When a person picks up a fiction book and flips through its pages, he or she will probably come across dialogue. Used as a writer’s tool, dialogue allows an author to divulge information without excessive telling. While it may seem like a writer needs to transpose the entire conversation, this isn’t the case. Knowing what to say and how to say it can improve fiction writing.
Identify What to Say in the Dialogue
Listening to a regular conversation, writers can pick up on things to help them create realistic dialogue. For example, a person might pick up on a particular catchphrase he or she can use to identify a group of teenagers. In some cases, it's possible to determine a particular cadence of speech that indicates region.
While it may seem that mimicking a real conversation would be the best route to go, an author needs to determine the purpose of his or her dialogue. Each statement needs to move the readers toward the destination the writer has in mind—the climax of the story. To do this, authors can sprinkle in the tidbits they glean from actual conversations.
Use Quotation Marks to Identify Dialogue
Once authors determine what their characters should say, they need to set the dialogue apart using quotation marks. Not only will quotation marks identify dialogue, but they help the reader keep track of who is speaking. Also keep in mind that writers need to use punctuation with dialogue, and it should go inside the quotation marks. Here are a few examples of how dialogue should look in a manuscript:
- “Dude, what’s up?” Marcus gave his friend a high five.
- “My father always said he hated me,” Amanda said. “Now I guess I know why.”
- “Sarah, what do you think we should do today?” Bob asked as he grabbed the milk out of the fridge.
Identify Dialogue Speakers With Paragraphs and Attributions
In published books, people will see that when the character speaking changes, then the author uses a new paragraph. This is a signal to the readers that the person talking has changed. Even if a writer uses just a few words in the first speaker’s paragraph, he or she still begins a new paragraph for the second and third speakers.
As a person writes a novel, he or she may also need to use dialogue tags, also called attributions, to help the reader keep track of who is speaking. This is especially important when he or she has more than two speakers involved in the conversation. A standard attribution is “he said,” but authors can use others.
Follow Up With Other Dialogue Techniques
Once writers have these basics down, they may want to learn how to use punctuation with dialogue tags or how to use beats in place of attributions, as well as how to vary the placement of beats and attributions.
Tara McClendon - Tara McClendon is a Texas-based freelance writer and editor. Aside from writing for Suite101, Tara is currently working on a YA novel ...
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