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As a writer, I’m fascinated by the mechanics of great dialogue. So here are 20 of the best examples of writing dialogue that brings your story to life. Example 1: Dialogue that Reveals Character
- Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered
- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
- Naomi Alderman, The Power
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
- J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit
- F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
- Arthur Conan Doyle,A Study in Scarlet
- Brandon Taylor, Real Life
- Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants
- Madeline Miller, Circe
In the opening of Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered,we meet Willa Knox, a middle-aged and newly unemployed writer who has just inherited a ramshackle house. Alfred Hitchcock once described drama as "life with the boring bits cut out." In this passage, Kingsolver cuts out the boring parts of Willa's conversation with her contractor and brings us righ...
In the first piece of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice, we meet Mr and Mrs Bennet, as Mrs Bennet attempts to draw her husband into a conversation about neighborhood gossip. Austen’s dialogue is always witty, subtle, and packed with character. This extract from Pride and Prejudice is a great example of dialogue being used to develop character relatio...
In The Power, young women around the world suddenly find themselves capable of generating and controlling electricity. In this passage, between two boys and a girl who just used those powers to light her cigarette. Alderman here uses a show, don’t tell approach to expositional dialogue. Within this short exchange, we discover a lot about Allie, her...
Here, friends Tommy and Kathy have a conversation after Tommy has had a meltdown. After being bullied by a group of boys, he has been stomping around in the mud, the precise reaction they were hoping to evoke from him. This episode from Never Let Me Go highlights the power of interspersing action beats within dialogue. These action beats work in se...
The eponymous hobbit Bilbo is engaged in a game of riddles with the strange creature Gollum. Tolkein’s dialogue for Gollum is a masterclass in creating distinct character voices. By using a repeated catchphrase (“my precious”) and unconventional spelling and grammar to reflect his unusual speech pattern, Tolkien creates an idiosyncratic, unique (an...
The narrator, Nick has just done his new neighbour Gatsby a favor by inviting his beloved Daisy over to tea. Perhaps in return, Gatsby then attempts to make a shady business proposition. This dialogue from The Great Gatsby is a great example of how to make dialogue sound natural. Gatsby tripping over his own words (even interrupting himself, as mar...
In this first meeting between the two heroes of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmesstories, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, John is introduced to Sherlock while the latter is hard at work in the lab. This passage uses a number of the key techniques for writing naturalistic and exciting dialogue, including characters speaking over one another and the int...
Here, our protagonist Wallace is questioned by Ramon, a friend-of-a-friend, over the fact that he is considering leaving his PhD program. Brandon Taylor’s Real Life is drawn from the author’s own experiences as a queer Black man, attempting to navigate the unwelcoming world of academia, navigating the world of academia, and so it’s no surprise that...
In this short story, an unnamed man and a young woman discuss whether or not they should terminate a pregnancy while sitting on a train platform. This example of dialogue from Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants moves at quite a clip. The conversation quickly bounces back and forthbetween the speakers, and the call-and-response forma...
In Madeline Miller’s retelling of Greek myth, we witness a conversation between the mythical enchantress Circe and Telemachus (son of Odysseus). This short and punchy exchange hits on a lot of the stylistic points we’ve covered so far. The conversation is a taut tennis match between the two speakers as they volley back and forth with short but impa...
- Create Character Voices. Dialogue is a great way to reveal your characters. What your characters say, and how they say it, can tell us so much about what kind of people they are.
- Write Realistic Dialogue. Good dialogue should sound natural. Listen to how people talk in real life and try to replicate it on the page when you write dialogue.
- Simplify Your Dialogue Tags. A dialogue tag is anything that tells the reader which character is talking within that same paragraph, such as “she said” or “I asked.”
- Balance Speech with Action. When you’re writing dialogue, you can use action beats—descriptions of body language or physical action—to show what each character is doing throughout the conversation.
Feb 17, 2023 · Dialogue prompts can be helpful for writers looking to improve their dialogue writing skills or those struggling with writer's block. These prompts help writers to generate new ideas and explore different characters and situations.
- Use Ellipsis to Avoid Saying Hard Things. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan. Her arms had a lovely tan, although a scatter of raw pink patches marred the skin above one wrist.
- Use Retorts for Boring Dialogue. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell. “Good morning,” began the woman. “I beg to differ.” “My name is Gwendolin Bendincks.” “Don’t blame me.”
- Speed up your Dialogue. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon. “Did you tell him you were going to ask Helen to marry you?” “Could have.”
- Switch the Topic. The History of Love, Nicole Krauss. “Tell me something about Dad,” he whispered. “You forgot to cut your toenails,” I said. Don’t make it easy on your characters.
May 18, 2023 · How do you punctuate and format dialogue? Check out our top tips and examples of great conversations that hook readers and leave them wanting more.
Mar 26, 2023 · A guide on how to write dialogue. See dialogue writing examples and learn what an author may use dialogue to provide the reader with—detail
