10 Tips for Writing Dialogue

How do you write good dialogue? I'm sharing 10 tips that might help you write more organic, purposeful dialogue with natural patter. These are pretty basic--I can perhaps do a 201 version with in-depth examples in a future video! Juggling multiple speakers is one specific thing that bears further examination (and something I've had to teach myself and I still struggle!).

00:00 Introduction
00:43 Eavesdrop
01:26 Study successful authors
02:30 Enter late, leave early
03:50 Everyone is individual
05:30 Write around feelings
07:07 Skip some dialog tags
09:18 Avoid redundancy
10:27 Interrupting is okay
12:17 Organic character reaction
15:05 Feedback

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[emmanuel]

I love the complexity of writing dialogue. One important cheat in my process is to "reserve" some words or phrases for certain characters. I don't mean trying to use them all the time when they're talking, but rather blocking certain expressions from other characters' speech. Because I know we all have our favorite expressions or ways of saying things, and I don't want to rub them on all my characters. So I distribute how much of my speech is embedded into each character, and that way I'm able to differentiate them a bit better.

[alaskau]

Agatha Christie is a great writer to study for dialogue. In dialogue her characters reveal themselves, leave clues wonderfully disguised by tangents and red herrings and provide sneaky humor...it's brilliant.

[iamfinikki]

I like to take a turn-of-phrase used regularly by one character and have it eventually picked up and used by another character as they become friends over the course of the book. It feels authentic since people do that in real life.

[aksa]

Writing a dialogue scene as a screenplay without any tags at first is a great excersize to have a more emphasized 'character's voice' and it will turn out way more natural too.
Also Six of crows is a perfect example of different character's different approaches to a conversation and agenda

[bookpadawan]

Another helpful source (since going to restaurant’s can be difficult for some right now 😅) is “the listening project” by the bbc. It’s basically a whole library of actual conversations that have been recorded for anyone to listen to. They’re also super varied too so it’s good to have a look through them 😊

[musickel]

Writing dialog comes a little more naturally to me. The characters' personalities and speaking style usually falls into place, and it's honestly so much fun to write. One thing that I definitely need to work on is a reflection moment. Could you do a video on tips to do it. Mine are usually just "the room fell silent." 😂😂

[andreannelavoie]

I think another key aspect of good dialogue is subtext. That sometimes the whole dialogue scene is about something that isn't said, or character tensions that are never worded but felt through either word choice, punctuation or action tags. Subtext can really level up good dialogue and also prevent melodrama

[zombiegaby]

Im not even a novel writter, i write comics and videos, but this channel is so helpfull! I love studying the craft of story telling as a whole and i love the way you teach Alexa! So thank you fore everything!

[Firefly]

What’s fun with me is that I realized something about one of my characters recently. His name is Fritz and I had realized that something he never does in dialogue is stutter. He’d never go, “I-I’m not sure.” He is always direct and level headed. Now I’m hoping to have a moment where Fritz does stutter in a moment where for once he is unsure, not in control, and afraid. Hopefully readers caught onto his never stuttering, at least sub consciously, and that moment will be impactful.

[OmegaTheSillyWolf]

I really... really like action tags and describing what a person is doing while they talk. It makes them feel more real and sometimes I'll purposefully add in oh, um, ah to give them a little more life sometimes. It's not necessary but for a bumbling character it adds more to them lol

[natchasapsuwan]

alexa i don’t know if i can express in words how much i appreciate your videos! they’re super clear, concise, and super helpful <333

[nikkimirhosseyni]

I have found my background in acting very helpful in writing dialogue. While drafting, I would walk around my room and improvise converstaions in-character. It helped me keep distinct voice and helped with pacing. I am in revisions now so of course I am tweaking and improving it, but I still use this "hack" and it is so helpful. I look a little funny talking to myself, but it seriously helped!

[jadefyrexiii]

I'm not sure how universal this is, but I need to make sure I've eaten before I start writing or else the characters start to get grumpy in their dialogue. Almost like I'm projecting a little... :')

[CassTeaElle]

When I'm struggling with a scene, I like to go for a drive and talk out loud as the characters. Like I'm acting out a scene in a movie or something. I get really authentic dialogue that way, and when I get home, I write down all the dialogue first, before I forget. Then I go back and fill in the narrative. Either that, or I use a dictation app just for the dialogue as I'm driving, so I don't forget anything

[yagirlalex]

I’m trying to write my first book right now and you don’t know how much I NEEDED this. I keep getting stuck at parts where I need dialogue and I obviously can’t progress the story without it. Sooo thank you!!😊

[metem_psycho_]

FIRST ONE YES MESS WITH ME IM COMPETITIVE

[allyji]

My queen!!! I'm in such deep slumber right now, I won't write a single word, but still your videos are so great, as always! Love you!

[lizlovescookies]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I was just struggling with writing dialog last night! The pages always turn into a movie script with major white room syndrome!

[taylorlynn-art]

Your videos are so helpful, thank you! Trying to level up my fanfiction.

[deannascorner]

The characters having a mind of their own can be so true - it’s so funny and sometimes amazing to see how interactions and scenes unfold. I literally outlined that my main character would meet Character A first and yet here comes Character B smacking right into her. It’s like whenever I’m looking for one outcome to happen, Character B was actually the better choice to get the characters there.