

Dialogue is a conversation
between two or more people
as a feature of a
book, play or film.

are conversation, talk, communication,
speech, chat and interchange.

must appear
between what are known as
inverted commas (quotation marks).
They look like this “ ”
and immediately identify a
place in the story where
people are talking.

Scene setting:
“We need to get out of
here before they get back,”
she whispered, terrified.
“I came here to find
out the truth,
I wish I never had…”

Fear, anger, sadness, surprise,
disgust, shame, envy etc…

Anger and Pity – and use them to create a
conversation between two people...

that?” she screamed.
PITY: “I’m sorry that you feel that way,
but I am doing this for your own good.”
ANGER: “My own good? I don’t need your
pity – stay away from me.”
PITY: “But you do, and if I’d pitied you
sooner you might not be in
this mess…”

dry, grumpy… You don’t need to say that
your character is grumpy if you display
this through his dialogue. It should be
obvious to the reader by the things that
he says, that he is in a grumpy humour.

reader through everything, dialogue
can explain a lot. An outburst can be
demonstrated by one character saying to
another, “You’ve never dealt with your
brother’s death, it’s been three years –
you have to move on.”

in fact, leaving it unexplained creates
an air of mystery that you can feed
into the story…

perhaps phonetically which is the art
of writing the sounds of speech.
So, more often than not, it is
best to avoid.

- To provide relevant information
- To create atmosphere
- To enhance flow
- To sound natural

has no need for “I said,” “he said” or
“she said” after every sentence. It also
benefits greatly from a little description
to complement the conversation.
Both will work to provide further
information, move the story on and
enhance the pace.

paragraphs for example.
You will notice that the second
version is a lot easier
and quicker to read,
despite the fact that it doesn’t
actually use fewer words…

“Get yourself a snack from the fridge,”
said Mum. “I don’t want a snack,
I want my dinner,” said Tom.
“Don’t be cheeky,” said Mum.
“I’m sorry,” said Tom.
“That’s ok, but ask politely
next time,” said Mum.
“Ok, can I have my
dinner please?” said Tom.
“Not yet,” said Mum.

“Get yourself a snack
from the fridge,” Mum answered.
“I don’t want a snack, I want my dinner.”
“Don’t be cheeky.”
“I’m sorry,” Tom looked sheepish.
“That’s ok, but ask politely
next time.” “Ok, can I have my dinner
please?”
“Not yet!” Mum laughed, and
so Tom laughed too.

it will further improve
your ability to write a story
with characters that
your reader will connect
with more easily.

To practice your dialogue writing
go to Week 2/Exercise Sheet 2.
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