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- As an alternative to a simple dialogue tag, you can write a line of speech accompanied by an action beat. In this case, you should use a period rather than a comma, because the action beat is a full sentence. Example: Maria sat down on the bed. “I think I need a nap.”
prowritingaid.com/write-dialogueHow to Write Dialogue: 7 Great Tips for Writers (With Examples)
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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.
- 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...
Apr 11, 2022 · Dialogue Examples. Let’s look at some dialogue examples from successful novels that follow each of our seven tips. Dialogue Example #1: How to Create Character Voice. Let’s start with an example of a character with a distinct voice from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. “What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill?
Jan 14, 2021 · 1. Use quotation marks to signal speech. 2. Pace dialogue lines by three. 3. Use action beats. 4. Use ‘said’ as a dialogue tag. 5. Write scene-based dialogue. 6. Model any talk on real life. 7. Differentiate character voices. 8. "Show, don't tell" information in conversation. 9. Delete superfluous words. 👀. Which dialogue tag are YOU?
- Tom Bromley
- 5 min
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
May 18, 2023 · What is an example of a dialogue? Pick up a book and start flipping through the pages. You’ll quickly come across several passages containing characters’ dialogue. Here’s one example of brilliant dialogue from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby: “You’re a rotten driver,” I protested.
Jun 20, 2023 · 10 Examples of Effective Dialogue to Enhance Your Writing. Written by Daisie Team. Published on 20 June 2023 9 min read. Contents. 1. Show, Don't Tell. 2. Use Silence Effectively. 3. Create Distinct Voices. 4. Use Subtext. 5. Avoid Info-Dumping. 6. Write Natural Dialogue. 7. Balance Dialogue and Narration. 8. Use Dialogue Tags Sparingly. 9.
