Dialogue Basics

What is the purpose of Dialogue? Take a moment and write dowm some ideas. What does dialogue do for the story?

Purpose of Dialogue Makes the story more interesting Shows the scene rather than summarizing it Moves plot along Develops character Increase suspense, humor, or slow down the scene, depending on the dialogue

Read the following Paragraph Shameka decided that she really deserved an allowance. She had never gotten one, and lots of her friends did. She talked to her dad. It started as an argument, but it ended up okay because she ended up getting an allowance, not as much as she wanted, but at least it was a start. How could you add dialogue to this story to make it more interesting?

“Dad, I need to talk to you,” announced Shameka. “Honey, I’m really busy right now. Can it wait?” “Actually, Dad, it’s already waited for 13 years. I think we are way overdue for this conversation.” “Wait a minute,” responded Dad. “I really don’t like being talked to like that. What’s your problem?” “My problem is that I’m not getting any support from you and Mom,” Shameka yelled as she walked across the room and prepared to slam the door. “STOP RIGHT THERE, young lady. You will not talk to me that way and you will not walk away.” Dad paused and then calmly asked, “Please, will you tell me what’s bothering you? Obviously, there’s something rather important. What do you mean that we don’t support you?” “OK, Dad, I’m sorry,” apologized Shameka. “It’s just that my friends all get allowances and I don’t. When we go to the mall, I have to ask you for money. I want to have some money of my own that I can count on whenever I need it.” Dad sighed and then he explained, “Shameka, Mom and I would really like to be able to give you an allowance. We know that your friends have more money than you do, but it’s hard for us right now. I will talk to Mom about it, but until I do, how about if I give you 10 dollars this week? Mom and I will discuss it, and we’ll see what we can do.” “Well, Dad, 10 dollars really doesn’t go very far these days, but I guess it’s a beginning. Please, tell Mom how much I want it, and tell her I’ll do more around the house and that I deserve it, OK?” pleaded Shameka. Dad laughed, hugged Shameka, and promised, “I’ll do what I can.”

What information does the dialogue add about the characters that we didn’t have before? Their relationship?

Basic Rules of Dialogue Dialogue or direct discourse is usually enclosed in quotation marks, either single like these: ‘__’, or double, like these: “__”. In American English, you are most likely to see the double quotation marks used to indicate a character or person speaking who is not the narrator. Dialogue usually uses dialogue tags such as “she said,” “he screamed,” “they murmured,” etc. Dialogue tags are a subject and a verb that indicate who is speaking and the method of the speech (spoken/yelled/whispered). In most cases (unless a dialogue tag that indicates thought is used), material inside the quotation marks is considered spoken material.

Dialogue Tags Take a minute, and write down as many dialogue tags as you can. Here’s a few to get you started: Said Told Screamed Yelled Whispered Screeched Scolded

Where can the tags go? Notes: At the beginning: Mary said, “Call me tomorrow.” Comma before the opening quotation mark. Capital letter to indicate the beginning of a sentence inside the opening quotation mark. A period to end the quoted sentence. Closing quotation mark. At the end: “Call me tomorrow,” Mary said. A comma to end the quoted sentence before the closing quotation mark that precedes the dialogue tag Dialogue tag at the end with a period at the end of the sentence.

Where can the dialogue tag go? In the middle: “Call me,” Mary said, “tomorrow.” Capital letter to indicate the beginning of a sentence inside the opening quotation mark. A comma to end the quoted sentence before the closing quotation mark that precedes the dialogue tag. Comma before the second opening quotation mark. Lower case letter to indicate the second piece of the quotation is still a part of the sentence that began in the first piece of the quotation. A period to end the quoted sentence. Closing quotation mark.

Where can the dialogue tag go? In the middle of two sentences: Call me tomorrow,” Mary said. “Have a nice evening.” Capital letter to indicate the beginning of a sentence inside the first opening quotation mark. A comma to end the quoted sentence before the closing quotation mark that precedes the dialogue tag. A period at the end of the sentence (and after the dialogue tag) to indicate that the sentence with the first piece of quoted material has ended. Capital letter to indicate the beginning of a sentence inside the second opening quotation mark. The second piece of quoted material appearing on the same line as the first to indicate that the same person/speaker said both pieces of quoted material, even though the second piece of quoted material does not have a dialogue tag. A period to end the quoted sentence. Closing quotation mark.

What about when you have 2 speakers? All of the other rules of punctuation apply, but… EVERY TIME YOU HAVE A NEW SPEAKER, START THE DIALOGUE ON A NEW LINE. For example: “Call me tomorrow,” Mary said. “Have a great evening!” “Okay, later!” Frank responded.

2 speakers continued Also, new lines of dialogue are indented like any new paragraph. Let’s see how that looks by peppering in some longer lines of prose so that you can see the effect: Mary was on her way to the grocery store when she saw Frank out in the front yard mowing his overgrown grass. He waved for her to come over because they needed to talk about the upcoming block party, but she didn’t have time just now.      “Call me tomorrow,” said Mary as she got into her car.      “Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Frank responded.        

2 speakers continued However, you don’t have to  start Mary’s speech on a new line if you write her dialogue tag into a sentence in the first paragraph. Observe: Mary was on her way to the grocery store when she saw Frank out in the front yard mowing his overgrown grass. He waved for her to come over because they needed to talk about the upcoming block party, but she didn’t have time just now. As she got into her car, Mary said, “Call me tomorrow.”      “Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Redundant Dialogue Tags You do not always have to use dialogue tags. In fact, you will often become redundant and irritating if you use one every time a character speaks, if it is clear who is speaking. For example: Mary was on her way to the grocery store when she saw Frank out in the front yard mowing his overgrown grass. He waved for her to come over because they needed to talk about the upcoming block party, but she didn’t have time just now. As she got into her car, Mary said, “Call me tomorrow.”      “Wait!” Frank jogged over.      “I have to get going, Frank. We can chat tomorrow.”      “Well, I just wanted to ask you if we should get veggie burgers, too. I think we should have some options for the non-carnivores.”       “Of course. Sounds good. I have to run, but we can go over it all tomorrow on the phone.”                  “Oh, and should we get gluten-free buns, too?”                     “Uh, sure…Let’s talk tomorrow. Ok?”                     “Ok. Later then.”                     “Later.”             

Group Work In a group of 2-3 people, you will receive a short narrational story. With your group, you will write the story as a scene with dialogue. Make sure that you format and punctuate the dialogue correctly. Make sure that your dialogue helps show something about the characters themselves.

Hero and Villain Scene Consider the following clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnOLhXmhkyA What does this scene reveal about each of the characters? How does the director use dialogue and action to communicate these things? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzzlgxTvCIM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3BGsew3Q2c