialogue tags

You may have noticed in some of these examples that the punctuation in a dialogue tag can change. Let’s take a closer look at how to format dialogue tags, as well as some alternative speech tag formats you might come across in literature.

Using double and single quotation marks

In North American literature, lines of dialogue are enclosed in double quotation marks, like this:

“I love this song.”

In European English, however, you’ll often see single quotation marks used instead, like this:

‘I love this song.’

For this article we’ll be focusing on using standard North American grammar.

If your dialogue stands alone without any speech tag (like just above), you’ll end the line in a period. If you’re adding a speech tag in the form of a verb that describes the dialogue—said, whispered, shouted, etc—you’ll end the line of dialogue in a comma just before the closing quotation mark, and start the dialogue tag with a lowercase letter:

“I love this song,” she said.

(Unless your dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, such as “Charlotte said”—always capitalize these!)

However , if you follow the line of dialogue with an action that is separate from the speech, you’ll end the dialogue with a period and begin the next bit with a capital letter, the same as if you didn’t use any tag at all:

“I love this song.” She reached over and turned up the volume.

Always include your dialogue’s punctuation inside quotation marks.

So far so good? Now things are about to get a little weird. What happens if your dialogue ends in a question mark or an exclamation point? Strangely enough, the rules for capitalization actually stay the same:

“I love this song!” she said.

“I love this song!” She reached over and turned up the volume.

North American English does use single quotation marks too. As we saw in one of our earlier examples, single quotes are used for dialogue within dialogue. This is called “nested dialogue.”

“In the words of Shakespeare, ‘To thine self be true.’”

“I was on my way out when I overheard him say, ‘I’ll meet you at our old spot.’ What old spot was he talking about?”

In European English, the rules for nested dialogue is reversed, like this:

‘I was on my way out when I overheard him say, “I’ll meet you at our old spot.” What old spot was he talking about?’

Sometimes you’ll see dialogue being set off from the rest of the text with em-dashes. This can create a vivid, cinematic effect in your writing; however, you’ll have to be very careful that your dialogue doesn’t blur into your narrative. Here’s an example from Roddy Doyle’s Oh, Play That Thing :

—I want an American suit, I told him.

—Suit? I had the rest of the anarchist’s cash burning a hole in the pocket of my old one.

—American, I told him.—A good one.

You can see how the dialogue tags—“I told him”—are kept deliberately simple, and the longer action is set apart on its own line. The em-dashes show us when the speech starts up again. However, this type of dialogue punctuation is very rare and experimental; the safest option is always to use standard quotation marks, like we looked at above.

No punctuation

Sometimes authors will experiment with using no distinguishing punctuation at all. This makes the story read very smoothly and intimately, like the reader is really there in person. However, just like using em-dashes, care must be taken to keep the dialogue and the narrative very distinct from each other so that the reader understands what’s being said and what’s being thought or described.

Here’s an example from The Houseboat , by Dane Bahr:

This have something to do with that grave robbery?

No sir, Clinton said. I don’t believe so. That was down in Cedar Rapids.

I see. Well. Ness leaned back and closed his eyes again. What can I do for you, Deputy?

Yeh get the mornin paper up there? The Tribune I think it is?

Looking at it right now, Ness said. He leaned forward in his chair and looked at the picture on the front page.

Even though this is written in third person narrative, you can see how each dialogue tag begins with a name—“Clinton said,” rather than “said Clinton.” This gives the reader a subconscious cue that the words are shifting from dialogue to description. Stripping away the punctuation of your dialogue like this gives the reader a feeling like they’re listening in on a private conversation in the next room.

Experimenting with alternative dialogue tag punctuation can be a great way to stretch your comfort zone as a writer. However, clarity for the reader should always be at the forefront of your mind.

These two alternative punctuation methods are fun to work with, but they are very experimental and an unusual choice in modern literature. In professional writing, both fiction and non-fiction, quotation marks are the universal standard.

Other words for “said” when writing dialogue

Writers are big fans of using “said” for their dialogue tags, because it doesn’t draw attention away from what really matters: your story. But sometimes you might want to enhance your dialogue tag with another word to give it some more emphasis. Let’s look at different ways to say “said” in writing.

How to use verbs as dialogue tags

You may remember your primary school teacher telling you to look for other words for “said” in dialogue: whispered, shouted, chastised, sulked, muttered, screeched, sobbed… you can have a lot of fun digging up synonyms for “said” in story dialogue, but most of the time, less is more. You want your reader’s attention to be on the words that your characters are saying and the story surrounding them, rather than the mechanics of your dialogue tags.

However, there are times when using a different verb for your speech tag can enhance the narrative or convey new information. For example, compare the following:

“I hate you,” she said.

“I hate you!” she shouted.

“I hate you,” she whispered.

Each dialogue tag gives the line a slightly different feel. Because the words are so simple, “said” feels a bit empty and non-committal; using a different word gives the reader context for the words that are being spoken.

Now compare these two lines:

“Look at the state of your clothes! People are going to think you’ve been sleeping in a barn,” she chastised.

“Look at the state of your clothes! People are going to think you’ve been sleeping in a barn,” she said.

In this instance, the verb “chastised” is redundant because we can already tell that she’s chastising from what she’s saying. It doesn’t give the reader any new information. In this case, it’s better to fall back on “said” and allow the dialogue to do the (literal and figurative) talking.

When you’re considering using other verbs for your speech tag, ask yourself if it reveals something new about what the person is saying. If not, simpler is always better.

How to use dialogue tags with adverbs

Adverbial dialogue tags are where you use a modifying word to enhance your dialogue tag, such as “said angrily,” or “whispered venomously.” As with using other verbs instead of “said,” most of the time, less is more. However, sometimes using adverbial tags can contribute surprising new information about the scene.

Consider these examples:

“I hate you,” she said scathingly.

“I hate you,” she said gleefully.

“I hate you,” she said nervously.

Each adverb tells us something different about what’s being said. But do you need them?

Telling someone you hate them is already pretty scathing, so you probably don’t need to show it a second time with your dialogue tag. Saying it gleefully is very different in tone, and makes us wonder: what’s this person so happy about? What makes this moment special to her? Saying it nervously is different again, and raises questions about the scene—is this the first time it’s been said? What are the consequences for saying it?

“Gleefully” is probably the strongest adverb choice in these examples, because it’s at odds with what’s being spoken; it gives the line a whole new context. “Nervously” is nicely specific too, but you can also find other ways to show nervousness in the character’s actions, which might feel more natural and organic to the reader. “Scathingly” doesn’t really tell us anything new about what’s being said.

When considering adverbs for your dialogue tag, again ask yourself if they communicate something new to the reader that the dialogue doesn’t show on its own. If it does, then ask yourself if it communicates that something in the most natural, efficient way possible. You can explore different ways of conveying these emotions or details in your scene to find which one works best for your dialogue.

Dialogue tags vs. actions tags

Dialogue tags, as we’ve seen, begin with a speech verb—usually “said,” but sometimes other words like “whispered,” “yelled,” or “mumbled.” They work to identify the person who is speaking.

Action tags, on the other hand, work like a dialogue tag but aren’t directly connected to the line of dialogue. They can be related, but they stand independently. Just like dialogue tags, action tags work to identify the person speaking. These are especially helpful if you’re writing a scene with three or more people, where things can get confusing pretty quickly.

Additional speech tags examples

Here’s an example of action tags and dialogue tags working together:

“So here’s how it’s going to go down,” said Donny. “We’ll meet at midnight, after the cinema closes.”

Mark took a sip of his drink. “What about the night patrol?”

“The night patrol is a sixteen-year-old kid on minimum wage.” Roger leaned back in his chair. “You worry too much.”

“I’m not getting rough with a kid, Donny.”

“Then let’s hope he’s smart enough to stay out of the way.” He took a sip of his drink too, then stood up. “I’ll see you both tonight. Get the car ready.”

Let’s break down what we’ve done here. We have dialogue with a few variations: one dialogue tag, three action tags, and one freestanding line with no tag at all. The first dialogue tag, “said Donny,” establishes who the first speaker is. Then a new action tag introduces a second speaker, Mark. This works well because then we don’t have two “saids” in a row and it flows naturally for the reader. In the next line, a third speaker comes in, so we give him an action to make sure the reader knows who’s speaking.

As we get to the fourth line, the reader already understands enough about the scene to know who is speaking, so we can leave this one on its own. The next line doesn’t identify the speaker by name—we use “he”—but it’s a direct response to the line before it, so we know who it is. The action tag breaks up an otherwise long and unwieldy line of dialogue, and turns the scene in a new direction: the group is breaking up until later. Each speech tag gives the reader little clues that make the dialogue and the scene come alive.

“Said she” vs. “she said”—what’s the difference?

When you’re writing a dialogue tag, is it better to write “Jane said,” or “said Jane?” This is something that a lot of new writers get caught up on, and technically, either one can be correct. Most contemporary literature favors the subject followed by the verb—that is, “Jane” (the subject) “said” (the verb). If you’re using a pronoun—he, she, they—this is the only way it works grammatically. However, using a proper noun after the verb—“said Jane”—is more common in older literature and is still in use.

In general, “she said” is a better fit for modern stories. If you’re writing historical fiction or something influenced by archaic myth and fantasy, either one is acceptable. You can play around with both in your writing to see which one feels more natural in that moment of your scene.

When to use he said/she said vs. he says/she says

The distinction between when to use he said/she said vs. he says/she says often confuses newer writers. The answer to when to use one or the other goes back to the tense your story is written in.

Stories written in the present tense will use present tense speech tags like “he says” and “she says,” while stories written in the past tense will use past tense speech tags like “he said” and “she said.” You might use other tenses throughout your story, so always keep an eye out for the tense you’re currently using and adapt your speech tags accordingly.

Dialogue tags: Examples

Here are a few more examples of ways to use a descriptive dialogue tag to inspire your writing.

1. Hotel Magnifique , by Emily J. Taylor

One of the older girls shoved a lock of greasy blonde hair behind her pink ear. “That advertisement is a tease. It would be a miracle if any of us got a job.”

I straightened. “That’s not true.”

She shrugged as she turned away. “Do what you want. I wouldn’t waste my time.”

“Think she’s right?” Zosa asked, her delicate mouth turning down.

“Absolutely not,” I said, perhaps too quickly. When Zosa’s frown deepened, I cursed silently.

In this example, three girls are talking about a job advertisement. In the first three lines, action tags are used rather than dialogue tags, showing not only the action but the personality and feelings of the people speaking. After the first three lines, which all begin with action tags, the next two lines lead with the dialogue instead and use simple dialogue tags to identify who’s talking.

2. The Paris Library , by Janet Skeslien Charles

“A fourth of the Library’s subscribers are Parisian,” I countered. “They need French-speaking staff.”

“What will people think?” Maman fretted. “They’ll say Papa isn’t providing for you.”

“Many girls have jobs these days,” Remy said.

“Odile doesn’t need to work,” Papa said.

“But she wants to,” I said softly.

“Let’s not argue.” Maman scooped the mousse au chocolat into small crystal bowls.

Here, a family argues about a young woman’s desire to work at the library. The first two lines use descriptive tags in place of “said.” These enhance our understanding of the particular character, but because this can get cumbersome quickly if overused, the next three lines use “said” to let the spoken words shine through. Finally, the writer drops the dialogue tags in favor of an action tag which turns the scene in a new direction.

3. The League of Gentlewomen Witches , by India Holton

“Several people have been killed,” Mrs. Pettifer reported. “It’s quite shocking.”

Miss Plim pecked irritably at her tea. “Something more shocking happened yesterday.”

“Indeed?” Mrs. Pettifer flicked over another page. “You smiled at someone?”

“No. I was in Twinings and that Darlington woman walked in. She acknowledged me politely with a nod.”

At this, Mrs. Pettifer finally looked up, her velvety eyes growing wide. “Not Miss Darlington, the pirate?”

Here, two women gossip over a newspaper. The first line uses a speech tag, then two lines use action tags to identify the speaker before the next line stands alone; the reader has grown comfortable enough with the back-and-forth dialogue to recognize the speaker of the next line. Then, the following line begins with an action tag that marks a turning point in their conversation.

You’ll notice in all of these dialogue tag examples above that writers favor patterns of three. Three uses of “said” in a row, three action tags, three similar speech tags before shifting into another method of identifying the speaker. Three is a comfortable number for a reader, but if you go on using the same devices for more than that the reader will begin to notice how repetitive they are, which will pull them away from your story. This is a good trick to keep in mind when formatting your dialogue.

5 rules for using dialogue tags

To wrap up, let’s review some dialogue rules and best practices for use of dialogue tags in your story.

1. Limit overuse of dialogue tags

How often should dialogue tags be used? As with many aspects of the writer’s craft, when working with dialogue tags in your story, less is more. See how often you can get away with not using any dialogue tags at all (keep in mind sets of three, as we looked at above). Space out your dialogue tags so that they don’t take up too much real estate on your page. Your reader should be focusing on your story, not your story mechanics.

2. Use a dialogue tag when it’s unclear who’s speaking

Dialogue tags are used first and foremost for clarity. Use them when you need to remind the reader of who’s saying which line. You won’t need to use them as often when your dialogue is only happening between two people; if you have a group of people all talking together, you’ll need to use them a bit more to keep everybody straight.

3. Vary the positioning of dialogue tags

In our examples above, you’ll see that sometimes the dialogue tag comes at the beginning of a line of dialogue, sometimes in the middle, and sometimes at the end. If you always put your dialogue tag in the same place, it can get monotonous for the reader. Experiment with different placements for your speech tags to keep the dialogue fluid and fresh.

4. Vary the type of dialogue tags

Although we love the classic “she said” and “said she” dialogue tags, relying on these all the time can start to weigh down your story. Try alternating between dialogue tags, descriptive action tags, and a few alternate verb dialogue tags here and there to keep your story from feeling too routine. These can illustrate your characters’ body language and help reveal their underlying motivations. It will make your story feel more present and immersive than if you used “said” in every single line.

5. Avoid using adverbs too frequently in dialogue tags

That being said, using adverbs as part of your dialogue tag should be done with a very light hand. Used sparingly, they can give dimension to many characters and their experiences; however, too many can make your story feel overburdened and sluggish. Use adverbs and alternative verbs for your dialogue tags only when they enhance the dialogue. Wherever possible, allow the words of the dialogue to speak for themselves.

One last question—is there a difference between “dialog” vs. “dialogue”?

It’s common to be confused when it comes to the differences between dialog vs. dialogue. The two are homonyms, and they’re interchangeable depending on which country you’re in! In the United States, the word “dialogue” is the preferred word for referencing a conversation or exchange of communication like what you’d find in a story, while the word “dialog,” at least in American English, is used more specifically when referring to computing—like a “dialog box” that appears on your computer to communicate something to you. So remember to use “dialogue tags” rather than “dialog tags”!

Hopefully that clears up any dialog vs. dialogue confusion!

Effective dialogue tags will elevate your story

So small and easily overlooked, yet such an essential part of any story, dialogue tags and speech tags are one of the most basic tools a writer has at their disposal. By mastering the use of dialogue tags and the rules of dialogue in a story, your story will take on new dimension and feel that much more real to your readers.

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Krishna Janmashtami Speech in English and Hindi for Students 2024

Krishna janmashtami speech in english and hindi: here you will get a few lines on janmashtami for class 1 to class 12 students. the speech ideas given here on krishna janmashtami can be used during the school assembly or in the society function..

10 Lines on Krishna Janmashtami in English

• Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated on the eighth day of the Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada.
• Krishna Janmashtami is also called Krishnashtami.
• This day is the birthday celebration of Lord Krishan, who is the eighth incarnation of Vishnu.
• Krishna was the eighth son of Vasudeva and Devaki. He was born in prison in Mathura.
• Krishna was taken care of and raised by Yashoda and Nandji.
• The reason for Krishna’s birth was to kill Kansa and make people free from his torture.
• Krishna also participated in the Mahabharat fight between Pandavas and Kauravas.
• Bhagwat Gita is the teachings of Lord Krishna, which he gave to Arjun to motivate him and educate him on the true meaning of life.
• On the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami, people fast and decorate their homes.
• The fast of Krishna Janmashtami is complete after seeing the full moon at mid-light. That is the time people believe Krishna was born.

10 Lines on Krishna Janmashtami in Hindi

• कृष्ण जन्माष्टमी हिंदू महीने भाद्रपद में कृष्ण पक्ष की अष्टमी तिथि को मनाई जाती है।
• कृष्ण जन्माष्टमी को कृष्णाष्टमी भी कहा जाता है।
• यह दिन भगवान कृष्ण का जन्मदिन है जो विष्णु के आठवें अवतार हैं।
• कृष्ण वसुदेव और देवकी के आठवें पुत्र थे। उनका जन्म मथुरा के कारागार में हुआ था।
• कृष्ण का लालन-पालन यशोदा और नंद जी ने किया था।
• कृष्ण के जन्म का कारण कंस का वध करना और लोगों को उसकी यातनाओं से मुक्त कराना था।
• कृष्ण ने पांडवों और कौरवों के बीच महाभारत की लड़ाई में भी भाग लिया था।
• भागवत गीता भगवान कृष्ण की शिक्षाएँ हैं जो उन्होंने अर्जुन को प्रेरित करने और उन्हें जीवन के सही अर्थ के बारे में शिक्षित करने के लिए दी थीं।
• कृष्ण जन्माष्टमी के अवसर पर लोग व्रत रखते हैं और अपने घरों को सजाते हैं।
• कृष्ण जन्माष्टमी का व्रत मध्य-प्रकाश में पूर्णिमा को देखने के बाद पूरा होता है। लोग मानते हैं कि यही वह समय है जब कृष्ण का जन्म हुआ था।

Short Speech on Krishna Janmashtami in English

  Long Speech on Krishna Janmashtami in English

  Short Speech on Krishna Janmashtami in Hindi

  long speech on krishna janmashtami in hindi.

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Why Americans do political speeches so well (and debates so badly)

Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney

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The recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago was a showcase of impressive speeches . Presidential nominee Kamala Harris justified the newfound enthusiasm of Democrats with a strong acceptance speech, but even she couldn’t match the oratorical power of Michelle and Barack Obama two nights earlier.

US political culture is marked by visionary speeches, from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and William Jennings Bryan’s “ Cross of gold ” to Martin Luther King’s “ I have a dream ” and Ronald Reagan’s “ Tear down this wall ”. This rhetorical tradition infuses events such as party conventions, where memorable speeches can lay the groundwork for presidential careers .

Australia also has some justly famous political speeches. There was Robert Menzies’ “ Forgotten People ” address of 1942, Paul Keating’s Redfern speech in 1992, and Julia Gillard’s “ misogyny speech ” to parliament in 2012. Noel Pearson’s eulogy for Gough Whitlam in 2014 was a rhetorical masterpiece .

But these speeches are memorable because they are so rare. Australian politicians need to be good communicators, but they are not expected to deliver the kind of soaring, visionary rhetoric we see so often in the US. Why is this?

Politics with the soul of a church

US party conventions often look like Hollywood awards ceremonies , and Steven Spielberg was involved in the planning of the recent DNC. Hollywood has become an indelible part of US political culture.

Reagan, a former Hollywood actor, set new standards for how telegenic and entertaining presidents could be. Donald Trump may not be everyone’s idea of a great orator, but the former reality TV star is certainly a master of televised spectacles .

The tradition of preaching is an even deeper cultural source of US political rhetoric. With about 30% of Americans attending religious services regularly , the sermon is the most prevalent form of public speech in the US.

American preachers need to be compelling, given the level of religious competition, and church is where many future politicians first encounter the craft of public speaking. American political speeches often reflect the combination of uplift and warning found in preaching.

While evangelical Christianity is usually associated with the Republican Party, it is also in the DNA of Democrats because of the Civil Rights Movement and the black church . One of the standout speakers of the DNC was Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock , senior pastor of the same Baptist church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr preached .

Warnock described Trump in biblical terms as a “plague on the American conscience”. But he also described a vote as “a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children”.

Australia has no shortage of politicians who were raised as Christians and have Christian commitments. But unlike in the US, where even secular politicians must pay lip service to prayer, Christian politicians in Australia must adapt themselves to the secularism of Australian culture . This culture does not expect politicians to preach.

Strong speeches for weak parties

Michelle Grattan last week described Australian party conferences as “ mind-numbing ” compared with the “Hollywood extravaganzas” of their US counterparts.

But the spectacles at US party conventions testify to the weakness of American political parties. The Democratic and Republican National Committees have little power . Party organisations are localised and fragmented. They lack the central authority found in Australian parties, and the national convention every four years is the only time a nationwide party truly comes into existence.

Even in Congress, parties have few mechanisms for disciplining their members . Party leaders are forced to negotiate with their own side, not always successfully . Party conventions see an extravagant display of unity behind a newly nominated candidate. This is one of the few moments party unity is guaranteed.

While there is plenty of competition for power within Australian parties, in Australia it mostly takes place behind closed doors within party hierarchies . In the US, would-be legislators and executives need to campaign publicly to win the often brutal primary elections that earn them the party’s nomination.

Successful candidates must create their own personalised campaigns. They have help from local party organisations, which coordinate resources and volunteers, but they need much more than that. A candidate for national office must build their own coalition of donors that would dwarf anything a party could provide.

Hence the need for good speech-making. Competition for the attention of donors and voters is fierce, and a compelling speech is a vital way to stand out. This is especially true of candidates such as Barack Obama , who came from outside the party’s traditional power bases.

In Australia, inspirational speeches don’t have the same political currency. A system of strict party discipline , small preselection contests and short, relatively cheap election campaigns means candidates are rewarded more for other political skills.

The Australian advantage: debating

While a US politician might give a more entertaining stump speech than an Australian one, an Australian politician would probably perform better in any scenario that requires unscripted comments – especially a debate with an opponent.

Even superb US political orators can be underwhelming when they don’t have a script and a receptive audience. Congressional debates consist of prepared speeches with little direct engagement between opponents. There is no equivalent to Parliamentary Question Time , and holders of executive office (such as the president or state governors) aren’t even in the legislature.

While Congressional committee hearings can sometimes provide a simulation of the rowdiness we associate with Question Time, the structure of Congress isn’t conducive to debate in the same way.

The physical format of Westminster parliaments, with opponents facing each other directly, attests to an adversarial nature that was there from the beginning . The power of Gillard’s “misogyny speech”, which went viral globally, came partly from the way she delivered it straight into Tony Abbott’s face .

US Congress was designed differently. The framers of the Constitution loathed the idea of factions , and imagined a legislature made up of representatives who would negotiate with each other to find consensus. Congress in turn would have to negotiate with the president, who would rarely need to engage publicly with its members.

This may explain why, despite the routine brilliance of convention speeches, US presidential debates are so tedious and forgettable. Commentators who try to hype these debates by citing “great moments” from past debates inevitably reach for the same ancient zinger, “ you’re no Jack Kennedy ”, delivered by forgotten vice-presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.

The sad reality is that the most memorable and consequential presidential debate in living memory is the one we just saw, where Joe Biden performed so badly he ended his hopes of a second presidency.

In the land of the scripted, the teleprompter is king .

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'Do something': Michelle Obama throws her support behind Kamala Harris at 2024 DNC: Watch

Former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama praised Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in the penultimate speech of the second night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago Tuesday.

Obama spoke to the change in tenor in the presidential race after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, calling it the, "contagious power of hope."

Obama took both direct and indirect swipes at Republican nominee former President Donald Trump throughout the speech, pointing to Trump's birtherism and failures during the COVID 19 pandemic. "If we bankrupt a business or choke in a crisis we don't get a second chance," Obama said.

The speech took a considerably more direct tone for the first lady, who once famously uttered the phrase, " when they go low, we go high ." "Who is going to tell him the job he is currently seeking might be one of those 'Black jobs,'" Obama said.

The former first lady argued that Harris is one of the most qualified people to seek the office and connected the experience of Harris' mother to her own, who died in May .

Obama sought to energize fence straddling Democrats to turn out in November in the speech, turning the phrase, "do something" into a call and response chant.

Watch Michelle Obama's full speech

Michelle Obama at the DNC

• Who she is : Former first lady of the United States
• What role she plays : Convention speaker
• Key quote : "She is the most dignified (candidate). That is a tribute to her mother, my mother and your mother too."

Democratic convention live updates: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama set to take the stage

When and where is the 2024 DNC?

The Democratic National Convention will take place from August 19-22 in Chicago, Illinois.

The United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, will be the  main venue  for the DNC.

Chicago has hosted the Democratic Convention 11 times, most recently in 1996 when the United Center saw President Bill Clinton was nominated for a second time.

How to watch and stream the 2024 DNC

USA TODAY will provide livestream coverage on YouTube  each night of the DNC, Monday through Thursday.

The convention will  air live on its website , from the United Center in Chicago between 6:15 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern (5:15 p.m. to 10 p.m Central) on Monday, and 7 p.m to 11 p.m. Eastern (6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Central) the other days.

What are the themes for each night of the DNC?

The DNC announced nightly themes for the convention. The title of the convention is "For the People, For Our Future."

Here are the themes for each night:

• Monday:  "For the People"
• Tuesday:  "A Bold Vision for America's Future"
• Wednesday:  "A Fight for our Freedoms"
• Thursday:  "For our Future"

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270+ Other Words For "Said" To Supercharge Your Writing

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Head of Content at Reedsy, Martin has spent over eight years helping writers turn their ambitions into reality. As a voice in the indie publishing space, he has written for a number of outlets and spoken at conferences, including the 2024 Writers Summit at the London Book Fair.

If you've read our previous post on writing dialogue , you'll know that you shouldn't be afraid to default to he said , she said , or they said  when you're tagging your dialogue. After all, it's probably the clearest, least distracting way to indicate who's saying what. That being said, it can be useful to deploy a specific and powerful dialogue tag every now and again. 

Which dialogue tag are YOU?

Find out in just a minute.

To help you find that perfect synonym to inject action and emotion into your dialogue, here are over 270 other words for said:

Neutral/multi-purpose words

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Angry words 

Annoyed words

Frightened/pained words

Prideful words

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MIT Office of the President

• Writing & Speeches

Rejecting antisemitism

Dear members of the MIT community,

I hadn’t intended to start the year with a message like this, but on Monday, an incident occurred that I found troubling. I cannot be the arbiter of every disagreement about speech at MIT, and I do not expect to write often about such things. But as we start a new year together, it’s important that you hear directly from me.

On Monday, as first-year students entered Kresge Auditorium for an orientation event, several other students were handing out flyers. “Welcome to MIT!” the flyers announce, next to a drawing of Tim the Beaver, MIT’s mascot. The flyers go on to comment on the conflict in the Middle East and the State of Israel in particular, and they list more than 20 additional resources.

I want to make three points very clearly.

First, in case anyone is unsure, these flyers were not created or distributed by anyone in the administration, and they do not speak for MIT.

Second, while I have repeatedly defended freedom of expression, I must tell you that I found some of the websites cited on the flyers deeply concerning. I was particularly disturbed to see that the flyers featured a URL for something called the Mapping Project, which catalogs hundreds of Jewish and other organizations in the Boston area – from a council of synagogues to universities, businesses and museums – and then provides their addresses and, in some cases, lists the names of key officials. The goal of this effort is, in its own words, “to reveal the local entities and networks that enact devastation, so we can dismantle them. Every entity has an address, every network can be disrupted.” I believe the Mapping Project promotes antisemitism.

Like every other form of racial and religious prejudice and hate, antisemitism is totally unacceptable in our community. It cannot be justified, and it is antithetical to  MIT’s values .

Finally: We design orientation to introduce students to our campus and help them feel at home – all of them. Yet over the last two days I have heard from students who felt the flyers sent the message that they are not welcome at MIT.

Do we really want to draw lines on Day One and risk making any of our newest students question whether they belong here? Every student, and every member of our faculty and staff, belongs here. You are welcome here.

And, to the Class of 2028, we are grateful you chose to join us at MIT.

Sally Kornbluth President

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How Kamala Harris Is Preparing for the Biggest Speech of Her Life

Her convention address on Thursday will tell the story of her middle-class upbringing, cast the 2024 race as the future versus the past and appeal to patriotism.

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By Shane Goldmacher

Reporting from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago

• Aug. 22, 2024

Kamala Harris often leans on a favored phrase to focus her team before beginning an important project: “What business are we trying to accomplish here?”

In deciding what to say in the most important speech of her life on Thursday, the vice president’s answer has been threefold, aides said: tell her life story, frame her contest with Donald J. Trump as one pitting the future against the past and reclaim the banner of patriotism for the Democratic ticket.

Ms. Harris has been taking her convention address so seriously that she has held rehearsals complete with teleprompters in three different time zones.

Soon after she became a presidential candidate one month ago, she told advisers that she saw this speech and any fall debates as the most pivotal moments of the abbreviated race, according to three people familiar with her thinking. But in reality, she saw this speech as crucial for even longer than that. The earliest draft of her convention remarks had first circulated back when Ms. Harris was still just a vice president seeking a second term as President Biden’s No. 2.

Now, the reworked address will represent Ms. Harris’s biggest turn on the national stage since her sudden ascent to the top of the Democratic Party as she prepares to take on Mr. Trump in an election just 75 days away.

The preparations over both her message and her delivery have been intensive. Adam Frankel, a former speechwriter for former President Barack Obama and now an adviser to Ms. Harris, is the lead writer of the address, taking input and suggestions from a wide variety of others. But the vice president herself has workshopped the speech nearly line by line, two people familiar with the preparations say.

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