How to Write Dialogue 10 Simple Rules (Plus 5 Mistakes to Avoid!)

How to Write Dialogue 10 Simple Rules (Plus 5 Mistakes to Avoid!) How to Write Dialogue: 10 Simple Rules (Plus 5 Mistakes to Avoid!) No matter what your genre, learning how to write dialogue effectively is a vital part of any writer’s education. Poor dialogue can make readers put your book down in disgust - but great dialogue can transform your characters into truly believable people, and your readers into satisfied customers.Of course, the best kind of dialogue isn’t just believable. It also provides exposition, involves distinct language depending on who’s speaking, and - perhaps most crucially - moves the story along. Without dialogue, you’d just have pages and pages of description with barely any character dynamics or interpersonal drama. How boring would that be?Because dialogue is essential to a strong narrative, we want to help you get it exactly right. To that end, we’ve put together this list of rules, examples, and more that will have you writing sparkling conversation in no time! We’ll also cover in detail how to format and punctuate dialogue, for those who a ren’t sure exactly what goes where.If you’re especially curious about formatting, go ahead and skip to #10 using the table of contents on the left - otherwise, let’s jump right in with dialogue rule #1.1. Enter the conversation lateAlfred Hitchcock once said that â€Å"drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.† Comparably, we could say that good dialogue is like a real conversation without all the fluff. And one of the best ways to cut out that boring fluff is to enter the conversation as late as possible.Think about it: few "classic" scenes start with characters going, â€Å"Hey buddy! How are you doing? Wow, long time no see.† This is because people enjoy making inferences based on details in action and speech - and the last thing you want to do is insult their intelligence by spelling everything out for them.For a more tangible taste of this technique, here’s screenwriter Aaron Sorkin talking about the first scene of his Oscar-win ning screenplay for The Social Network:â€Å"We started at 100 miles an hour in the middle of a conversation, and that makes the audience have to run to catch up. The worst crime you can commit with an audience is telling them something they already know. We were always running ahead.†Sorkin's ability to give the audience just the right amount of detail is a huge strength, and something all writers should strive for. So don’t slow down to accommodate your readers - make them catch up to you. id=attachment_19354 style="width: 1047px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">Now that you know exactly what to do when it comes to writing dialogue, let’s talk about what not to do - with these five critical mistakes to avoid.5 dialogue mistakes to avoid1. Too many dialogue tagsAs you may have already gathered, one of the most egregious errors you can make when writing dialogue is using too many dialogue tags. Constantly repeating â€Å"he said,† â€Å"she said,† and so on is boring and repetitive for your readers, as you can see here:â€Å"Hey, how’s it going?† Billy said.â€Å"Not bad,† said Ann. â€Å"Just warming up for the day.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ah. Liquid courage,† said Billy.â€Å"Yeah, those customers aren’t going to yell at themselves,† Ann said.So keep in mind that you can often eschew dialogue tags if you’ve already established the speakers, like so:Billy approached Ann as she was pouring a cup of coffee.  "Hey, how’s it going?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Not bad.† She gestured to the cup. â€Å"Just warming up for the day.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ah. Liquid courage.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Yeah, those customers aren’t going to yell at themselves.†One can tell from the action beats, as well as the fact that it’s a two-person back-and-forth conversation, which lines are Billy’s and which are Ann’s. Dialogue tags just distract from the conversation - although if you did want to use them, â€Å"said† would still be better than fancy tags like â€Å"announced† or â€Å"effused.†2. Lack of structural varietySimilar to the â€Å"too many tags† issue is the lack of structural variety that can sometimes arise in dialogue. Not sure what we’re talking about? Take a look at this:â€Å"This is going terribly. We need a new plan.† Sophie started erasing the blackboard.â€Å"Wait, stop! I have another idea.† Ethan grabbed her hand to stop her.â€Å"Oh yeah? When has that ever helped us before?† She glared at him, uncompromising.â€Å"I mean it this time. I think this could really work.† He grabbed the chalk from the table and began to write.Now, action beats are great, but here they’re used repeatedly in exactly the same way - first the dialogue, then the beat - which looks odd and unnatural on the page. Indeed, any recurrent structure like this (which also includes putting dialogue tags in the same place every time) should be vehemently avoided.Luckily, it’s easy to rework repetitive structure into something much more lively and organic, just by shifting around some of the action beats and tags:â€Å"This is going terribly. We need a new plan.† Sophie started erasing the blackboard.â€Å"Wait, stop!† Ethan shouted, grabbing her hand. â€Å"I have another idea.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Oh yeah? When has that ever helped us before?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I mean it this time. I think this could really work.†3. Restating the obviousAnother common dialogue mistake is restating the obvious - i.e. information that either the characters themselves or the reader already knows. For example, say you want to introduce two brothers, so you write the following exchange:â€Å"Say, Gary, how long have we been brothers?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Thirty-five years, Barry. Ever since Ma gave birth to two bouncing baby boys in ‘84.†This is clearly awkward and a bit ridiculous, as the characters obviously know how old they are. It also insults the reader’s intelligence - even if they didn’t already know that Barry and Gary were thirty-five-year-old brothers, they wouldn’t appreciate being spoon-fed like this.If you wanted to convey the same information in a subtler way, you might write it into a different conversation, like:â€Å"Hey, Gary - Raiders of the Lost of Ark came out in 1984, right? Wasn’t Ma was about to see it when she went into labor with u s?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"That was Temple of Doom, Barry. No wonder we keep losing at trivia night.†This makes the dialogue more about Indiana Jones than the brothers’ age, sneaking in the info so readers can figure it out for themselves.4. Unrealistic smooth-talking and clichà ©sThough you want your dialogue to flow, you don’t want it to flow so smoothly that it sounds fake. Unfortunately, there’s a fine line between enthralling, Sorkin-esque dialogue and unrealistic smooth-talking, so be careful!Saying your dialogue out loud, as we mentioned in rule #8, should help with this problem. It can also be helpful to record dialogue (with the participants’ permission, of course) and study it for natural speech patterns and phrases. Of course, we’re not saying you should include every â€Å"um† and â€Å"er† that people say in real life - only that authentic-sounding written dialogue reflects real life.In a similar vein, you want to watch out for clichà ©s in your dialogue as much as in the rest of your writing. While it’s certainly true that people sometimes speak in clichà ©s (though this is often tongue-in-cheek), if you find yourself writing the phrase â€Å"Are you thinking what I’m thinking?† or â€Å"Shut up and kiss me,† you may need a reality check.For a full roster of dialogue clichà ©s, check out this super-helpful list from Scott Myers.5. Disregarding dialogue entirelyFinally, the last mistake you can make when writing dialogue is†¦ well, not writing it! Circling back to one of the very first points we made in this article, dialogue is a super-important element in almost any story - it provides exposition, indicates personality and character relationships, and may even reveal a major plot twist during the climax. Suffice to say, if your story doesn’t have enough dialogue, it’s not going to have many readers either.We know that writing dialogue can be intimida ting, especially if you don’t have much experience with it. But that should never keep you from including it in your work! Just remember that the more you practice, the better you’ll get. And with the help of the tips and in this article, you should already be a little bit (if not a lot!) closer to writing dialogue that captivates your readers just as much as their real-life conversations. ðŸâ€" £We hope you enjoyed this post on how to write dialogue! If you’d like to learn even more, check out our course on Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character. How to Write Dialogue 10 Simple Rules (Plus 5 Mistakes to Avoid!) How to Write Dialogue: 10 Simple Rules (Plus 5 Mistakes to Avoid!) No matter what your genre, learning how to write dialogue effectively is a vital part of any writer’s education. Poor dialogue can make readers put your book down in disgust - but great dialogue can transform your characters into truly believable people, and your readers into satisfied customers.Of course, the best kind of dialogue isn’t just believable. It also provides exposition, involves distinct language depending on who’s speaking, and - perhaps most crucially - moves the story along. Without dialogue, you’d just have pages and pages of description with barely any character dynamics or interpersonal drama. How boring would that be?Because dialogue is essential to a strong narrative, we want to help you get it exactly right. To that end, we’ve put together this list of rules, examples, and more that will have you writing sparkling conversation in no time! We’ll also cover in detail how to format and punctuate dialogue, for those who a ren’t sure exactly what goes where.If you’re especially curious about formatting, go ahead and skip to #10 using the table of contents on the left - otherwise, let’s jump right in with dialogue rule #1.1. Enter the conversation lateAlfred Hitchcock once said that â€Å"drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.† Comparably, we could say that good dialogue is like a real conversation without all the fluff. And one of the best ways to cut out that boring fluff is to enter the conversation as late as possible.Think about it: few "classic" scenes start with characters going, â€Å"Hey buddy! How are you doing? Wow, long time no see.† This is because people enjoy making inferences based on details in action and speech - and the last thing you want to do is insult their intelligence by spelling everything out for them.For a more tangible taste of this technique, here’s screenwriter Aaron Sorkin talking about the first scene of his Oscar-win ning screenplay for The Social Network:â€Å"We started at 100 miles an hour in the middle of a conversation, and that makes the audience have to run to catch up. The worst crime you can commit with an audience is telling them something they already know. We were always running ahead.†Sorkin's ability to give the audience just the right amount of detail is a huge strength, and something all writers should strive for. So don’t slow down to accommodate your readers - make them catch up to you. id=attachment_19354 style="width: 1047px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">Now that you know exactly what to do when it comes to writing dialogue, let’s talk about what not to do - with these five critical mistakes to avoid.5 dialogue mistakes to avoid1. Too many dialogue tagsAs you may have already gathered, one of the most egregious errors you can make when writing dialogue is using too many dialogue tags. Constantly repeating â€Å"he said,† â€Å"she said,† and so on is boring and repetitive for your readers, as you can see here:â€Å"Hey, how’s it going?† Billy said.â€Å"Not bad,† said Ann. â€Å"Just warming up for the day.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ah. Liquid courage,† said Billy.â€Å"Yeah, those customers aren’t going to yell at themselves,† Ann said.So keep in mind that you can often eschew dialogue tags if you’ve already established the speakers, like so:Billy approached Ann as she was pouring a cup of coffee.  "Hey, how’s it going?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Not bad.† She gestured to the cup. â€Å"Just warming up for the day.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Ah. Liquid courage.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Yeah, those customers aren’t going to yell at themselves.†One can tell from the action beats, as well as the fact that it’s a two-person back-and-forth conversation, which lines are Billy’s and which are Ann’s. Dialogue tags just distract from the conversation - although if you did want to use them, â€Å"said† would still be better than fancy tags like â€Å"announced† or â€Å"effused.†2. Lack of structural varietySimilar to the â€Å"too many tags† issue is the lack of structural variety that can sometimes arise in dialogue. Not sure what we’re talking about? Take a look at this:â€Å"This is going terribly. We need a new plan.† Sophie started erasing the blackboard.â€Å"Wait, stop! I have another idea.† Ethan grabbed her hand to stop her.â€Å"Oh yeah? When has that ever helped us before?† She glared at him, uncompromising.â€Å"I mean it this time. I think this could really work.† He grabbed the chalk from the table and began to write.Now, action beats are great, but here they’re used repeatedly in exactly the same way - first the dialogue, then the beat - which looks odd and unnatural on the page. Indeed, any recurrent structure like this (which also includes putting dialogue tags in the same place every time) should be vehemently avoided.Luckily, it’s easy to rework repetitive structure into something much more lively and organic, just by shifting around some of the action beats and tags:â€Å"This is going terribly. We need a new plan.† Sophie started erasing the blackboard.â€Å"Wait, stop!† Ethan shouted, grabbing her hand. â€Å"I have another idea.†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Oh yeah? When has that ever helped us before?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"I mean it this time. I think this could really work.†3. Restating the obviousAnother common dialogue mistake is restating the obvious - i.e. information that either the characters themselves or the reader already knows. For example, say you want to introduce two brothers, so you write the following exchange:â€Å"Say, Gary, how long have we been brothers?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"Thirty-five years, Barry. Ever since Ma gave birth to two bouncing baby boys in ‘84.†This is clearly awkward and a bit ridiculous, as the characters obviously know how old they are. It also insults the reader’s intelligence - even if they didn’t already know that Barry and Gary were thirty-five-year-old brothers, they wouldn’t appreciate being spoon-fed like this.If you wanted to convey the same information in a subtler way, you might write it into a different conversation, like:â€Å"Hey, Gary - Raiders of the Lost of Ark came out in 1984, right? Wasn’t Ma was about to see it when she went into labor with u s?†Ã¢â‚¬Å"That was Temple of Doom, Barry. No wonder we keep losing at trivia night.†This makes the dialogue more about Indiana Jones than the brothers’ age, sneaking in the info so readers can figure it out for themselves.4. Unrealistic smooth-talking and clichà ©sThough you want your dialogue to flow, you don’t want it to flow so smoothly that it sounds fake. Unfortunately, there’s a fine line between enthralling, Sorkin-esque dialogue and unrealistic smooth-talking, so be careful!Saying your dialogue out loud, as we mentioned in rule #8, should help with this problem. It can also be helpful to record dialogue (with the participants’ permission, of course) and study it for natural speech patterns and phrases. Of course, we’re not saying you should include every â€Å"um† and â€Å"er† that people say in real life - only that authentic-sounding written dialogue reflects real life.In a similar vein, you want to watch out for clichà ©s in your dialogue as much as in the rest of your writing. While it’s certainly true that people sometimes speak in clichà ©s (though this is often tongue-in-cheek), if you find yourself writing the phrase â€Å"Are you thinking what I’m thinking?† or â€Å"Shut up and kiss me,† you may need a reality check.For a full roster of dialogue clichà ©s, check out this super-helpful list from Scott Myers.5. Disregarding dialogue entirelyFinally, the last mistake you can make when writing dialogue is†¦ well, not writing it! Circling back to one of the very first points we made in this article, dialogue is a super-important element in almost any story - it provides exposition, indicates personality and character relationships, and may even reveal a major plot twist during the climax. Suffice to say, if your story doesn’t have enough dialogue, it’s not going to have many readers either.We know that writing dialogue can be intimida ting, especially if you don’t have much experience with it. But that should never keep you from including it in your work! Just remember that the more you practice, the better you’ll get. And with the help of the tips and in this article, you should already be a little bit (if not a lot!) closer to writing dialogue that captivates your readers just as much as their real-life conversations. ðŸâ€" £We hope you enjoyed this post on how to write dialogue! If you’d like to learn even more, check out our course on Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character.