Creating Effective Dialogue

The Format Use quotation marks to indicate words which are spoken by characters. "You don't have to answer that question!" "I'll answer the question. You want answers?" "I think I'm entitled to them." "You want answers?" "I want the truth!" "You can't handle the truth!"

Always start a new paragraph when changing speakers. You cannot have two people speaking in the same paragraph. "You don't have to answer that question!" "I'll answer the question. You want answers?" "I think I'm entitled to them." "You want answers?" "I want the truth!" "You can't handle the truth!"

Dialogue Tags Make sure the reader knows who is speaking. John said He said She replied They questioned He pried She summoned The old man sneered Ethan shouted Becca whispered The teacher suggested The coach motioned Dr. Thomas instructed She giggled Tina warned He snickered Donna requested

Use correct punctuation, spacing, and spelling. "You don't have to answer that question!" said the Judge. "I'll answer the question. You want answers?" said Jessop. "I think I'm entitled to them," said Kaffee. "You want answers?" said Jessop. "I want the truth!" said Kaffee. "You can't handle the truth!" said Jessop.

The former was gramatically correct, but BORING! Look at what adding descriptive dialogue tags add to the conversation. The Judge turned swiftly toward the witness and declared, "You don't have to answer that question!" "I'll answer the question," Jessop said coldly, fixing his eyes on Kaffee. He asked the defense attorney, "You want answers?" "I think I'm entitled to them," Kaffee replied. Jessop asked again, more forcefully, as if scolding an errant recruit, "You want answers?" "I want the truth!" Kaffee shouted, banging his fist on the counsel table in defiance of Jessop's intimidating presence. The court members sat in stunned silence. The colonel leaned forward, rising to his feet, and thundered, "You can't handle the truth!"

Vary the use of dialogue tags Don't always identify the speaker in the same place- change it up. Identify at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. Once the flow of the conversation has been established, you may not need dialogue tags anymore, so do NOT overuse them. They will interrupt the conversation. Don't place the dialogue tag at the end of a sentence if the character is just being introduced to the story.

Use narrative sentences to show the character's concurrent acts, thoughts, and/or perceptions. Use clauses and phrases to show what the character is doing while they speak. Jenny put down the pen and closed her diary. "I'll be right there, mom." Miss Dobbs pointed at the directions on the board. "Check and make sure you have followed all directions."

Dialogue is not exactly like real speech, but it should sound like real speech. We have all sorts of sounds we make when we speak that would be distracting on the page "oh" "um" "uh" "hm" Alfred Hitchcock once said that a good story was "life, with the dull parts taken out."

Use dialogue as enhancement Let's say you have a character named Jane. She's late to the airport, so she hails a taxi cab, tells him to hurry, and he agrees. Plain Jane: "I have to get to the airport really fast. Can you do that?" Cabby: "You betcha." Jane of the streets: "The airport, bro, and hit it!" Cabby: "I'm on it." Jane the executive: "Airport. A big tip if you make it quick." Cabby: "Yes, ma'am." Jane the professor: "To the airport, please, and I'm in a hurry." Cabby: "Certainly." The Cabby's responses are dictated by Jane to make the scene more believable.

Functions of Conversation vs. Dialogue To reveal information. "Hey, mum. I'm just going down to the shops." "I left the bucket by the door." To acknowledge a comment. "No, it hasn't come yet." "I hear what you're saying." To gain information. "Dad, where did you put the towel?" "What's the capital of Tibet?" To propose a course of action. "Let's eat at the seafood place." To express emotion. "I really hate this." "I'm incredibly nervous about doing it." To discuss ideas and opinions. "Wouldn't it be interesting if we could fly?" "Things will get better if Grant is accepted to that university." To make contact. "Hello, I'm Debbie." To fill in time. "I was there yesterday, and I met Sukie." "Nice day, isn't it?" To reveal information Plot The "truth" To express character Motivation Dreams Inspirations Worries Likes/dislikes Conflicts Goals Curiosities Life philosophies beliefs/ values To break up long stretches of narration = all purposeful!

Comic Strips Take the words in the bubbles and write them out in paragraph form. Try to use proper dialogue formatting with the punctuation, spacing, and capitalization in this exercise.

You Try it! Select a PARAGRAPH from a rough draft story. Either edit dialogue for proper format OR add dialogue in proper format. Include at least 3 different speakers. Turn in for a check grade.

Children’s Book Dialogue Revisions Add dialogue to reveal a trait of your protagonist. Add dialogue to reveal the conflict of your story. Add dialogue to break up narration- where you have 5 sentences or more of narration. Add at least one conversation between two characters to your story. Write a reflective paragraph explaining where you added dialogue and how it functions in the context of your story. Turn this in for 1XD.

Homework Activity… Listen to how other people talk Ask a friend if you can record your next conversation. Then go back and listen to the tape and make a script of the conversation. Observe speech patterns, pauses, inflections, tones, etc. and try to see if you can get those feelings across with your words and dialogue. Eavesdrop and write down words, phrases, ideas that you like. Save them for later!