12 Simple Steps for Writing Punchy Dialogue

Dialogue is the primary way we see characters interact, and is therefore a key way to develop relationships, build tension, and reveal character. But, writing dialogue can also be quite challenging, because it requires us to embody the voices of so many different characters, and create a polished scene in a natural way. Here are twelve steps for writing an effective dialogue scene!

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:46 - Have an objective
1:44 - Know every character's goal
2:14 - Consider the subtext
3:03 - Focus on the dialogue first
4:14 - Consider the setting
5:07 - Get right to the point
6:28 - Pace the dialogue with narrative
7:55 - End the scene as soon as you've reached the point
8:36 - Trim unnecessary lines
9:43 - Refine tags and action beats
10:41 - Heighten the voices
11:29 - Check the formatting

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[FuzzyTrekkie]

Over the past several years I've had a bad habit of losing momentum when writing stories but I wasn't sure why. A few weeks ago my mom found an old entry I wrote for the writers group I used to be a part of. I had completely forgotten that I used to write in screenplay format. It was almost entirely dialogue with only enough description and narration to keep the story grounded. I think I might go back to that habit.

[Tachy_Bunker]

Thanks for the help, I had trouble with some of those elements.Your advice always focuses on the right thing!

[mageprometheus]

Thanks. I feel like you have been part of my life and writing journey forever. Love and light.

[leolightfellow]

Solid tips. #9 is particularly important. #11 is too.

[o_o-ljym]

My favourite non-said dialogue tag is “lied”.

[lakeshagadson]

This is the kind of thing we could use

[onenessguy]

I've heard from a lot of youtube writing teachers who recommend the basic dialog tags, but I think "said" is adequate sometimes. It makes it sound like the voices are robotic or passive speakers. A quiet person sometimes has to "Jump into" the conversation, or "Break in" or "cram his way in." A drama queen may have to "Exclaim." Dialog tags can tell us something about the characters.

[u_t_d_s_h-_a]

Exactly how one speaks during regular conversation should suffice for dialogue in any off the shelf novel...

[MrGhostown]

The hardest thing for me is coming up with good character names.

[johnhaggerty]

Key words. Dickens assigns menace to the word 'lock' in Our Mutual Friend.
Betty Higden, dying, drifts in and out of consciousness. She has a terror of being shut away in the workhouse.
A strange man appears. *I am the Lock, said the man. The Lock ? Betty repeats. I am the Deputy Lock, on job, and this is the Lockhouse.*
The man is Rogue Riderhood, a lock-keeper on the River Thames. It's a moment worthy of Kafka as John Carey writes in The Violent Effigy.

A useful exercise is to ad-lib dialogue from a poem such as Seamus Heaney's The Artist, his homage to Cezanne's landscapes & apples.
*I love the thought of his anger ... The way he was a dog barking at the image of himself barking ... the vulgarity of expecting ever gratitude ... ^
Change the words, avoid any hint of plagiarism, and it could open unexpected doors in your narrative. Each character has her distinct own voice.

In writing The Invention of Wings (2014) Sue Monk Kidd said she could hardly keep up with Hetty Handful's voice - talk, talk, talk.
*Sarah came with a big historical script. I'd read Sarah Grimke's diaries, essays and biographies and I revered her history to the point I became boxed in by it ... I had to find her in my own imagination.* See interview with the author in the Tinder Press paperback edition of this admirable novel.

John Carey's *The Violent Effigy - A Study of Dickens' Imagination* says much in 200 pages. The chapter on corpses is not for the faint-hearted.

[emmanuelawosusi]

How do I write autobiographical memior ?

[AnonYmous-cfci]

You used to speak with a much more quavery voice and that made it hard to listen to you sometimes. Recently that's changed and listening to you is much more enjoyable now.