It’s true that speech gives life to stories. Writing dialogue effectively is an integral part of book writing, no matter what the genre is. It is what readers pay attention to the most. By reading the dialogues, readers can actually visualize the whole scene in front of them. It brings them out of the book, into the world where the actual phenomenon is happening. It captivates the readers' interest, and more importantly, helps them to segue into the writer’s perspective. Dialogues are like a ship that carries the readers through the crusts and troughs of words in an ocean of a story.

Dialogue writing is the cornerstone for any story building, so let’s have a look at what it actually is.

Dialogue is what develops characters in a novel. It is helps the plot to progress and makes the story more interesting. You might have seen two or more characters talking to each other in a story- this is called the dialogue. There are two categories of dialogues; the outer dialogues and the inner dialogues. Outer dialogue is the conversation between different individuals, while the inner dialogue is the conversation of a character with his inner self.

Stephen King said “Writing good dialogue is an art as well as craft.” While it’s very hard to identify what a perfect dialogue really is, there are a few rules to follow that will make your dialogue a good one.

Tips For Writing Good Dialogue

Following are the tips for writing dialogues in a novel.

1. Get To Know Your Characters:

Before you start writing dialogues for your story, you need to know how your characters will sound to the readers. You can only give a voice to your characters if you know them well. Several personality dynamics need to be considered while you are writing dialogues for your characters. You need to know their age, their background, profession, etc. All of this information gives you the knowledge you need to figure out how your characters communicate.

2. Keep Your Dialogue Tags Concise:

It is crucial to keep these tags to a minimum. The goal is to draw the attention of the readers towards your compelling dialogue, not your ability to display verbal skills. You risk taking readers out of the scene when you try finding fancy dialogue tags in your thesaurus. To make a dialogue worthwhile, you need to keep it concise.

3. Imitate The Voices of Individuals You Know:

You need to keep your dialogues looking as genuine and as realistic as they can be. Readers should feel the aura of the characters while reading your dialogue. For that purpose, it is recommended to mimic the sound of people from your daily life. Perhaps you have created a professor character that has the same vocal inflexions as your mother. Or maybe your hero soldier sounds like your old football coach. There's no better resource than the real people in your daily life if you want to make sure your dialogue sounds genuine.

4. Be Consistent with Your Characters:

Make sure you’re consistent while you write dialogue in a story. Try keeping your characters in the same tone as they were in the beginning. If a person is polite and reluctant in the beginning, they should not suddenly become loud and rude. Characters should always speak in a manner that is unique to them. The reader should be able to figure out who is speaking by only looking at the tone in which something is said, even without the character tags.

5. Make Your Characters Stand Out:

Just like every person you know, every character will have a unique way of speaking and delivering their thoughts. Making each character sound distinctive is another important part of crafting a realistic dialogue. For instance, if a character sounds like another character in the same story, the reader may not be able to identify the character easily and their interest would be compromised.  Each speaker should have an underlying stream of personality that distinguishes them.

6. Just Show, Don’t Tell Everything:

When writing dialogue between two people, make sure you don’t just lay everything on the table. Readers enjoy deducing their own assumptions based on the clues that are provided in the dialogue. Instead of making your character say “I’m sick”, you should rather describe its body language- the pale face, dark eye circles, low energy, etc. Your conversation shouldn't be too obvious, and you should describe what the character is feeling. Readers prefer to witness the scenario, pick up on the signals, and arrive at their own conclusions rather than being simply told everything.

7. Get To the Point:

Many amateur authors make the mistake of including redundant information in their dialogues. It deviates the reader’s interest and ruins the suspense of the plot. You need to make sure you come to the point as soon as possible. There is a certain dialogue format to follow. Reducing your dialogues and omitting greetings and other small talks is a good place to start. You can bring your characters into the scene faster if you skip the hellos and goodbyes, allowing them to segue into your tale more conveniently and without losing momentum.

8. Punctuate Your Dialogue Properly:

Punctuating dialogue is important. Dialogue has its own rules for punctuation, and you need to be well-equipped with them. You might have written a lovely dialogue, but you don't want the reader to stumble over it because commas are absent, misplaced, or used inconsistently.

Punctuating and structuring your conversation appropriately makes your story lucid and clear. Meanwhile, it also helps readers to stay immersed in the story. Of course, understanding when and when to use quote marks, commas, full stops, question marks, and dashes will also make your content appear polished and professional to agencies and publishers.

9. Read The Dialogue Out Loud:

Author Judy Blame said it right when she said, “Nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it”. Reading your work aloud is the simplest approach to see if your characters' dialogue sounds genuine. It won't sound right to the reader if the dialogue doesn't seem to flow or if you're stumbling over your words.  Do your characters have a distinct voice? Is there a natural flow to their conversation? If not, reading their words aloud will quickly identify where things can be improved

Always read your book aloud during the editing process, paying careful attention to your dialogues. Everything you write should sound as if it was said by a real person. If not, it may be time to start over with a clean slate.

10. Research Is Vital:

It is true when they say that to write well, you have to read well. Reading more and more content in a particular area always bodes well for writers. Look for inspirational dialogue writing examples by renowned authors before you write dialogue and see what fits your context. This will get you a fair idea of writing effective dialogue, and you can have diversification in your content as well.

Paying heed to the other’s work will improve your dialogue writing skills. When you come across a good conversation in a novel or a fiction, save it somewhere. Later on, look over it again and really study it until you grasp its mechanism and why it works so effectively.

You are feeling overwhelmed by all of the advice we have shared with you today, right? Well, one cannot simply become a professional overnight. In order to improve your expertise, you need to practice, and refining any portion of your writing calls for a healthy dose of editing. Focus on only a few of these dialogue strategies at a time, and you'll be writing good dialogues in no time.

If you are an aspiring writer, you can submit your manuscript to us for review., you can make a quick and easy submission through the online submission form. 

If you want to know more about how to become an author with us, then click here to get all the details.

Did you find this blog interesting? Are you looking forward to having some more useful writing tips? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok to keep yourself informed about every important aspect of writing.