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How to Write Dialogue: Rules, Examples, and 8 Tips for Engaging Dialogue

by Fija Callaghan

You’ll often hear fiction writers talking about “character-driven stories”—stories where the strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations of the central cast of characters stay with us long after the book is closed. But what drives character, and how do we create characters that leave long-lasting impressions?

The answer lies in dialogue : the device used by our characters to communicate with each other. Powerful dialogue can elevate a story and subtly reveal important information, but poorly written dialogue can send your work straight to the slush bin. Let’s look at what dialogue is in writing, how to properly format dialogue, and how to make your characters’ dialogue the best it can be.

What is dialogue in a story?

Dialogue is the verbal exchange between two or more characters. In most fiction, the exchange is in the form of a spoken conversation. However, conversations in a story can also be things like letters, text messages, telepathy, or even sign language. Any moment where two characters speak or connect with each other through their choice of words, they’re engaging in dialogue.

Why does dialogue matter in a story?

We use dialogue in a story to reveal new information about the plot, characters, and story world. Great dialogue is essential to character development and helps move the plot forward in a story.

Writing good dialogue is a great way to sneak exposition into your story without stating it overtly to the reader; you can also use tools like dialect and diction in your dialogue to communicate more detail about your characters.

Through a character’s dialogue, we can learn about their motivations, relationships, and understanding of the world around them.

A character won’t always say what they mean (more on dialogue subtext below), but everything they say will serve some larger purpose in the story. If your dialogue is well-written, the reader will absorb this information without even realizing it. If your dialogue is clunky, however, it will stand out and pull your reader away from your story.

Rules for writing dialogue

Before we get into how to make your dialogue realistic and engaging, let’s make sure you’ve got the basics down: how to properly format dialogue in a story. We’ll look at how to punctuate dialogue, how to write dialogue correctly when using a question mark or exclamation point, and some helpful dialogue writing examples.

Here are the need-to-know rules for formatting dialogue in writing.

Enclose lines of dialogue in double quotation marks

This is the most essential rule in basic dialogue punctuation. When you write dialogue in North American English, a spoken line will have a set of double quotation marks around it. Here’s a simple dialogue example:

“Were you at the party last night?”

Any punctuation such as periods, question marks, and exclamation marks will also go inside the quotation marks. The quotation marks give a visual clue to the reader that this line is spoken out loud.

In European or British English, however, you’ll often see single quotation marks being used instead of double quotation marks. All the other rules stay the same.

Enclose nested dialogue in single quotation marks

Nested dialogue is when one line of dialogue happens inside another line of dialogue—when someone is verbally quoting someone else. In North American English, you’d use single quotation marks to identify where the new dialogue line starts and stops, like this:

“And then, do you know what he said to me? Right to my face, he said, ‘I stayed home all night.’ As if I didn’t even see him.”

The double and single quotation marks give the reader clues as to who’s speaking. In European or British English, the quotation marks would be reversed; you’d use single quotation marks on the outside, and double quotation marks on the inside.

Every speaker gets a new paragraph

Every time you switch to a new speaker, you end the line where it is and start a new line. Here are some dialogue examples to show you how it looks:

“Were you at the party last night?” “No, I stayed home all night.”

The same is true if the new “speaker” is only in focus because of their action. You can think of the paragraphs like camera angles, each one focusing on a different person:

“Were you at the party last night?” “No, I stayed home all night.” She raised a single, threatening eyebrow. “Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and watched Netflix instead.”

If you kept the action on the same line as the dialogue, it would get confusing and make it look like she was the one saying it. Giving each character a new paragraph keeps the speakers clear and distinct.

Use em-dashes when dialogue gets cut short

If your character begins to speak but is interrupted, you’ll break off their line of dialogue with an em-dash, like this:

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and—” “Is that really what happened?”

Be careful with this one, because many word processors will treat your em-dash like the beginning of a new sentence and attach your closing quotation marks backwards:

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and—“

You may need to keep an eye out and adjust as you go along.

In this dialogue example, the new speaker doesn’t lead with an em-dash; they just start speaking like normal. The only time you’ll ever open a line of dialogue with an em-dash is if the speaker who’s been cut off continues with what they were saying:

“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that well, so I just stayed in and—” “Is that really what happened?” “—watched Netflix instead. Yes, that’s what happened.”

This shows the reader that there’s actually only one line of dialogue, but it’s been cut in the middle by another speaker.

Each line of dialogue is indented

Every time you give your speaker a new paragraph, it’s indented from the left-hand side. Many word processors will do this automatically. The only exception is if your dialogue is opening your story or a new section of your story, such as a chapter; these will always start at the far left margin of the page, whether they’re dialogue or narration.

Long speeches don’t use use closing quotation marks until the end

Most writers favor shorter lines of dialogue in their writing, but sometimes you might need to give your character a longer one—for instance, if the character speaking is giving a speech or telling a story. In these cases, you might choose to break up their speech into shorter paragraphs the way you would if you were writing regular narrative.

However, here the punctuation gets a bit weird. You’ll begin the character’s dialogue with a double quotation mark, like normal. But you won’t use a double quotation mark at the end of the paragraph, because they haven’t finished speaking yet. But! You’ll use another opening quotation mark at the beginning of the subsequent paragraph. This means that you may use several opening double quotation marks for your character’s speech, but only ever one closing quotation mark.

If your character is telling a story that involves people talking, remember to use single quotation marks for your dialogue-within-dialogue as we looked at above.

Sometimes these dialogue formatting rules are easier to catch later on, during the editing process. When you’re writing, worry less about using the exact dialogue punctuation and more about writing great dialogue that supports your character development and moves the story forward.

How to use dialogue tags

Dialogue tags help identify the speaker. They’re especially important if you have a group of people all talking together, and it can get pretty confusing for the reader trying to keep everybody straight. If you’re using a speech tag after your line of dialogue—he said, she said, and so forth—you’ll end your sentence with a comma, like this:

“No, I stayed home all night,” he said.

But if you’re using an action to identify the person speaking instead, you’ll punctuate the sentence like normal and start a new sentence to describe the action taking place:

“No, I stayed home all night.” He looked down at his feet.

The dialogue tags and action tags always follow in the same paragraph. When you move your story lens to a new person, you’ll switch to a new paragraph. Each line where a new person speaks propels the story forward.

When to use capitals in dialogue tags

You may have noticed in the two examples above that one dialogue tag begins with a lowercase letter, and one—which is technically called an action tag—begins with a capital letter. Confusing? The rules are simple once you get a little practice.

When you use a dialogue tag like “he said,” “she said,” “he whispered,” or “she shouted,” you’re using these as modifiers to your sentence—dressing it up with a little clarity. They’re an extension of the sentence the person was speaking. That’s why you separate them with a comma and keep going.

With an action tag , you’re ending one sentence and beginning a whole new one. Each sentence represents two distinct moments in the story. That’s why you end the first sentence with a period, and then open the next one with a capital letter.

If you’re not sure, try reading them out loud:

“No, I stayed home all night,” he said. “No, I stayed home all night.” He looked down at his feet.

Since you can’t hear quotation marks out loud, the way you say them will show you if they’re one sentence or two. In the first example, you can hear how the sentence keeps going after the dialogue ends. In the second example, you can hear how one sentence comes to a full stop and another one begins.

But what if your dialogue tag comes before the dialogue, instead of after? In this case, the dialogue is always capitalized because the speaker is beginning a new sentence:

He said, “No, I stayed home all night.” He looked down at his feet. “No, I stayed home all night.”

You’ll still use a comma after the dialogue tag and a period after the action tag, just like if you’d separate them if you were putting your tag at the end.

If you’re not sure, ask yourself if your leading tag sounds like a full sentence or a partial sentence. If it sounds like a partial sentence, it gets a comma. If it reads like a full sentence that stands on its own, it gets a period.

External vs. internal dialogue

All of the dialogue we’ve looked at so far is external dialogue, which is directed from one character to another. The other type of dialogue is internal dialogue, or inner dialogue, where a character is talking to themselves. You’ll use this when you want to show what a character is thinking, but other characters can’t hear.

Usually, internal dialogue will be written in italics to distinguish it from the rest of the text. That shows the reader that the line is happening inside the character’s head. For example:

It’s not a big deal, she thought. It’s just a new school. It’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.

Here you can see that the dialogue tag is used in the same way, just as if it was a line of external dialogue. However, “she thought” is written in regular text because it’s not a part of what the character is thinking. This helps keep everything clear for the reader.

In your story, you can play with using contrasting internal and external dialogue to show that what your characters say isn’t always what they mean. You may also choose to use this internal dialogue formatting if you’re writing dialogue between two or more characters that isn’t spoken out loud—for instance, telepathically or by sign language.

8 tips for creating engaging dialogue in a story

Now that you’ve mastered the mechanics of how to write dialogue, let’s look at how to create convincing, compelling dialogue that will elevate your story.

1. Listen to people talk

To write convincingly about people, you’ll first need to know something about them. The work of great writers is often characterized by their insight into humanity; you read them and think, “Yes, this is exactly what people are like.” You can begin accumulating your own insight by listening to what real people say to each other.

You can go to any public place where people are likely to gather and converse: cafés, art galleries, political events, dimly lit pubs, bookshops. Record snippets of conversation, pay attention to how people’s voices change as they move from speaking to one person to another, try to imagine what it is they’re not saying, the words simmering just under the surface.

By listening to stories unfold in real time, you’ll have a better idea of how to recreate them in your writing—and inspiration for some new stories, too.

2. Give each spoken line a purpose

Here is something that actors have drilled into their heads from their first day at drama school, and writers would do well to remember it too: every single line of dialogue has a hidden motivation. Every time your character speaks, they’re trying to achieve something, either overtly or covertly.

Small talk is rare in fiction, because it doesn’t advance the plot or reveal something about your characters. The exception is when your characters are using their small talk for a specific purpose, such as to put off talking about the real issue, to disarm someone, or to pretend they belong somewhere they don’t.

When writing your own dialogue, ask yourself what the line accomplishes in the story. If you come up blank, it probably doesn’t need to be there. Words need to earn their place on the page.

3. Embrace subtext

In real life, we rarely say exactly what we really mean. The reality of polite society is that we’ve evolved to speak in circles around our true intentions, afraid of the consequences of speaking our mind. Your characters will be no different. If your protagonist is trying to tell their best friend they’re in love with them, for instance, they’ll come up with about fifty different ways to say it before speaking the deceptively simple words themselves.

To write better dialogue, try exploring different ways of moving your characters around what’s really being said, layering text and subtext side by side. The reader will love picking apart the conversation between your characters and deducing what’s really happening underneath (incidentally, this is also the place where fan fiction is born).

4. Keep names to a minimum

You may notice that on television, in moments of great upheaval, the characters will communicate exactly how important the moment is by saying each other’s names in dramatic bursts of anger/passion/fear/heartbreak/shock. In real life, we say each other’s names very rarely; saying someone’s name out loud can actually be a surprisingly intimate experience.

Names may be a necessary evil right at the beginning of your story so your reader knows who’s who, but after you’ve established your cast, try to include names in dialogue only when it makes sense to do so. If you’re not sure, try reading the dialogue out loud to see if it sounds like something someone would actually say (we’ll talk more about reading out loud below).

5. Prune unnecessary words

This is one area where reality and story differ. In life, dialogue is full of filler words: “Um, uh, well, so yeah, then I was like, erm, huh?” You may have noticed this when you practiced listening to dialogue, above. We won’t say there’s never a place for these words in fiction, but like all words in storytelling, they need to earn their place. You might find filler words an effective tool for showing something about one particular character, or about one particular moment, but you’ll generally find that you use them a lot less than people really do in everyday speech.

When you’re reviewing your characters’ dialogue, remember the hint above: each line needs a purpose. It’s the same for each word. Keep only the ones that contribute something to the story.

6. Vary word choices and rhythms

The greatest dialogue examples in writing use distinctive character voices; each character sounds a little bit different, because they have their own personality.

This can be tricky to master, but an easy way to get started is to look at the word choice and rhythm for each character. You might have one character use longer words and run-on sentences, while another uses smaller words and simple, single-clause sentences. You might have one lean on colloquial regional dialect, where another sounds more cosmopolitan. Play around with different ways to develop characters and give each one their own voice.

7. Be consistent for each character

When you do find a solid, believable voice for your character, make sure that it stays consistent throughout your entire story. It’s easy to set a story aside for a while, then return to it and forget some of the work you did in distinguishing your characters’ dialogue. You might find it helpful to write down some notes about the way each character speaks so you can refer back to it later.

The exception, of course, is if your character’s speech pattern goes through a transformation over the course of the story, like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady . In this case, you can use your character’s distinctive voice to communicate a major change. But as with all things in writing, make sure that it comes from intention and not from forgetfulness.

8. Read your dialogue out loud

After you’ve written a scene between two or more characters, you can take the dialogue for a trial run by speaking it out loud. Ask yourself, does the dialogue sound realistic? Are there any moments where it drags or feels forced? Does the voice feel natural for each character? You’ll often find there are snags you miss in your writing that only become apparent when read out loud. Bonus: this is great practice for when you become rich and famous and do live readings at bookshops.

3 mistakes to avoid when writing dialogue

Easy, right? But there are also a few pitfalls that new writers often encounter when writing dialogue that can drag down an otherwise compelling story. Here are the things to watch out for when crafting your story dialogue.

1. Too much exposition

Exposition is one of the more demanding literary devices , and one of the ones most likely to trip up new writers. Dialogue is a good place to sneak in some information about your story—but subtlety is essential. This is one place where the adage “show, don’t tell” really shines.

Consider these dialogue examples:

“How is she, Doctor?” “Well Mr. Stuffington, I don’t have to remind you that your daughter, the sole heiress to your estate and currently engaged to the Baron of Flippingshire, has suffered a grievous injury when she fell from her horse last Sunday. We don’t need to discuss right now whether or not you think her jealous maid was responsible; what matters is your daughter’s well being. As to your question, I’m afraid it’s very unlikely that she’ll ever walk again.” Can’t you just feel your arm aching to throw the poor book across the room? There’s a lot of important information here, but you can find subtler ways to work it into your story. Let’s try again: “How is she, Doctor?” “Well Mr. Stuffington, your daughter took quite a blow from that horse—worse than we initially thought. I’m afraid it’s very unlikely that she’ll ever walk again.” “And what am I supposed to say to Flippingshire?” “The Baron? I suppose you’ll have to tell him that his future wife has lost the use of her legs.”

And so forth. To create good dialogue exposition, look for little ways to work in the details of your story, instead of piling it up in one great clump.

2. Too much small talk

We looked at how each line of dialogue needs a specific purpose above. Very often small talk in a story happens because the writer doesn’t know what the scene is about. Small talk doesn’t move the scene along unless it’s there for a reason. If you’re not sure, ask yourself what each character wants in this moment.

For example, imagine you’re in an office, and two characters are talking by the water cooler. How was your weekend, what did you think of the game, how’s your wife doing, are those new shoes, etc etc. Can’t you just feel the reader’s will to live slipping away?

But what about this: your characters are talking by the water cooler—Character A and Character B. Character A knows that his friend is inside Character B’s office looking for evidence of corporate espionage, so A is doing everything he can to stop B from going in. How was your weekend, what did you think of the game, how’s your wife doing, are those new shoes, literally anything just to keep him talking. Suddenly these benign little phrases have a purpose.

If you find your characters slipping into small talk, double check that it’s there for a purpose, and not just a crutch to keep you from moving forward in your scene. When writing dialogue, Make each line of dialogue earn its place.

3. Too much repetition

Variation is the spice of a good story. To keep your readers engaged, avoid using the same sentence structure and the same dialogue tags over and over again. Using “he said” and “she said” is effective and clear cut, but only for about three beats. After that, try switching to an action tag instead or letting the line of dialogue stand on its own.

You can also experiment with varying the length of your sentences or groupings of sentences. By changing up the rhythm of your story regularly, you’ll keep it feeling fresh and present for the reader.

Effective dialogue examples from literature

With all of these tips and tricks in mind, let’s look at how other writers have used good dialogue to elevate their stories.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine , by Gail Honeyman

“I’m going to pick up a carryout and head round to my mate Andy’s. A few of us usually hang out there on Saturday nights, fire up the playstation, have a smoke and a few beers.” “Sounds utterly delightful,” I said. “What about you?” he asked. I was going home, of course, to watch a television program or read a book. What else would I be doing? “I shall return to my flat,” I said. “I think there might be a documentary about komodo dragons on BBC4 later this evening.”

In this dialogue example, the author gives her characters two very distinctive voices. From just a few words we can begin to see these people very clearly in our minds—and with this distinction comes the tension that drives the story. Dialogue is an excellent place to show your character dynamics using speech patterns and word choices.

Pride and Prejudice , by Jane Austen

“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?” Mr. Bennet replied that he had not. “But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.” Mr. Bennet made no answer. “Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently. “You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.” This was invitation enough. “Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

In this famous dialogue example, the author illustrates the relationship between these two characters clearly and succinctly. Their dialogue shows Mr. B’s stalwart, tolerant love for his wife and Mrs. B’s excitement and propensity for gossip. The author shows us everything we need to know about these people in just a few lines.

Dinner in Donnybrook , by Maeve Binchy

“Look, I thought you ought to know, we’ve had a very odd letter from Carmel.” “A what… from Carmel?” “A letter. Yes, I know it’s sort of out of character, I thought maybe something might be wrong and you’d need to know…” “Yes, well, what did she say, what’s the matter with her?” “Nothing, that’s the problem, she’s inviting us to dinner.” “To dinner?” “Yes, it’s sort of funny, isn’t it? As if she wasn’t well or something. I thought you should know in case she got in touch with you.” “Did you really drag me all the way down here, third years are at the top of the house you know, I thought the house had burned down! God, wait till I come home to you. I’ll murder you.” “The dinner’s in a month’s time, and she says she’s invited Ruth O’Donnell.” “Oh, Jesus Christ.”

This dialogue example is a telephone conversation between two people. The lack of dialogue tags or action tags allows the words to come to the forefront and immerses us in their back-and-forth conversation. Even though there are no tags to indicate the speakers, the language is simple and straightforward enough that the reader always knows who’s talking. Through this conversation the author slowly builds the tension from the benign to the catastrophic within a domestic setting.

Compelling dialogue is the key to a good story

A writer has a lot riding on their characters’ dialogue, and learning how to write dialogue is a critical skill for any writer. When done well, it can leaves a lasting impact on the reader. But when dialogue is clumsy and awkward, it can drag your story down and make your reader feel like they’re wasting their time.

But if you keep these tips in mind, listen to dialogue in your everyday life, and practice , you’ll be sure to create realistic dialogue that brings your story to life.

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Last updated on Sep 21, 2023

How to Write Fabulous Dialogue [9 Tips + Examples]

This post is written by author, editor, and bestselling ghostwriter Tom Bromley. He is the  instructor of Reedsy's 101-day course,  How to Write a Novel .

Good dialogue isn’t about quippy lines and dramatic pauses.

Good dialogue is about propelling the story forward, pulling the reader along, and fleshing out characters and their dynamics in front of readers. Well-written dialogue can take your story to a new level — you just have to unlock it.

In this article, I’ll break down the major steps of writing great dialogue, and provide exercises for you to practice your own dialogue on.

Here's how to write great dialogue in 9 steps:

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.

Find out in just a minute.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.”

Similarly, I could say that good dialogue in a novel is a real conversation without all the fluff — and with quotation marks. 

Imagine, for instance, if every scene with dialogue in your novel started out with:

'Hey, buddy! How are you doing?"

“Great! How are you?""

'Great! Long time no see! Parking was a nightmare, wasn’t it?"

Firstly, from a technical perspective, the quotation marks are inconsistent and incorrectly formatted. To learn about the mechanics of your dialogue and how to format it, we also wrote this full post on the topic that I recommend reading.

Secondly, from a novel perspective, such lines don’t add anything to the story. And finally, from a reading perspective, your readers will not want to sit through this over and over again. Readers are smart: they can infer that all these civilities occur. Which means that you can skip the small talk (unless it’s important to the story) to get to the heart of the dialogue from the get-go.  

For a more tangible example of this technique, check out the dialogue-driven opening to Barbara Kingsolver's novel, Unsheltered .

Screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb once proposed an idea called the “Three-Beat Rule.” What this recommends, essentially, is to introduce a maximum of three dialogue “beats” (the short phrases in speech you can say without pausing for breath) at a time. Only after these three dialogue beats should you insert a dialogue tag, action beat, or another character’s speech.

Here’s an example from Jane Gardam’s short story, “Dangers”, in which the boy Jake is shooting an imaginary gun at his grandmother:

In theory, this sounds simple enough. In practice, however, it’s a bit more complicated than that, simply because dialogue conventions continue to change over time. There’s no way to condense “good dialogue” into a formula of three this, or two that. But if you’re just starting out and need a strict rule to help you along, then the Three-Beat Rule is a good place to begin experimenting.

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Let’s take a look at another kind of “beats” now — action beats.

Action beats are the descriptions of the expressions, movements, or even internal thoughts that accompany the speaker’s words. They’re always included in the same paragraph as the dialogue, so as to indicate that the person acting is also the person speaking.

On a technical level, action beats keep your writing varied, manage the pace of a dialogue-heavy scene, and break up the long list of lines ending in ‘he said’ or ‘she said’.

But on a character level, action beats are even more important because they can go a level deeper than dialogue and illustrate a character’s body language.

When we communicate, dialogue only forms a half of how we get across what we want to say. Body language is that missing half — which is why action beats are so important in visualizing a conversation, and can help you “show” rather than “tell” in writing.

Here’s a quick exercise to practice thinking about body language in the context of dialogue: imagine a short scene, where you are witnessing a conversation between two people from the opposite side of a restaurant or café. Because it’s noisy and you can’t hear what they are saying, describe the conversation through the use of body language only.

Remember, at the end of the day, action beats and spoken dialogue are partners in crime. These beats are a commonly used technique so you can find plenty of examples —  here’s one from  Never Let Me Go  by Kazuo Ishiguro . 

If there’s one golden rule in writing dialogue, it’s this: ‘said’ is your friend.

Yes, ‘said’ is nothing new. Yes, ‘said’ is used by all other authors out there already. But you know what? There’s a reason why ‘said’ is the king of dialogue tags: it works.

Pro-tip: While we cannot stress enough the importance of "said," sometimes you do need another dialogue tag. Download this free cheatsheet of 270+ other words for said to get yourself covered!

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Upgrade your dialogue with our list of 270 alternatives to “said.”

The thinking goes that ‘said’ is so unpretentious, so unassuming that it focuses readers’ attention on what’s most important on the page: the dialogue itself. As writer Elmore Leonard puts it: 

“Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But ‘said’ is far less intrusive than ‘grumbled,’ ‘gasped,’ ‘cautioned,’ ‘lied.’”

It might be tempting at times to turn towards other words for ‘said’ such as ‘exclaimed,’ or ‘declared,’ but my general rule of thumb is that in 90% of scenarios, ‘said’ is going to be the most effective dialogue tag for you to use while writing dialogue.

So now that we have several guidelines in place, this is a good spot to pause, reflect, and say that there’s no wrong or right way to write dialogue. It depends on the demands of the scene, the characters, and the story. Great dialogue isn’t about following this or that rule — but rather learning what technique to use when . 

If you stick to one rule the whole time — i.e. if you only use ‘said,’ or you finish every dialogue line with an action beat — you’ll wear out readers. Let’s see how unnaturally it plays out in the example below with Sophie and Ethan: 

All of which is to say: don’t be afraid to make exceptions to the rule if the scene asks for it. The key is to know when to switch up your dialogue structure or use of dialogue tags or action beats throughout a scene — and by extension, throughout your book.

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Dialogue isn’t always about writing grammatically perfect prose. The way a person speaks reflects the way a person is — and not all people are straight-A honor students who speak in impeccable English. In real life, the way people talk is fragmented, and punctuated by pauses.

That’s something that you should also keep in mind when you’re aiming to write authentic dialogue.

It can be tempting to think to yourself, “ Oh, I’ll try and slip in some exposition into my dialogue here to reveal important background information.” But if that results in an info-dump such as this — “ I’m just going to the well, Mother — the well that my brother, your son, tragically fell down five years ago ” — then you’ll probably want to take a step back and find a more organic, timely, and digestible way to incorporate that into your story.

Kay Adams is Michael’s date at his sister’s wedding in this scene. Her interest in his family is natural enough that the expository conversation doesn’t feel shoehorned in. 

A distinctive voice for each character is perhaps the most important element to get right in dialogue. Just as no one person in the world talks the same as each other, no one person in your book should also talk similarly.

To get this part of writing dialogue down pat, you need to start out by knowing your characters inside out. How does your character talk? Do they come with verbal quirks? Non-verbal quirks?

Jay Gatsby’s “old sport,” for example, gives him a distinctive, recognizable voice. It stands out because no one else has something as memorable about their speech. But more than that, it reveals something valuable about Gatsby’s character: he’s trying to impersonates a gentleman in his speech and lifestyle.

Likewise, think carefully about your character’s voice, and use catchphrases and character quirks when they can say something about your character. 

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“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most oft-repeated rules in writing, and a conversation on the page can be a gold mine for “showing.”

Authors can use action beats and descriptions to provide clues for readers to read between the lines. Let’s revisit Sophie and Ethan in this example:

While Sophie claims she hasn’t been obsessing over this project all night, the actions in between her words indicate there’s nothing on her mind  but  work. The result is that you show , through the action beats vs. the dialogue, Sophie being hardworking—rather than telling it.

Show, Don't Tell

Master the golden rule of writing in 10 five-minute lessons.

As always when it comes to writing a novel: all roads lead back to The Edit, and the dialogue you’ve written is no exception.

So while you’re editing your novel at the end, you may find that a “less is more” mentality will be helpful. Remember to cut out the unnecessary bits of dialogue, so that you can focus on making sure the dialogue you  do  keep matters. Good writing is intentional and purposeful, always striving to keep the story going and readers engaged. The importance lies in quality rather than quantity. 

One point I haven’t addressed yet is repetition. If used well (i.e. with clear intention), repetition is a  literary device  that can help you build motifs in your writing. But when you find yourself repeating information in your dialogue, it might be a good time to revise your work. 

For instance, here’s a scene with Sophie and Ethan later on in the story: 

As I’ve mentioned before, good dialogue shows character — and dialogue itself is a playground where character dynamics play out. If you write and edit your dialogue with this in mind, then your dialogue will be sharper, cleaner, and more organic. 

I know that writing dialogue can be intimidating, especially if you don’t have much experience with it. But that should never keep you from including it in your work! Just remember that the more you practice — especially with the help of these tips — the better you’ll get.

And once you’re confident with the conversational content you can conjure up, follow along to the next part of our guide to see how you can punctuate and format your dialogue flawlessly .

As an editor and publisher, Tom has worked on several hundred titles, again including many prize-winners and international bestsellers. 

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How to Write Dialogue: 7 Great Tips for Writers (With Examples)

Hannah Yang

Great dialogue serves multiple purposes. It moves your plot forward. It develops your characters and it makes the story more engaging.

It’s not easy to do all these things at once, but when you master the art of writing dialogue, readers won’t be able to put your book down.

In this article, we will teach you the rules for writing dialogue and share our top dialogue tips that will make your story sing.

Dialogue Rules

How to format dialogue, 7 tips for writing dialogue in a story or book, dialogue examples.

Before we look at tips for writing powerful dialogue, let’s start with an overview of basic dialogue rules.

• Start a new paragraph each time there’s a new speaker. Whenever a new character begins to speak, you should give them their own paragraph. This rule makes it easier for the reader to follow the conversation.
• Keep all speech between quotation marks . Everything that a character says should go between quotation marks, including the final punctuation marks. For example, periods and commas should always come before the final quotation mark, not after.
• Don’t use end quotations for paragraphs within long speeches. If a single character speaks for such a long time that you break their speech up into multiple paragraphs, you should omit the quotation marks at the end of each paragraph until they stop talking. The final quotation mark indicates that their speech is over.
• Use single quotes when a character quotes someone else. Whenever you have a quote within a quote, you should use single quotation marks (e.g. She said, “He had me at ‘hello.’”)
• Dialogue tags are optional. A dialogue tag is anything that indicates which character is speaking and how, such as “she said,” “he whispered,” or “I shouted.” You can use dialogue tags if you want to give the reader more information about who’s speaking, but you can also choose to omit them if you want the dialogue to flow more naturally. We’ll be discussing more about this rule in our tips below.

Let’s walk through some examples of how to format dialogue .

The simplest formatting option is to write a line of speech without a dialogue tag. In this case, the entire line of speech goes within the quotation marks, including the period at the end.

• Example: “I think I need a nap.”

Another common formatting option is to write a single line of speech that ends with a dialogue tag.

Here, you should separate the speech from the dialogue tag with a comma, which should go inside the quotation marks.

• Example: “I think I need a nap,” Maria said.

You can also write a line of speech that starts with a dialogue tag. Again, you separate the dialogue tag with a comma, but this time, the comma goes outside the quotation marks.

• Example: Maria said, “I think I need a nap.”

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.”

Finally, you can choose to include an action beat while the character is talking.

In this case, you would use em-dashes to separate the action from the dialogue, to indicate that the action happens without a pause in the speech.

• Example: “I think I need”—Maria sat down on the bed—“a nap.”

Now that we’ve covered the basics, we can move on to the more nuanced aspects of writing dialogue.

Here are our seven favorite tips for writing strong, powerful dialogue that will keep your readers engaged.

Tip #1: 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.

Some characters are witty and gregarious. Others are timid and unobtrusive.

Speech patterns vary drastically from person to person.

To make someone stop talking to them, one character might say “I would rather not talk about this right now,” while another might say, “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

When you’re writing dialogue, think about your character’s education level, personality, and interests.

• What kind of slang do they use?
• Do they prefer long or short sentences?
• Do they ask questions or make assertions?

Each character should have their own voice.

Ideally, you want to write dialogue that lets your reader identify the person speaking at any point in your story just by looking at what’s between the quotation marks.

Tip #2: 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.

Don’t be afraid to break the rules of grammar, or to use an occasional exclamation point to punctuate dialogue.

It’s okay to use contractions , sentence fragments , and run-on sentences , even if you wouldn’t use them in other parts of the story.

This doesn’t mean that realistic dialogue should sound exactly like the way people speak in the real world.

If you’ve ever read a court transcript, you know that real-life speech is riddled with “ums” and “ahs” and repeated words and phrases. A few paragraphs of this might put your readers to sleep.

Compelling dialogue should sound like a real conversation, while still being wittier, smoother, and better worded than real speech.

Tip #3: 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.”

When you’re writing dialogue, remember that simple dialogue tags are the most effective .

Often, you can omit dialogue tags after the conversation has started flowing, especially if only two characters are participating.

The reader will be able to keep up with who’s speaking as long as you start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

When you do need to use a dialogue tag, a simple “he said” or “she said” will do the trick.

Our brains generally skip over the word “said” when we’re reading, while other dialogue tags are a distraction.

A common mistake beginner writers make is to avoid using the word “said.”

Characters in amateur novels tend to mutter, whisper, declare, or chuckle at every line of dialogue. This feels overblown and distracts from the actual story.

Another common mistake is to attach an adverb to the word “said.” Characters in amateur novels rarely just say things—they have to say things loudly, quietly, cheerfully, or angrily.

If you’re writing great dialogue, readers should be able to figure out whether your character is cheerful or angry from what’s within the quotation marks.

The only exception to this rule is if the dialogue tag contradicts the dialogue itself. For example, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said angrily.

The word “angrily” is redundant here because the words inside the quotation marks already imply that the character is speaking angrily.

In contrast, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said thoughtfully.

Here, the word “thoughtfully” is well-placed because it contrasts with what we might otherwise assume. It adds an additional nuance to the sentence inside the quotation marks.

You can use the ProWritingAid dialogue check when you write dialogue to make sure your dialogue tags are pulling their weight and aren’t distracting readers from the main storyline.

Sign up for your free ProWritingAid account to check your dialogue tags today.

Tip #4: 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.

Learning how to write action beats is an important component of learning how to write dialogue.

Good dialogue becomes even more interesting when the characters are doing something active at the same time.

You can watch people in real life, or even characters in movies, to see what kinds of body language they have. Some pick at their fingernails. Some pace the room. Some tap their feet on the floor.

Including physical action when writing dialogue can have multiple benefits:

• It changes the pace of your dialogue and makes the rhythm more interesting
• It prevents “white room syndrome,” which is when a scene feels like it’s happening in a white room because it’s all dialogue and no description
• It shows the reader who’s speaking without using speaker tags

You can decide how often to include physical descriptions in each scene. All dialogue has an ebb and flow to it, and you can use beats to control the pace of your dialogue scenes.

If you want a lot of tension in your scene, you can use fewer action beats to let the dialogue ping-pong back and forth.

If you want a slower scene, you can write dialogue that includes long, detailed action beats to help the reader relax.

You should start a separate sentence, or even a new paragraph, for each of these longer beats.

Tip #5: Write Conversations with Subtext

Every conversation has subtext , because we rarely say exactly what we mean. The best dialogue should include both what is said and what is not said.

I once had a roommate who cared a lot about the tidiness of our apartment, but would never say it outright. We soon figured out that whenever she said something like “I might bring some friends over tonight,” what she meant was “Please wash your dishes, because there are no clean plates left for my friends to use.”

When you’re writing dialogue, it’s important to think about what’s not being said. Even pleasant conversations can hide a lot beneath the surface.

Is one character secretly mad at the other?

Is one secretly in love with the other?

Is one thinking about tomorrow’s math test and only pretending to pay attention to what the other person is saying?

Personally, I find it really hard to use subtext when I write dialogue from scratch.

In my first drafts I let my characters say what they really mean. Then, when I’m editing, I go back and figure out how to convey the same information through subtext instead.

Tip #6: Show, Don’t Tell

When I was in high school, I once wrote a story in which the protagonist’s mother tells her: “As you know, Susan, your dad left us when you were five.”

I’ve learned a lot about the writing craft since high school, but it doesn’t take a brilliant writer to figure out that this is not something any mother would say to her daughter in real life.

The reason I wrote that line of dialogue was because I wanted to tell the reader when Susan last saw her father, but I didn’t do it in a realistic way.

Don’t shoehorn information into your characters’ conversations if they’re not likely to say it to each other.

One useful trick is to have your characters get into an argument.

You can convey a lot of information about a topic through their conflicting opinions, without making it sound like either of the characters is saying things for the reader’s benefit.

Here’s one way my high school self could have conveyed the same information in a more realistic way in just a few lines:

Susan: “Why didn’t you tell me Dad was leaving? Why didn’t you let me say goodbye?”

Mom: “You were only five. I wanted to protect you.”

Tip #7: Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Dialogue tends to flow out easily when you’re drafting your story, so in the editing process, you’ll need to be ruthless. Cut anything that doesn’t move the story forward.

Try not to write dialogue that feels like small talk.

You can eliminate most hellos and goodbyes, or summarize them instead of showing them. Readers don’t want to waste their time reading dialogue that they hear every day.

In addition, try not to write dialogue with too many trigger phrases, which are questions that trigger the next line of dialogue, such as:

• “And then what?”
• “What do you mean?”

It’s tempting to slip these in when you’re writing dialogue because they keep the conversation flowing. I still catch myself doing this from time to time.

Remember that you don’t need three lines of dialogue when one line could accomplish the same thing.

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? But you can cure him, can’t you?” Colin had run down from his seat and was now dancing alongside them as they left the field. Ron gave a huge heave and more slugs dribbled down his front. “Oooh,” said Colin, fascinated and raising his camera. “Can you hold him still, Harry?”

Most readers could figure out that this was Colin Creevey speaking, even if his name hadn’t been mentioned in the passage.

This is because Colin Creevey is the only character who speaks with such extreme enthusiasm, even at a time when Ron is belching slugs.

This snippet of written dialogue does a great job of showing us Colin’s personality and how much he worships his hero Harry.

Dialogue Example #2: How to Write Realistic Dialogue

Here’s an example of how to write dialogue that feels realistic from A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

“As much as I love this land, some days I think about leaving it,” Babi said. “Where to?” “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget. Pakistan first, I suppose. For a year, maybe two. Wait for our paperwork to get processed.” “And then?” “And then, well, it is a big world. Maybe America. Somewhere near the sea. Like California.”

Notice the punctuation and grammar that these two characters use when they speak.

There are many sentence fragments in this conversation like, “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget.” and “Somewhere near the sea.”

Babi often omits the verbs from his sentences, just like people do in real life. He speaks in short fragments instead of long, flowing paragraphs.

This dialogue shows who Babi is and feels similar to the way a real person would talk, while still remaining concise.

Dialogue Example #3: How to Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

Here’s an example of effective dialogue tags in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

In this passage, the narrator’s been caught exploring the forbidden west wing of her new husband’s house, and she’s trying to make excuses for being there.

“I lost my way,” I said, “I was trying to find my room.” “You have come to the opposite side of the house,” she said; “this is the west wing.” “Yes, I know,” I said. “Did you go into any of the rooms?” she asked me. “No,” I said. “No, I just opened a door, I did not go in. Everything was dark, covered up in dust sheets. I’m sorry. I did not mean to disturb anything. I expect you like to keep all this shut up.” “If you wish to open up the rooms I will have it done,” she said; “you have only to tell me. The rooms are all furnished, and can be used.” “Oh, no,” I said. “No. I did not mean you to think that.”

In this passage, the only dialogue tags Du Maurier uses are “I said,” “she said,” and “she asked.”

Even so, you can feel the narrator’s dread and nervousness. Her emotions are conveyed through what she actually says, rather than through the dialogue tags.

This is a splendid example of evocative speech that doesn’t need fancy dialogue tags to make it come to life.

Dialogue Example #4: How to Balance Speech with Action

Let’s look at a passage from The Princess Bride by William Goldman, where dialogue is melded with physical action.

With a smile the hunchback pushed the knife harder against Buttercup’s throat. It was about to bring blood. “If you wish her dead, by all means keep moving," Vizzini said. The man in black froze. “Better,” Vizzini nodded. No sound now beneath the moonlight. “I understand completely what you are trying to do,” the Sicilian said finally, “and I want it quite clear that I resent your behavior. You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen, and I think it quite ungentlemanly.” “Let me explain,” the man in black began, starting to edge forward. “You’re killing her!” the Sicilian screamed, shoving harder with the knife. A drop of blood appeared now at Buttercup’s throat, red against white.

In this passage, William Goldman brings our attention seamlessly from the action to the dialogue and back again.

This makes the scene twice as interesting, because we’re paying attention not just to what Vizzini and the man in black are saying, but also to what they’re doing.

This is a great way to keep tension high and move the plot forward.

Dialogue Example #5: How to Write Conversations with Subtext

This example from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card shows how to write dialogue with subtext.

Here is the scene when Ender and his sister Valentine are reunited for the first time, after Ender’s spent most of his childhood away from home training to be a soldier.

Ender didn’t wave when she walked down the hill toward him, didn’t smile when she stepped onto the floating boat slip. But she knew that he was glad to see her, knew it because of the way his eyes never left her face. “You’re bigger than I remembered,” she said stupidly. “You too,” he said. “I also remembered that you were beautiful.” “Memory does play tricks on us.” “No. Your face is the same, but I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore. Come on. Let’s go out into the lake.”

In this scene, we can tell that Valentine missed her brother terribly, and that Ender went through a lot of trauma at Battle School, without either of them saying it outright.

The conversation could have started with Valentine saying “I missed you,” but instead, she goes for a subtler opening: “You’re bigger than I remembered.”

Similarly, Ender could say “You have no idea what I’ve been through,” but instead he says, “I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore.”

We can deduce what each of these characters is thinking and feeling from what they say and from what they leave unsaid.

Dialogue Example #6: How to Show, Not Tell

Let’s look at an example from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This scene is the story’s first introduction of the ancient creatures called the Chandrian.

“I didn’t know the Chandrian were demons,” the boy said. “I’d heard—” “They ain’t demons,” Jake said firmly. “They were the first six people to refuse Tehlu’s choice of the path, and he cursed them to wander the corners—” “Are you telling this story, Jacob Walker?” Cob said sharply. “Cause if you are, I’ll just let you get on with it.” The two men glared at each other for a long moment. Eventually Jake looked away, muttering something that could, conceivably, have been an apology. Cob turned back to the boy. “That’s the mystery of the Chandrian,” he explained. “Where do they come from? Where do they go after they’ve done their bloody deeds? Are they men who sold their souls? Demons? Spirits? No one knows.” Cob shot Jake a profoundly disdainful look. “Though every half-wit claims he knows...”

The three characters taking part in this conversation all know what the Chandrian are.

Imagine if Cob had said “As we all know, the Chandrian are mysterious demon-spirits.” We would feel like he was talking to us, not to the two other characters.

Instead, Rothfuss has all three characters try to explain their own understanding of what the Chandrian are, and then shoot each other’s explanations down.

When Cob reprimands Jake for interrupting him and then calls him a half-wit for claiming to know what he’s talking about, it feels like a realistic interaction.

This is a clever way for Rothfuss to introduce the Chandrian in a believable way.

Dialogue Example #7: How to Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Here’s an example of concise dialogue from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

“Do you blame me for flunking you, boy?” he said. “No, sir! I certainly don’t,” I said. I wished to hell he’d stop calling me “boy” all the time. He tried chucking my exam paper on the bed when he was through with it. Only, he missed again, naturally. I had to get up again and pick it up and put it on top of the Atlantic Monthly. It’s boring to do that every two minutes. “What would you have done in my place?” he said. “Tell the truth, boy.” Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told him how I would’ve done exactly the same thing if I’d been in his place, and how most people didn’t appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull.

Here, the last paragraph diverges from the prior ones. After the teacher says “Tell the truth, boy,” the rest of the conversation is summarized, rather than shown.

The summary of what the narrator says in the last paragraph—“I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff”—serves to hammer home that this is the type of “old bull” that the narrator has fed to his teachers over and over before.

It doesn’t need to be shown because it’s not important to the narrator—it’s just “all that stuff.”

Salinger could have written out the entire conversation in dialogue, but instead he kept the dialogue concise.

Final Words

Now you know how to write clear, effective dialogue! Start with the basic rules for dialogue and try implementing the more advanced tips as you go.

What are your favorite dialogue tips? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you know how to craft memorable, compelling characters? Download this free book now:

Creating Legends: How to Craft Characters Readers Adore… or Despise!

This guide is for all the writers out there who want to create compelling, engaging, relatable characters that readers will adore… or despise., learn how to invent characters based on actions, motives, and their past..

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Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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Writing A Narrative Essay

• Library Resources
• Books & EBooks
• What is an Narrative Essay?
• Choosing a Topic
• MLA Formatting

Using Dialogue

• Using Descriptive Writing
• OER Resources
• Copyright, Plagiarism, and Fair Use

Examples of Dialogue Tags

Examples of Dialogue Tags:

interrupted

Ebooks in Galileo

Additional Links & Resources

• Dialogue Cheat Sheet

Dialogue is an exchange of conversation between two or more people or characters in a story. As a literary style, dialogue helps to advance the plot, reveal a character's thoughts or emotions, or shows the character's reaction within the story. Dialogue gives life to the story and supports the story's atmosphere.

There are two types of dialogue that can be used in an narrative essay.

Direct dialogue  is written between inverted commas or quotes. These are the actual spoken words of a character 

Indirect dialogue  is basically telling someone about what another person said

Formatting Dialogue

Dialogue is an important part of a narrative essay, However formatting dialogue can be troublesome at times.

When formatting dialogue use these rules and examples to help with your formatting:

Place double quotation marks at the beginning an end of spoken words.  The quotations go on the  outside  of both the words and end-of-dialogue punctuation.

• Example:  "What is going on here?" John asked.

Each speaker gets a new paragraph that is indented.

      “hi,” said John as he stretched out his hand.

           "Good Morning, how are you?" said Brad shaking John’s hand.

                      "Good. Thanks for asking," John said.

Each speaker’s actions are in the same paragraph as their dialogue.

 A  dialogue tag  is anything that indicates which character spoke and describes how they spoke.

If the tag comes before the dialogue,  use a comma straight after the tag. If the dialogue is the beginning of a sentence, capitalize the first letter. End the dialogue with the appropriate punctuation (period, exclamation point, or question mark), but keep it INSIDE the quotation marks.

• Examples Before: 

James said, “I’ll never go shopping with you again!”

John said, “It's a great day to be at the beach.”

She opened the door and yelled, “Go away! Leave me alone!”

If the dialogue tag comes after the dialogue , Punctuation still goes INSIDE quotation marks. Unless the dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, it is  not  capitalized. End the dialogue tag with appropriate punctuation. Use comma after the quote unless it ends with a question mark or exclamation mark.

• Examples After: 

“Are you sure this is real life?” Lindsay asked.

“It’s so gloomy out,” he said.

“Are we done?” asked Brad . 

“This is not your concern!” Emma said.

If dialogue tag is in the middle of dialogue.  A comma should be used before the dialogue tag inside the closing quotation mark; Unless the dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, it is  not  capitalized. A comma is used after the dialogue tag, outside of quotation marks, to reintroduce the dialogue. End the dialogue with the appropriate punctuation followed by the closing quotation marks. 

When it is two sentences, the first sentence will end with a punctuation mark and the second begins with a capital letter.

• Examples middle: 

“Let’s run away,” she whispered, “we wont get another chance.”

“I thought you cared.” Sandy said, hoping for an explanation. “How could you walk away?”

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Jerry whispered. “I’ll miss him.”

Questions in dialogue.  

if there is a dialogue tag, the question mark will act as a comma and you will then lowercase the first word in the dialogue tag 

• Example: What are you doing?" he asked.

if there is simply an action after the question, the question mark acts as a period and you will then capitalize the first word in the next sentence.

“Sarah, why didn't you text me back?” Jane asked.

“James, why didn’t you show up?” Carol stomped her feet in anger before slamming the door behind her.

If the question or exclamation ends the dialogue, do not use commas to separate the dialogue from dialogue tags.

• Example:  “Sarah, why didn't you text me back?” Jane asked.

If the sentence containing the dialogue is a question, then the        question mark goes outside of the quotation marks.

Did the teacher say, “The Homework is due Tomorrow”?

If you have to quote something within the dialogue.  When a character quotes someone else, use double-quotes around what your character says, then single-quotes around the speech they’re quoting.

• Example: 

"When doling out dessert, my grandmother always said, 'You may have a cookie for each hand.'"

Dashes & Ellipses:

Dashes ( — ) are used to indicate abruptly interrupted dialogue or when one character's dialogue is interrupted by another character.

Use an em dash  inside  the quotation marks to cut off the character mid-dialogue, usually with either (A) another character speaking or (B) an external action.

• Including the em dash at the end of the line of dialogue signifies that your character wasn't finished speaking.
• If the speaking character's action interrupts their own dialogue . 
• Use em dashes  outside  the quotation marks to set off a bit of action without a speech verb. 

Examples: 

• Heather ran towards Sarah with excitement. “You won’t believe what I found out—”
• "Is everything—" she started to ask, but a sharp look cut her off.
• "Look over there—" She snapped her mouth shut so she didn't give the secret away.
• "Look over there"—she pointed towards the shadow—"by the stairway."

Use ellipses (...) when a character has lost their train of thought or can't figure out what to say

• Example:  “You haven’t…” he trailed off in disbelief.

Action Beats

Action beats show what a character is doing before, during, or after their dialogue.

“This isn't right.” She squinted down at her burger. “Does this look like it is well done to you?”

She smiled. “I loved the center piece you chose.”

If you separate two complete sentences, you will simply place the action beat as its own sentence between two sets of quotes.

“I never said he could go to the concert.” Linda sighed and sat in her chair. “He lied to you again.”

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• Last Updated: Jan 24, 2024 1:22 PM
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What is Dialogue? (How to Write, Examples, Grammar, Tips)

What is dialogue in writing? What are examples of dialogue in writing? What are examples of dialogue conversations? Often, writers use dialogue to show how characters relate to one another. The idea of dialogue is mostly how it sounds, conversation (or small talk). Though, most often, characters in a story will have dialogue with each other. And it’s important to learn how they should get written and what the best forms of dialogue are to make your readers comprehend the subject .

What Is Dialogue?

A dialogue is nothing more than an exchange of words between two or more people.

To be precise, the word “dialogue” comes from the Greek word “dialogos.” “Dia” means “through,” and “logos” means “word” or “reason.”

Plato likened dialogue to a stream of meaning flowing between and through people, which would emerge new meanings or understandings. He introduced philosophy to the masses through his dialogues, which you can read more about here .

Renowned painter Erik Pevernagie once said, “A world without dialogue is a universe of darkness.”

He strongly believed that sharing your views and ideas through dialogue allows you to understand the world and appreciate its beauty.

Dialogue is the most fundamental way that human beings communicate. 

In literature, dialogue is what allows us to see characters fight, debate, love, and reconcile with one another.

Famous Examples of Dialogue From Literature

The maltese falcon – dashiell hammett (dialogue example).

Spade grinned sidewise at her and said, “You’re good. You’re very good.”

Her face did not change. 

She asked quietly, “What did he say?”

“About what?”

She hesitated. 

“About me .”

“Nothing.” 

Spade turned to hold his lighter under the end of her cigarette. His eyes were shiny in a wooden Satan’s face.

To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee (Dialogue Example)

“What are you all playing?” he asked.

“Nothing,” said Jem.

Jem’s evasion told me our game was a secret, so I kept quiet.

“What are you doing with those scissors, then ? Why are you tearing up that newspaper? If it’s today’s, I’ll tan you.”

“Nothing, what?” said Atticus.

“Nothing, sir.”

“Give me those scissors,” Atticus said. “They’re no things to play with. 

There are too many passages in books filled with dialogues worth quoting. You can read more here .

How to Write Dialogue (in a story or otherwise)

Different authors have different opinions on what makes a piece of dialogue click . But there are general rules you must keep in mind to ensure your dialogue is easily understood and leaves an emotional impact on readers.

1. Use quotation marks to end and begin your dialogue.

“Like this?” 

“Exactly so.”

Quotation marks are where your character’s voice begins. This simple bit of punctuation brings life to a dull block of prose that would otherwise be soulless and characterless.

“That was easy enough. So what’s next?”

Closing quotation marks should end the single dialogue in the lines of dialogue that make up the conversation between two characters.

2. Keep your dialogue tags outside the quotation marks.

A dialogue tag is what tells your readers that a line of dialogue belongs to a specific speaker.

“Is this what you mean?” asked Alice.

“That is exactly what I mean,” said Bob, nodding.

“What about this asked Alice?”

“Now I have no idea how to read what you said,” said Bob.

3. Keep your punctuation inside the quotation marks.

As a rule of thumb, if you write the dialogue tag first, you want to bring the comma before the quotation mark .

But what if you use an exclamation mark or a question mark?

“Like this one?” asked Bob.

“Yes, exactly like that,“ said Alice.

In this situation, you write the following dialogue tag in lowercase instead of uppercase. 

“Oh, God , punctuation! My mortal enemy!” said Alice, shaking her fist at the skies.

Very good, Alice.

Tip: If your line of dialogue ends in an exclamation point or question mark, the tags that follow should be in lowercase.

3. Use a separate sentence for actions that happen before and after your dialogues.

Any action or movement should be given its own sentence next to your dialogue.

Alice gasped, dropping her glass onto the floor. It shattered into a million pieces.

“That sounds complicated!”

Bob gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth.

“My rug! My expensive wine!”

4. Never use double quotes inside dialogue. Use single quotes instead.

If your character is quoting someone else, make sure you use single quotes, or your text will quickly get confusing.

“I remember a nice Englishman that once said, ‘To be or not to be,’” said Bob, “But I don’t remember the question.”

5. Indicate new speakers with new paragraphs.

Every time you change a speaker, you must start a new paragraph. If you are writing a manuscript, you must also indent the paragraph.

If your character performs an action, keep the action in the same paragraph. Only then should you move to the following line in the next paragraph when you bring in your new speaker.

“We’re all out of wine!” said Alice. She pointed at the empty bottle in her hands.

“Can you please not break any more glasses?” said Bob as he gingerly picked up pieces of shattered glass with gloved hands.

6. Every time an action interrupts your dialogue, begin with lowercase again.

“At the end of the day,” Alice whispered to herself, placing the bottle tenderly on the table, “why does all the wine disappear?”

7. Indicate an interruption with an em dash.

Em dashes are not the same as hyphens. They are used to show readers that a line of dialogue has been cut off mid-sentence.

You should always place your dash inside the quotation marks, just as you would with all other punctuation marks . If you’d like a refresher on the difference between an em dash and a hyphen , read this . 

Bob returned with a new wine bottle in hand.

“This is a 1787 Chateau Lafite Rothschild,” said Bob, unable to keep the pride out of his voice, “it belonged to my—“

“Gimme!” said Alice, grabbing the bottle from his hands.

Writing Dialogue: Identifying a Speaker

Not all dialogue needs dialogue question.

“Yes. Really.”

But when you use a dialogue question, you must use a comma. You must place a comma, quotation, and dialogue tag, in that order.

Any punctuation in the sentence must come inside the quotes.

“You know,” said Alice, “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”

What if you don’t want to put the dialogue tag in the middle of the sentence? You must identify the speaker in advance by bringing attention to an action or gesture before writing their dialogue.

Bob sighed, settling into this chair.

“I’m happy to hear that, Alice.”

Sometimes, you will identify the speaker explicitly.

“And by explicit, you mean telling the reader outright who is speaking, right?” said Alice.

Sometimes, you will identify the speaker implicitly.

“That is exactly what that means, Alice, dear, yes.”

The above dialogue does not have the speaker referenced by name. But with the help of context and preceding dialogue, we can tell exactly who is speaking.

At other times, we will identify the speaker through anaphora.

“What does anaphora mean?” asked the clumsy yet enthusiastic lady.

“It means indirectly identifying the speaker without using their name, dear,” came the unhappy man’s response.

Other times, you can identify the speaker even when a dialogue tag is not used. This happens when the dialogue directly refers to the person being spoken to, making the speaker obvious.

“I’m referring to you now, Alice.”

“I know, Bob, you don’t have to tell me.”

Readers get tired of the whole “he said,” “she said,” business if it’s overdone. You want to juggle different methods of identifying the speaker as you write, making sure to sprinkle in clues about who the speaker is.

This prevents stale and overdone writing. It adds spice to an otherwise repetitive piece of prose and breathes life into the text.

How To Format Dialogue (Formatting Dialogue Examples)

When writing a manuscript, begin the first line of each paragraph indented. 

If using British English, use single quotation marks.

If using American English, use double quotation marks.

But whatever the region, enclose the spoken words inside the quotation marks.

“Quotes are the best way to tell your readers someone is talking.“

“I know, Alice.”

“Why do Americans use double quotes instead of single quotes, Bob?”

Bob shrugged.

“That’s just the way it is. The same reason the English add the letter ‘u’ in many of their words while Americans don’t.”

(If you’d like to read an expert’s opinion on why different regions use single and double quotes, read this )

Always keep dialogue tag/questions out of your quotes

“But enough about grammar , Alice,” said Bob, sinking into his chair. 

“Look at the nice weather we’re having.”

“I can see the sun for once, yes,” said Alice.

“What a sight to behold,” said Bob, smiling.

Don’t forget to use lowercase when following up a dialogue tag that has a quotation or exclamation mark.

“On the whole, this has been a surprisingly good day, don’t you think?” said Alice.

“Except for the part where you spilled my expensive wine all over the carpet!” shouted Bob.

There was a pause as Alice sank into her chair.

Make sure that all actions before and after the dialogue go into a separate sentence.

Alice placed the glass to her lips.

“Hey, this isn’t half bad !”

Bob smiled, pointing to the bottle he’d set on the table.

“It was my grandfather’s. I’m glad you like it.”

Make sure to place all punctuation inside the quotes

“I’m sorry ,” said Alice, setting her glass down, “I was just excited.”

“No, no,” said Bob, waving a dismissive hand, “don’t worry about it.”

The ellipsis deserves a special mention here. If you end any dialogue with an ellipsis, make sure not to add further punctuation, such as a comma after it. (For some extra tips on formatting your dialogue, read this .)

For instance, you would never write:

“I miss granddad…,” said Bob, his eyes misting over.

You would instead write:

“I miss granddad…” said Bob, his eyes misting over.

Always place single quotes within double quotes when referencing something from an outside source. This includes famous proverbs, cliches, and dialogues that other characters in your story have used in the past .

“’Save it for a special one, boyo,’” said Bob, smiling, “that’s what my granddad said when he gave me that.”

Start a new paragraph when changing speakers.

“What’s special about today?” said Alice, tilting her head. 

“You don’t remember?” said Bob.

“No,” said Alice.

“Are you serious?” said Bob.

Alice frowned, trying to remember. She looked up at him and shrugged.

Writing Compelling Dialogue

1. subtext is king..

People in real life often have wide gaps between what they say and think. There are also gaps between what a character understands and what they refuse to hear.

Two characters that know each other often have more unspoken dialogue than spoken dialogue. These are vital and valuable territories that writers can take advantage of to create drama and tension. 

2. Good dialogue advances the plot and reveals character.

Characters speak for a reason. Desire forces characters to interact; through this interaction, we witness the unraveling of events and scenarios.

These events either push them away or toward achieving the story’s primary goal. Dialogue is also best to show how your characters feel instead of just telling your readers how they feel. You introduce context through dialogue and use it to reveal how a character thinks about someone.

3. Dialogue reflects your character’s background.

Each person has their way of speaking. A brute and a scientist have noticeably different syntaxes of speech where readers can peer into their thought processes by examining the words they use and how they say them.

Social class, upbringing, personality, and coping mechanisms also factor into how a character speaks.

4. Keep your dialogue tags simple. 

The most straightforward dialogue tags are often the best. While many critics believe that writers should never use words other than “said,” others believe it’s okay to have a little variety.

A few dialogue tags like “called” or “muttered” can be illustrative and draw attention to critical moments and emotions.

Others believe mentioning a single adverb is an outright sin, but they have their place in descriptive prose. You can read more about writing engaging dialogue here .

Internal Monologue Versus External Dialogue

An internal monologue is nothing more than the character’s innermost thoughts that the writer is exposing to the audience. This monologue contains the character’s voice and serves as a way for readers to understand the character’s thought processes better.

This monologue does not reveal every thought the character has but is used to display selective emotions and thought processes in response to meaningful story events. 

An internal monologue is not omniscient in the same way that a narrator’s exposition is. 

External dialogue is the words exchanged between two or more characters. These are words that are being spoken out loud.

This dialogue is often accompanied by dialogue tags, action tags, and descriptions. 

If you’d like to learn more about how to create a compelling internal monologue, read this .

How to Punctuate Dialogue Correctly

Literary dialogue has its own rules for punctuation. In most instances, commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks go inside the quotations.

“It’s a beautiful and happy day today,” he said.

“What a beautiful day!” he said.

“Isn’t this a beautiful day?” he asked.

The one exception to this rule regards question marks.

When a character is referencing a proverb/statement/cliche that contains a question, we place the question mark outside the quotation mark to denote that it is a reference to something.

Did the professor say, “The equation goes here”?

For a more comprehensive list of rules on punctuation, read this .

When and How to Use Quotation Marks in Dialogue

The primary purpose of a quotation mark is to indicate words being spoken by a character or referenced from an outside source.

Using them in literature or formal documentation comes with specific rules. 

• Always use quotation marks in pairs. 
• Always capitalize the first letter of a word used verbatim in a quote.
• Don’t use capital letters when referencing only a fragment of a quote from another source.
• The period or comma always comes before the final quotation mark. The only exception to this is content written explicitly by the Modern Language Association (MLA) style guidelines.

The quotation mark has a long and fascinating history which you can learn more about here .

The Best Books to Learn Dialogue

Emulating the masters is the perfect way for beginners to learn. I’ve compiled this short list of books widely regarded as having some of the best dialogue in fiction.

Once you read these, mimic the style of the masters and add your unique flair to create your style of dialogue.

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare  
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

While literary fiction contains some of the best dialogue, screenplays are another source of good dialogue.

Screenplays focus exclusively on dialogue, ignoring literary devices such as descriptions and dialogue tags. You can read more about writing dialogue in screenplays here .

Speak Your Story

Dialogue is an indispensable part of every story. It helps to move a story forward. One character can present new ideas to another. Helping to advance a short story or written novel. Written well helps you create memorable characters and explore fun and dramatic situations.

But poor, overly formal, stilted, or illogical dialogue can quickly drive readers away. The best way to improve your dialogue writing is to talk to more people and read more books.

Read genres out of your comfort zone to see how different stories make characters tick and transform.

”Good morning, Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Good morning, Mr. Wolf.”

“Where are you off so early in the morning?”

“I’m going to my grandma’s with some bread and honey!”

“The dialogue in this movie is more comedy than horror.”

“Socratic dialogue is a conversation between people where questions are constantly asked to make people think critically.”

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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20 Dialogue Writing Prompts to Level Up Your Story

by Sue Weems | 0 comments

Dialogue is an essential component for most stories, whether it's for a narrative essay, memoir, or fiction. Even if you're writing nonfiction, you'll likely use stories to illustrate your point, and those stories will include dialogue. Today we have some dialogue writing prompts to help you write better dialogue while you develop some story ideas.  

We've explored why you need dialogue and how to use dialogue tags correctly in your work. But today, let's get down to how to actually write it with some dialogue prompts to get you started. 

When I work with writers, they usually fall into two camps when it comes to dialogue. Some think they are terrific at capturing everyday conversations and have no problem adding them to their stories, but the problem with everyday conversations? They are mostly boring and full of repetition.

“How was your day?” “Uh, fine.”

(Nothing is happening here, yet. I'd strike this from a story unless something in the rest of the scene makes these two lines essential.)

Other writers understand why they need dialogue, but they feel uncomfortable putting together engaging conversations that move their stories forward, especially when writing memoir. 

Both types of writers often misunderstand the purpose of dialogue for a specific purpose in a story. It's so much more than capturing a casual conversation between two people in a Taco Bell. Those conversations can certainly be terrific IF they are essential and move the story forward. But how do you know?

The 1 question that will improve your dialogue

I use several questions to help me evaluate my dialogue, but one is indispensable. Try it in your dialogue exercises and see if it doesn't tighten your story and character development .

Here's the question: 

1. Why does this dialogue exchange matter?

This question helps me decide which lines of dialogue are necessary. 

The answer needs to be directly related to either character or advancing the plot . 

Let's say that I'm working on a dialogue exercise for a story where a new detective is questioning a suspect with a long list of prior offenses. The scenes leading up to this dialogue exchange have probably already revealed that the detective is a novice and the suspect is a walking crime wave. So what purpose can the conversation serve?

If I'm trying to highlight the detective's inexperience, I'll focus on questions that are ineffective that the suspect easily evades. The suspect's dialogue lines will be smug while the detective's lines will be rattled and ineffective. 

If I'm trying to show that the detective is new, but sharp in unexpected ways, the dialogue exchange will include his confidence and technique throwing the suspect off, maybe even revealing things they never meant to say.

As you write dialogue and later revise dialogue, make sure each exchange is necessary for the story and does not repeat information included elsewhere. That will keep you from having characters stand around talking about the weather when it doesn't matter for the story, relationship, or character arc. 

And if that doesn't come naturally, don't worry! You just need practice. Here are a bunch of dialogue prompts to help you build those dialogue writing skills. 

Creative Dialogue Writing Prompts

I've organized these prompts according to a few of our reasons to use dialogue, from our article on Why Dialogue is Importan t. Choose the one that gets your pen moving!

1. Write a short scene where a character asks the other, “Why are you always so secretive?”

2. Create a conversation about finding a stray dog where it reveals something unexpected about one or both characters.

3. Start a story with the line, “But mother, I've only gotten rid of the last five.”

4. Write a dialogue exchange where someone is confronted after they lost a family member's most prized possession.

5. Create a conversation where one character leans heavily on sarcasm and the other doesn't.

6. Write a scene where a character is caught somewhere they don't want to be in an evening news segment.

7. Create a conversation between an assassin and their would-be target that complicates the mission. 

8. Start a conversation with “I'm not sure this is what I want.”

9. Write a conversation before, during, or after a catastrophic act of nature like a landslide or hurricane.

10. Create a dialogue exchange that includes the phrase, “Except it didn't happen.”

11. Begin a conversation with, “Did you hear that?”

12. Write a conversation that takes place in a small enclosed space.

13. Create an exchange where someone says, “That wasn't me.”

14. Write a character's thoughts as they wait for a big moment that's minutes from happening.

15. Begin a scene with, “Hurry! We don't have much time.”

16. Write a scene where someone delivers bad news that changes the course of the story.

17. Start a conversation between characters with, “But you used to want to…”

18. Create a conversation that changes one character's decision or direction in the story. 

19. Begin a dialogue scene with, “So what's holding you back?”

20. Write a conversation that heightens the stakes in an argument.

Dialogue is essential for your story, so take the time to make it strong. Hopefully one of these prompts has given you ideas for writing today! 

What questions do you ask yourself as you evaluate dialogue? Share with us in the comments .

Choose one of the dialogue prompts above and set your timer for 15 minutes . For the first 8 minutes, write the dialogue exchange, and don't worry about formatting or punctuation for now. Let the words flow.

Then for the last 7 minutes, read back through the dialogue and cut anything that doesn't reveal character or advance the plot, conflict, or suspense.  

When you're finished, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop , and leave feedback for a few other writers too.

Not a member? Join us !  

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

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• Dialogue Writing

What is Dialogue Writing?

If you want to write a story, dialogues are a very important part of the story. Writing a good dialogue requires a set of rules to follow because a bad dialogue can change the story and the dialogue’s meaning as well. Dialogue writing is a very important part of English writing.

Dialogue is basically a conversation between two or more people. In fiction, it is a verbal conversation between two or more conversations. Sometimes it is a self-talking dialogue, they are known as a Monolog.

If the dialogue is bad the reader will put the book down. Without effective dialogues, the whole plot of the story will collapse on its own structure. Therefore, writing dialogue in a way that attracts the reader to be more involved in the story is not a daunting task. We will guide you to write impactful dialogue with correct rules.

Points to be Remember  

1. The students need to read the preceding and the following dialogues.

2. They must understand the topic well and make points.

3. The tenses should be accurate according to the dialogue.

4. It should seem like a natural conversation.

5. The words used should not be vague and should convey the message.

Tips to Write Dialogue

Speak out the Dialogue loudly as it will help you resonate on your own dialogue and make you understand how it will sound to the reader.

Keep your dialogue brief and impactful as adding extra details will only deviate the reader’s mind from the main point.

Give each character a unique way of talking or voice. It will add an extra character trait and readers can identify the character just by reading his dialogue.

While writing the dialogue always remember whom the dialogue is being addressed to.

Dialogues should not be lengthy and confusing for the readers as through the dialogue only the story moves.

Format of Dialogue Writing

New Paragraph for Every Speaker

Every speaker gets a new paragraph. Each time a speaker says something, you have to put in a fresh paragraph, even if it is just one word. 

Punctuations Come under Quotation Marks

All the punctuations used with dialogue must be put under the quotes. 

Remove End Quote if the Paragraph is Long

If the paragraph of dialogue is too long and you need to change the paragraph, then there is no need to put end quotes. 

Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags i.e. He says/she says are always written outside the dialogue and is separated by a comma. When dialogue ends in a question or exclamation mark, tags that follow start in lower case.

For eg- He says, “We should start our own business.” 

Use Single Quotation Mark to Quote Something with a Dialogue

If you have to quote something within a dialogue we should put single quotes as double quotes are already enclosing the main dialogue.

For eg- Bill shouted, “ ‘boo!’ you lost the game.

The Dialogue Ends with an Ellipsis

If the Dialogue ends with an ellipsis, we should not add a comma or any other punctuation. For eg- She stared at the sunset. “I guess you’ll go back to doing what you do and I will…” her voice drifted off.

Solved Example

1. Write a Dialogue between You and Your Teacher about which Course to Study at Vacations. 

Child- Good Morning Sir, how are you?

Teacher- I am completely fine. What about you?

Student- I was wondering which course to learn in my vacation.

Teacher- It can be confusing with so many options online. You should make a list and narrow it down as per your interest.

Student- I have tried that but still I am left with three options- Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning or Data science.

Teacher- Well! All of them are very interesting courses, but as far as I remember you have always been interested in Artificial Intelligence.

Student- Yes! I do because I feel it is our future.

Teacher- Well then its no harm in pursuing it and later if you find it less interesting you can always switch.

Student- Yes it sounds like a great idea. Thanks!

2. Complete the following Dialogues-

Megha calls up Rajat to make a plan for New years. Complete the dialogue between Megha and Rajat by filling in the gaps.

Megha :  (i) ………………….. this New year?

Rajat:  I don’t have any plans.

Megha:  How do you like the idea (ii) …………………. the  Sapna’s party?

Rajat:  That sounds fantastic, But I (iii) ………………….my parent’s permission.

Megha:  I’ll come to your house this evening and request your parents to allow you to join me to go to a party.

Rajat:  Ok.

Megha :  (iv) …………………….. in the evening?

Rajat:  Yes. They will be at home.

Rohit:  Then I’ll surely come.

Basic Rules for Discussion All Writers Should Follow

Here are some basic rules for writing a conversation:

Each speaker receives a new category - Every time someone speaks, he shows this by creating a new category. Yes, even if your characters say only one word, they get new categories.

Each category has an indent - The only exception to this is at the beginning of the chapter or after the break, where the first line has not been postponed, including the discussion.

The punctuation marks are inserted into the quotes - Whenever punctuation is part of the spoken word, it enters the quotation marks so that the reader can know how the dialogue is spoken.

Long sentences with few paragraphs do not have end quotations - You’ll see a lot of this below, but overall, when one character speaks for a long time with different categories, the quotation marks are eventually removed, but you start the next paragraph with them.

Use singular quotes when a speaker quotes another - If a character is present who says, “Rohan, do you like it when girls say,‘ I’m fine ’?”, One quote shows what someone else said.

Skip the small talk and focus on the important information only - Unless that little talk is accompanied by character development, skip and get to the point, this is not real life and you will feel very liable if you have too much.

FAQs on Dialogue Writing

1. Can we write dialogues without Quotes?

No, a quotation mark is very important as it distinguishes between the rest of the text and dialogues. The characters who speak the dialogues are an important source of the quotes because of which we are required to put quotes in the dialogues. Quotations add life to the dialogues by making them more realistic and genuine. It ensures that the interpersonal skills of the people using dialogues is improved. It is an interpersonal discourse with members of your society or your house.

2. What are Dialog Tags?

Dialogue tags are the phrases like, “he said”, “She said'', they attribute the speaker to the dialogue so that the reader always knows who is speaking the dialogue. Dialogue tags are the short lines in a sentence that are used to identify the speaker. The main function of a Dialogue tag in dialogue writing is for identifying who is speaking. The Vedantu website provides all the guidelines as to how the dialogue writing must be planned. Until you use a proper noun, the dialogue tag will not be capitalized. You have to end the dialogue with punctuation marks inside quotes.

3. What is Ellipsis in a dialogue?

Three dots are used at the end of the sentence to show that something has been omitted. Using ellipses in dialogues is done to indicate a disruption at the end of a line of dialogue. The general rule of adding ellipses at the end of dialogue or line is to indicate that a speaker faltered before completing his or her statement. Ellipses are the most passive-aggressive of all the punctuation marks as when they are used in casual conversation, ellipses connote hesitation, confusion, and apathy.

4. What is the Purpose of Dialogue writing?

Dialogues are referred to as the conversations between two or more characters and it’s called a monolog if there is only one character speaking which is sometimes used in plays.  There are several factors on which the character speaking depends.

Where they live

The period in which they live

The dialogue should move the story forward. It may increase suspense, show readers a trait(s) of the character(s), and/or change the situation or conflict the characters are in.

5. Why choose Vedantu to refer to the rules of dialogue writing?

Till now the students must have reviewed the entire website of Vedantu and also must have found the answers to whatever they must search for. Vedantu without any doubt is the best website as it provides comprehensive solutions to all the doubts of the students. The experts at Vedantu are not only providing concepts related to the base building of the students but also are giving the students the ability and urge to read and write more. Hence, the students are highly recommended to use Vedantu.

• Dialogue Writing

Dialogue Writing - Style, Format and Examples

Are you a good speaker or a great listener? If you are, you should have definitely come across multiple instances where something you said or you heard someone say stuck to your mind. This happens mainly because those words touched your heart or made you think. That is the effect of a good dialogue. Even a simple conversation with your family, friends or even an unknown group of people can give you ideas and thoughts to ponder on.

This article will introduce you to the art of dialogue writing and give you information about all that you need to know. Furthermore, go through the sample dialogues and analyse how they make an effect.

Table of Contents

What is dialogue writing, the purposes of writing a dialogue, inner dialogue, outer dialogue, basic format and structure of a dialogue, punctuation, what not to do when writing a dialogue – points to remember, dialogues from stories and plays, dialogues from movies and tv shows, frequently asked questions on dialogue writing in english.

The term ‘dialogue’ is something all of you would be familiar with. As social beings, people (irrespective of being young or old, male or female) communicate with each other. Such a communication where both parties involved in the conversation have something to say about the topic being discussed can be said to be dialogue. A dialogue can be on any topic – a very simple talk about a daily chore, a serious talk about a social or medical problem, a discussion about what has to be done for an event and so on. The only point that you should remember is that a dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically.

The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conversation in text is referred to as dialogue writing.

What do you think is the reason behind writing dialogues in a story, play or film? Is it mandatory to include dialogues in a story? There are stories where you have a third person narrator or one of the characters of the story presenting the story from their perspective. What difference does it make when there are dialogues instead of just someone narrating each and everything that is happening in the story?

Having dialogues along with stage directions instead of just narrations can be said to be a better writing technique as it gives the readers a clear picture of the characteristics of the various characters in the story, play or movie. It also gives your characters life, and above all, a voice of their own. Dialogues portray the emotional state, mindset, background information and attitude of the speakers. This will always be more effective as it would let the readers connect with the characters on a more personal level.

Dialogue writing is also one area where the writers get to be creative even to the extent of breaking some conventional grammatical rules. For instance, elongating a word or writing the whole word in capital letters or using multiple question marks or exclamation marks to stress on whatever is being said. For example: YESSSS!!

Another component of dialogue writing is adding stage directions. Stage directions are short phrases written in brackets that give the reader an idea of what the character is doing as they engage in the dialogue. For example: Dan (rubbing his eyes): I am still tired.

Types of Dialogues

Dialogues can be classified into two main types namely,

The term ‘inner dialogue’ refers to the individual character’s thoughts which are not spoken aloud; in other words, said to anyone else. They can be something a character is thinking as the other character is speaking and their thoughts about what is going on or what the other character is doing. These inner dialogues are not placed within quotation marks .

As the name suggests, ‘outer dialogues’ are thoughts that are spoken aloud. They refer to everything the two characters involved in the dialogue say to each other. Outer dialogues are usually placed with quotation marks.

Fundamental Rules to Be Followed When Writing a Dialogue

Dialogue writing can look and sound simple; however, when actually putting dialogue in writing, there are certain rules regarding the structure and format you need to follow. Go through each of these in detail in the sections given below.

Dialogues can be part of a story, a play or a movie. Each one has a different structure and format in which the dialogues have to be presented; however, there is a basic structure that can be followed. Go through the following points to learn the essential attributes a dialogue must have.

• The first thing you have to do before you write a dialogue is to decide who the characters are.
• You should also have a clear idea of the plot of the story, or in general, the context of the dialogue.
• Dialogues can be just a sentence, two or three lines or even a short paragraph. Whatever be the case, always remember that each character’s dialogue, no matter how short or long, has to be written on the next line. In other words, no two dialogues should appear on the same line. Also see to it that you indent each dialogue.
• If the dialogues are one-liners, you can write them one after the other. On the contrary, if each of your characters are speaking in chunks (short or long paragraphs), it is mandatory that you show the difference by using an optimum line spacing.
• Be very careful with the tense used in the dialogue.
• It is better to skip the small talk (including greetings) and start off with the point of discussion unless the small talk is crucial to setting the mood of the conversation.

In every form of writing, punctuation is an important factor that makes it sensible. In the same manner, dialogue writing also would not make any sense without proper punctuation. Learn how to punctuate dialogues by going through the following points.

• The first rule would be adding a colon after the name of the character to indicate that the particular character is the one speaking at the moment. Sometimes, a hyphen is used instead of a colon.
• The name of the character should always start with a capital letter as it is a proper noun. Sometimes, you will have characters such as villagers, student 1, student 2, etc. In these cases also, you will have to use a capital letter.
• Dialogues are to be placed within quotation marks.
• If you are including a character’s dialogue in another character’s dialogue, it has to be placed within single quotation marks. For example: “Don’t you think Rakesh saying ‘I will take the lead’ has some hidden agenda?”
• Also remember that any punctuation mark corresponding to the dialogue should always be placed within double quotation marks. For instance, if the dialogue is an interrogative sentence , the question mark has to come first marking the end of the sentence followed by the double quotation marks marking the end of the dialogue.
• When you insert the tag in the middle of the dialogue, make sure you close the quotation marks before the tag. The tag is preceded and followed by a comma . When you open quotation marks to continue the dialogue, see to it that you use a small letter to begin with if it is the continuation of the dialogue, and close the quotation marks once the dialogue is complete. For example: “Do you know”, he shouted to everyone, “who the new manager is?”
• If the dialogue tag is positioned in the beginning of the sentence, see to it that you start it with a capital letter as you are starting a new sentence. Place a comma after the dialogue tag followed by open quotation marks, the dialogue starting with a capital letter followed by the punctuation mark of the quote and close quotation marks. For example: Josh mumbled, “Nobody understands the main problem here.”
• A dialogue can also appear at the end of the sentence. In this case, the quotation comes first. Once you punctuate the quote and close the quotation marks, place the dialogue tag. Note that the dialogue tag is not capitalised. For example: “Are you coming with us?” Sarah asked.
• If a character’s dialogue is being interrupted by another character, use a dash to indicate the interference. For example: “I was wondering –”

“Are you ready to go?”

• Actions and body language of characters can be described in sentences and they can appear in between dialogues. For example: “I am not interested.” She shrugged her shoulders. “But, I will do it just for you.”

Now that you know how to write a dialogue, let us also look at what all you are not supposed to do when writing a dialogue.

• Using dialogue tags does give some clarity about the action and body language of the characters, but see to it that you do not use dialogue tags with every single dialogue. Also, make sure you don’t use too little.
• Using colloquial language is allowed in dialogue writing, but use them only if it matches the context.
• Dialogues need not be grammatically correct all the time. That does not mean you can write structureless sentences. You can have individual words or phrases as a dialogue. For example: “What?”, “Of course!”, “She started the fight?”

Examples of Dialogue Writing

To help you understand and learn the art of dialogue writing, here are a few examples from some famous stories, plays, movies and TV shows.

A few examples from ‘The Crocodile and the Monkey’ are given below. Go through them and try to analyse how the description and dialogues are written.

• The crocodile’s wife thought to herself, “If the monkey eats only these sweet rose-apples, his flesh must be sweet too. He would be a delicious dinner.”
• When they reached, the monkey climbed up the tree to safety. He looked at the crocodile and said, “Now you can go back to your wicked wife and tell her that her husband is the biggest fool in this world. Your foolishness has no parallel. You were ready to take my life because of an unjust demand from your wife. Then you were stupid enough to believe me and brought me back to the tree.”

Here are a few examples from the short story, ‘The Gift of the Magi’ by O. Henry. Check them out.

• “Twenty dollars,” said Mrs. Sofronie, lifting the hair to feel its weight.

“Give it to me quick,” said Della.

• “Jim, dear,” she cried, “don’t look at me like that. I had my hair cut off and sold it. I couldn’t live through Christmas without giving you a gift. My hair will grow again. You won’t care, will you? My hair grows very fast. It’s Christmas, Jim. Let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I got for you.”

Here are a few quotes from the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare.

• Shylock: Three thousand ducats; well.

Bassanio: Ay, sir, for three months.

Shylock: For three months; well.

Bassanio: For which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.

Shylock: Antonio shall become bound; well.

Bassanio: May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? shall I know your answer?

Shylock: Three thousand ducats for three months and Antonio bound.

• Bassanio: And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

Gratiano: Yes, faith, my lord.

Bassanio: Our feast shall be much honour’d in your marriage.

Gratiano: We’ll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.

Check out the following section to learn how dialogues from movies and TV shows are written. Furthermore, analyse the style and language used.

The following sample conversation is from the Disney movie ‘Moana’. Check it out.

Maui: Boat! A boat! The Gods have given me a (screams)

Moana: Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea. I am Moana…

Maui: Hero of Man.

Moana: Wh..What?

Maui: It’s actually Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of man. I

interrupted, from the top, hero of man. Go.

Moana: I am Mo…

Maui: Sorry, Sorry, sorry, sorry. And women. Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy-girl

thing. Ah, you know, Maui is a hero to all. You’re doing great.

Moana: What? No, I came here to…

Maui: Oh, of course, of course. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Maui always has time for his fans.

When you use a bird to write with, it’s called tweeting. (laughs) I know, not every day you

get a chance to meet your hero.

Moana: You are not my hero. And I’m not here so you can sign my oar. I’m here because

you stole the heart of Te Fiti and you will board my boat, sail across the sea, and put it

The following example is taken from the series ‘Anne with an E’.

• Diana: Anne!

Anne: Hello, Diana!

Diana: My, what have you done to your hat?

Anne: Well, I wanted to make a good first impression and it was so plain.

Diana: You’re making an impression all right.

Anne: I’m glad you found your way.

Diana: I expect we should be able to walk together soon.

Anne: We can’t?

Diana: I’m sure it won’t be long until my parents accept you, now that you’re a Cuthbert and all.

Also check out: Conversation between Teacher and Student │ Conversation between Doctor and Patient │ Conversation between Two Friends │ Conversation between Shopkeeper and Customer

What is dialogue writing?

A dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conversation in text is referred to as dialogue writing.

What is the definition of a dialogue?

The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”.

What is the format of dialogue writing?

The basic structure and format of a dialogue is as follows:

• Every speaker gets a new paragraph.
• The name of the character is followed by a colon and then the dialogue within quotes is written.
• If dialogue tags are used, use a comma after it if it comes in the beginning, a comma before and after if it comes in the middle and place it immediately after the quotation marks if it comes at the end.

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How to Write a Dialogue in an Essay with Example

This article will reveal all you need to know about how to write a dialogue, types of dialogues in an essay, and formatting . In addition, in this article, you will find several examples of English essay dialogue and dialogue between two characters.

What Is a Dialogue?

The definition of a dialogue is as simple as it gets. Dialogue is a conversation or discussion between two or more people in a book, play, or film. If you are wondering where the surprise part is coming in, here it is: it is not just any conversation. If you include a dialogue in an essay, it has to convey some kind of conflict, emotional tension, a surprising fact, or an interesting turn of events.

Dialogues in essays are not focused on mundane things because mundane things are just not interesting to read about.

There is a range of things NOT to include in your dialogue, such as:

• Throat-clearing sentences – parts of dialogue that do not add to the plot, but simply take space
• Rambling – this is the least relevant and interesting type of dialogue, which your readers are most likely to skip
• Words like “um”, “hm”, “like”, “sorta”, “kinda” – while it is important to speak the language of your readers to engage with them, avoid making them feel like they listen to a discussion between two people on the street.
• Profanities and slang – keep it classy instead of crassy.

  It is surely rare to hear people in real life speaking like characters in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, but this doesn’t mean dialogues shouldn’t be refined to sound realistic.

Types of Dialogues

While choosing how to convey the words of characters in an essay for the readers, you have two options: active and passive dialogue . Active dialogue includes quotes and quotation marks, while passive dialogue implies paraphrasing of the quotes and telling them from the narrator.

Examples of these types of dialogue are below:

1 Active dialogue example

Peter asked, “Joanna, can you take kids to your mother tonight?”

“Sure, I will drive them there as soon as they get back home from school,” she replied.

2 Passive dialogue example

Peter asked Joanna whether she would be able to take kids to her mother tonight. Joanna was exhausted by a long ride, however, agreed anyway, taking the chance to avoid the serious talk she needed to have with her husband.

From these short dialogues, we can see that active dialogue allows readers to imagine the situation much better, while passive dialogue can provide more details just by adding extra facts to the narration.

How to Put a Dialogue in an Essay?

The purpose of a dialogue in an essay is to create a more vivid picture for the audience. The functions of a dialogue in an essay include:

• Providing extra information about characters
• Unravel interesting or surprising plot twists and details about the story
• Attract readers’ attention

If your dialogue meets at least one of these criteria, it is a good dialogue to put in an essay. In fact, dialogues can help you tell a lot of information about the story and characters in a relatively short abstract. Adding descriptions of how people say something or why they say it is the key to describing their own behavior.

How to Format a Dialogue

Now let’s move on to the most intriguing part of writing a dialogue – punctuation and formatting . When you stumble upon a dialogue in any narrative essay or text, punctuation might seem to have a lot of different styles, which is confusing.

Of course, common errors in English are still relevant here, but dialogues have evolved their own punctuation rules.

There are three simple steps you need to follow in order to format your dialogue correctly in an essay:

1 In a dialogue, commas, exclamation marks, and question marks are inside the quotation marks:

“How could you do this? Moving a couch across the room isn’t a job for a fourteen-year-old girl!” Diane’s mom yelled in despair. “These macaroons are just exquisite! I would love it if you would give me a recipe,” my aunt asked me. “This movie was so scary that I could barely look at the screen!” her son complained after watching Jaws.

2 Use commas to set off dialogue tags, such as “he said” or “she exclaimed”:

“Enough of this,” he said, “I am absolutely tired of repairing this car! I will rather save up and buy a new one.” “Pepsi has too much sugar in it, this is diabetes in a can,” the grandmother said in a sad voice. “I have been reading The New York Times for years now,”the teacher said. “This newspaper has never disappointed me.”

3 If your quotation is at the end of the sentence, put a period inside the quotation marks as well:

Uncle Joe frowned, scratched his forehead, and finally replied, “I have no idea why my car keys are in the fridge.” He then told her the biggest lie he could ever tell, “I never left the wet towel on the bathroom floor.” Sarah pointed at zebra and asked her father, “Daddy, I have never seen a black and white horse.”

Pay attention to the following: if one person’s speech takes more than one paragraph, use opening quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, however, do not use closing marks till the end of the speech .

My new neighbor always seems to be the most enthusiastic to tell me about her perfumes. One day, I asked her, “How did you come to like and wear perfumes?” She replied, “I have always wondered about where perfumes came from. This huge industry has grown from our scent preferences, experience with different smells, and scent associations. Probably, this is connected to our evolution as species, where detecting specific smell would mean choosing safe food. “Until recently, I have never been wearing perfumes myself, but admired them from a distance. Now I have a small collection of fragrances. I have learned a lot about fragrance industry and notes used in perfumery.”

How to Write a Dialogue Between Two Characters

Now that you know all about the purpose of a dialogue in an essay as well as how to write it and use punctuation, learning how to write a dialogue between two characters will be a piece of cake.

The rules you should follow are:

• Give your characters a setting . Just like in movies, mise-en-scene is often as important as the dialogue itself. Set the scene for the dialogue by briefly describing where and when the dialogue takes place. This will help your readers imagine the picture more vividly.
• Keep it realistic . Unless it suits your essay style, there is no need to be smarty pants and write dialogues with words and scientific facts that are hard to understand for an average reader. While writing a dialogue, reread it several times and make sure it doesn’t make you think “nobody talks like that!”
• Let the dialogue flow naturally . Put yourself into your characters’ shoes and imagine how you would react to something being said to you. This is how you will find the way for the dialogue to seem natural and flow seamlessly.
• Don’t overuse it . While dialogue is a great tool for an essay, turning an essay into a play script with only quotes is another mistake you want to avoid.
• Make your characters human . Add details about feelings and emotions into the dialogue, both from the narrator and from the dialogue itself. Let your audience understand the tone and mood of the dialogue.
• Give the dialogue a purpose . By all means, discussion about whether a cake is tasty or not can be passionate, emotional, and tense altogether. However, this is not something to include in a dialogue. Your dialogue should have a purpose in the plot and affect the characters involved in it.
• Make sure to indicate who is who . This might seem like a rookie mistake in writing a dialogue in an essay, however, it happens. Have you ever read a long dialogue where you couldn’t understand anymore who talks? If your dialogue in an essay is longer than 5-6 quotes, make sure to add narrator’s text that will clarify who says those lines.

In a dialogue between two characters, it is easy to do because the readers do not need to remember many names or attributes. To avoid repetitions, use “he” or “she”, or specific features and roles, such as family member name (aunt, uncle, grandmother, nephew, etc.), significant appearance characteristic (blonde girl, tall man, lady in red, etc.), and specific roles people have (student, cashier, sale associate, doctor, nurse, etc.). In case you use any of those, make sure that you mention these attributes earlier in the text to avoid confusion.

Following these tips will help you write a truly meaningful dialogue between two characters and help readers understand additional information about them, their mood, features, preferences, role in the story, and relationships between them.

English Essay Dialogue Example

John finally returned home after a long day at work. It was raining cats and dogs and his raincoat was soaked. He opened the door, entered his apartment, and put his bag on the floor. suddenly , his phone started ringing. John took it out of his pocket and picked up. “Dad, itl burned down… I am so sorry,” he heard his daughter’s sad voice. She was crying. “What are you talking about?! Jen, are you alright?” “Dad, your summer cottage, it burned down to the ground” she was clearly devastated. John asked, “How did this happen?” “Just an accident, dad. You must have left the fire in the fireplace,” Jen replied. At this moment, John sighed with relief, even though his daughter might have thought he was very upset by the loss. She had no clue that her father insured their summer cottage and now the word “accident” meant lining his pocket from insurance money for sure.

So, now you know everything you need to write a dialogue in your essay successfully! Still, I strongly recommend to consider whether you need it at all — even when tutors assign such a creative writing, they are very meticulous in its evaluation. Moreover, pay attention to editing — due to sophisticated punctuation, dialogues are a never-ending source of students’ errors.

Did you know that Homework Lab is a student task sharing platform? You can work on tasks on your own or ask professional Geeks for help. Join anytime, anywhere for free.

If you have any questions about dialogues unanswered, please share your comment — I will get back and resolve any issues you have 😎.

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Dialogue Writing – Tips, Style, Format and Example

“Are you good at talking or listening well? If so, you’ve probably had moments where something someone said, or you said, really stood out to you. This happens because those words touched your heart or made you think. That’s the power of a good conversation. Even a simple chat with family, friends, or strangers can give you ideas and thoughts to think about Dialogue Writing.

This article will teach you about the skill of writing dialogues and provide you with all the information you need to know. Additionally, you can read some examples of Dialogue Writing and see how they create an impact.”

What is the purpose of writing a dialogue?

Types of dialogues, some common examples of ‘direct dialogue’, some common examples of ‘indirect dialogue’, fundamental rules of writing a dialogue with example, faqs about dialogue writing.

Table of Contents

What is dialogue writing?

Dialogue writing is the art of creating conversations between characters in a written work, such as a story, play, or script. It involves capturing the way people speak, expressing their thoughts, emotions, and interactions through written words. Effective dialogue should sound natural and authentic, reflecting the unique voices and personalities of the characters.

In dialogue writing, punctuation, formatting, and the choice of words are crucial to convey the tone, rhythm, and dynamics of a conversation. It plays a significant role in advancing the plot, revealing character traits, and engaging the readers or audience. Good dialogue enhances the overall flow of a narrative and contributes to a deeper understanding of the characters and the story.

Writing a dialogue serves several important purposes. Firstly, it brings characters to life by allowing them to communicate, sharing their thoughts, feelings, and personalities with the reader. Through dialogue, characters become real and relatable, forming a connection with the audience.

Secondly, dialogue moves the story forward. It’s a powerful tool for advancing the plot, revealing key information, and creating tension or resolution. When characters engage in conversation, it propels the narrative, keeping readers interested and invested in the unfolding events.

Moreover, dialogue adds authenticity to a story. By mimicking the way people speak, it makes characters and their interactions more genuine. This authenticity makes the fictional world more immersive, allowing readers to fully engage with the narrative.

In essence, the purpose of writing a dialogue is to breathe life into characters, propel the storyline, and create a vivid and authentic reading experience for the audience.

The two main types of dialogues are direct dialogue and indirect dialogue .

• Direct Dialogue: Direct dialogue involves the characters speaking for themselves. It is presented within quotation marks and includes the exact words spoken by the characters. This type of dialogue provides a direct and immediate connection between the characters and the reader, allowing the audience to hear the characters’ voices directly. Example:Sarah exclaimed, “I can’t believe we won the game!”
• Indirect Dialogue: Indirect dialogue, on the other hand, conveys the substance of the conversation without quoting the exact words. It is often presented in a narrative form, summarizing what was said rather than providing a verbatim account. This type is useful for conveying information efficiently without focusing on the specific wording. Example:Tom told Mary that he was excited about the upcoming trip.

Understanding when to use direct or indirect dialogue depends on the desired effect, pacing, and the information the writer intends to convey to the audience.

• Expressing Surprise: Sarah gasped, “Oh, I didn’t see that coming!”
• Sharing Excitement: Jake shouted, “I got an A+ on my test!”
• Asking a Question: Emily wondered, “What time is the party?”
• Expressing Disappointment: Alex sighed, “I didn’t win the competition.”
• Showing Happiness: Lisa smiled, “This is the best day ever!”
• Giving a Greeting: Tom waved and said, “Hi, how are you?”
• Expressing Confusion: Mark scratched his head, “I don’t understand this at all.”

Direct dialogue helps bring characters to life by allowing them to speak directly to the reader, making the conversation more engaging and relatable.

• She said, “I love chocolate ice cream.”
• She said that she loves chocolate ice cream.
• Tom said, “I will go to the park tomorrow.”
• Tom said that he would go to the park tomorrow.
• Mary exclaimed, “What a beautiful sunset!”
• Mary exclaimed that it was a beautiful sunset.
• He asked, “Can you help me with my homework?”
• He asked if I could help him with his homework.
• They shouted, “Happy Birthday!”
• They shouted that it was a happy birthday.

In indirect dialogue, we use reporting verbs like “said,” “asked,” “exclaimed,” and adjust the tense and pronouns accordingly.

Writing a dialogue involves a few fundamental rules to make it effective and engaging. Here’s a step-by-step guide with examples:

• Identify the Characters:
• Clearly establish who the characters are in the dialogue.
• Example: Sarah and James are sitting in a café.
• Set the Tone:
• Determine the mood or atmosphere of the conversation.
• Example: The air was filled with tension as Sarah hesitated to speak.
• Use Proper Punctuation:
• Include quotation marks to indicate speech.
• Example: Sarah said, “I have something important to tell you.”
• Keep Sentences Short and Simple:
• Avoid long, complicated sentences. People speak in a more straightforward manner.
• Example: “I need your help,” James stated.
• Show, Don’t Tell:
• Use descriptive language to convey emotions and actions.
• Example: Sarah sighed, “I’ve been feeling lost lately.”
• Add Action Beats:
• Intersperse dialogue with actions to make it dynamic.
• Example: James raised an eyebrow, “Lost? What’s going on?”
• Be Consistent with Character Voices:
• Each character should have a distinct way of speaking.
• Example: Sarah spoke softly, “I didn’t expect things to get so complicated.”
• Include Interruptions and Pauses:
• Mimic natural speech patterns with interruptions and pauses.
• Example: James interrupted, “Complicated? How so?”
• Avoid Information Dumps:
• Provide information gradually, avoiding long monologues.
• Example: Sarah hesitated, “Well, you see, it’s about the job offer I got…”
• If appropriate, use dialects or slang to make dialogue authentic.
• Example: James grinned, “You’re gonna rock that job, no doubt!”
• Conclude the dialogue with a purpose or a question, encouraging continuation.
• Example: Sarah smiled, “I hope so. What do you think I should do?”
• Read through the dialogue, ensuring clarity and relevance.
• Example: James pondered, “Maybe take the job and see where it leads?”

Remember, the key to writing engaging dialogue is to make it sound natural and true to the characters. Experiment with different styles until you find what works best for your story or scene.

Examples of Dialogue Writing

To help you learn how to write dialogue, here are some examples from well-known novels, plays, films and television shows.

• Elizabeth Bennet: “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”
• Hamlet: “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them.”
• Rick Blaine: “Here’s looking at you, kid.”
• Don Vito Corleone: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
• Chandler Bing: “Could there be more pressure on this jam?”
• Walter White: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive.”
• Andy Dufresne: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
• President Josiah Bartlet: “What’s next?”
• Rhett Butler: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
• Tony Soprano: “It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. The best is over.”

These examples showcase the diversity of dialogue in different genres and mediums. Each line is memorable and contributes to the overall impact of the story or character. Studying such examples can offer insights into effective dialogue writing and characterization.

1. From “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994): Scene: Andy Dufresne and Red are talking in the prison yard.

Andy: You know, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Red: Hope? Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.

Andy: Well, I guess I’m gonna have to be insane then, because I have hope. Hope that one day you’ll see those bars, and you’ll say, “I was in Shawshank.”

2. From “Friends” (TV Series): Scene: Chandler and Joey are in their apartment, having a conversation about relationships.

Chandler: You know, it’s always better to be the one who loves less than to be the one who’s loved.

Joey: Says who?

Chandler: Says everyone. It’s like relationship law.

Joey: Well, maybe I’m not a love expert, but the more you love someone, the crazier you’re willing to act for them.

Chandler: Oh, so you’re saying love makes you crazy?

Joey: No, man, love makes you want to do crazy, stupid, ridiculous stuff. There’s a difference.

3. From “The Dark Knight” (2008): Scene: Batman and the Joker are having a conversation in an interrogation room.

Joker: You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength.

Batman: Don’t worry. I’m gonna tell them the whole thing was your idea.

Joker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just… do things.

Batman: You’re garbage who kills for money.

Joker: Don’t talk like you’re one of them! You’re not, even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me. They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper!

These dialogues are memorable moments from iconic movies and TV shows.

Dialogue writing is the creation of conversation between characters in a narrative, such as a story, script, or play. It serves to advance the plot, reveal character traits, and engage the audience.

In English, use double quotation marks to enclose spoken words. Punctuation like commas and periods go inside the quotation marks, and each new speaker gets a new paragraph.

To make dialogue sound natural, listen to real conversations, pay attention to speech patterns, and avoid overly formal language. Use contractions, pauses, and interruptions to mimic real-life speech.

Dialogue serves several purposes, including advancing the plot, developing characters, providing information, creating tension, and engaging readers or viewers on an emotional level.

Use unique speech patterns, vocabulary, and tone for each character. Consider their background, experiences, and motivations to shape how they express themselves in conversation.

Instead of repeatedly using “he said” or “she said,” incorporate action beats and context to indicate the speaker. This makes dialogue flow more naturally and reduces redundancy.

Avoid unrealistic dialogue, excessive exposition, overly formal language, and lack of conflict. Also, be mindful of each character having a distinct voice and purpose in the conversation.

Dialogue length varies, but it should be concise and purposeful. Break it up with action and description to maintain a balance and prevent it from becoming monotonous.

While dialects or accents can add authenticity, use them sparingly to avoid making the dialogue difficult to understand. Clearly convey the character’s speech without sacrificing clarity.

Focus on subtext, create tension, and let characters speak with intention. Show, don’t tell, and use dialogue to reveal emotions and conflicts, making it a dynamic and integral part of your narrative.

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How to Write a Dialogue in English

As an ESL teacher, I’ve had the pleasure of helping many students like you improve their English skills. One of the most effective ways to do that is by writing and practicing dialogues in English. That’s why today, I’m going to guide you through the process of writing a dialogue in English.

Writing dialogues can be fun, and it’s a great way to practice speaking and listening skills as well. In this article, I will share with you some tips and tricks that will make your dialogues more engaging, communicative, and easy to understand. Let’s get started!

To write an engaging and communicative dialogue in English, use appropriate greetings and introductions to start the dialogue, keep the conversation simple and polite, use questions and answers, and include emotion and body language.

You may try Fifty Ways to Practice Writing: Tips for ESL/EFL Students to practice and improve writing with pen and paper and typing. By applying these methods, you will write more, write faster, and write more correct and more interesting papers and letters.

Now, let’s move to the detailed discussion about how to write a dialogue in English. Throughout the post, I’ll give you tips and examples to understand the concept of dialogue.

Table of Contents

Choose a topic, create the characters, use greetings and introductions, keep the conversation simple and to the point, use a casual but polite tone, practice using questions and answers, use appropriate transitions, include some emotion and body language, practice using different verb tenses, revise and practice, a sample dialogue between two friends, in conclusion.

Choosing a topic is the first step in writing a dialogue. It is important to choose a topic that interests you or something that you can relate to. For example, if you are a student, you could write a dialogue about studying for exams. If you enjoy sports, you could write a dialogue about playing a game or watching a match. The topic should be something that you enjoy talking about and that can hold your interest.

Creating characters is the next step in writing a dialogue. You should give your characters names and a little background so that you can imagine them as real people. For example, if you are writing a dialogue about studying for exams, you could create two characters named Mike and Sarah. Mike is a college student who struggles with exams, and Sarah is a friend who helps him study.

When starting a dialogue, it is important to begin with a proper greeting . Depending on the time of day and the relationship between the characters, you can use greetings like “Hello,” “Good morning,” or “Hi.” After that, the characters can introduce themselves if they don’t know each other. For example:

Mike: Hi, Sarah. How are you doing?

Sarah: Hi, Mike. I’m doing well, thanks. How about you?

Mike: I’m good, thanks for asking.

For good communication, it is important to keep your dialogues simple and easy to understand. Use short sentences and common, familiar words. This will make it easier for you to practice your speaking skills and for others to follow the conversation. Also, try to stay focused on the main topic of the dialogue. For example:

Sarah: So, what do you want to study for your next exam?

Mike: I’m thinking of studying history. It’s one of my weak subjects.

In most everyday conversations, people use a casual tone. This means using informal language and speaking in a relaxed manner. However, it’s still important to be polite and show respect to the other person. This can be done by using polite expressions like “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me.” For example:

Mike: Excuse me, Sarah. Can you help me with this problem?

Sarah: Sure, Mike. What do you need help with?

One of the best ways to make your dialogues more engaging is by using questions and answers. This will help you practice your listening and speaking skills and make the conversation more interactive. When writing your dialogue, try to include a mix of open-ended questions (e.g., “What do you think about…?”) and closed-ended questions (e.g., “Do you like…?”). For example:

Sarah: What do you think is the best way to prepare for an exam?

Mike: I think the best way is to review the material and take practice exams.

To keep the conversation flowing smoothly, use appropriate transitions between sentences and ideas. These can include words like “so,” “and,” “but,” and “then.” Using transitions will make your dialogue sound more natural and help your readers follow the conversation more easily. For example:

Mike: I studied for eight hours yesterday, but I still feel like I need more practice.

Sarah: That’s a lot of studying. Why don’t you take a break and go for a walk? It might help clear your mind.

To make your dialogue more engaging and realistic, include some emotion and body language. This can be done by adding descriptions of the characters’ facial expressions, gestures, or tone of voice. For example:

Mike: I don’t think I’m going to pass this exam. I’m really nervous.

Sarah: Don’t worry, Mike. You’ve studied hard, and you’ll do great. Just take some deep breaths and believe in yourself.

When writing dialogues, it’s important to practice using different verb tenses . This will help you become more comfortable with using English in various situations. For example:

Sarah: What did you do yesterday?

Mike: Yesterday, I studied for eight hours and then went to the gym.

Sarah: That sounds like a productive day.

After writing your dialogue, it’s important to revise it and make sure it flows well and makes sense. Check for spelling and grammar errors, and make any necessary changes to improve the dialogue. Once you’re satisfied with it, practice reading it aloud to yourself or with a friend to improve your speaking and listening skills. For example:

Mike: Thanks for your help, Sarah. I feel a lot better now.

Sarah: No problem, Mike. That’s what friends are for. Good luck on your exam.

Amit: Hey, Priya! How are you doing?

Priya: Hi, Amit! I’m doing great. Thanks for asking. How about you?

Amit: I’m doing pretty well, thanks. Hey, do you have any plans for this weekend?

Priya: Not really. Why, do you have something in mind?

Amit: Yeah, I was thinking we could go to the park and have a picnic. The weather is supposed to be nice.

Priya: That sounds like a great idea! What time were you thinking?

Amit: How about we meet at the park at noon? That should give us enough time to prepare the food and find a good spot.

Priya: Okay, that works for me. What should we bring for the picnic?

Amit: How about we each bring something different? I’ll bring some sandwiches and chips, and you can bring some fruit or a salad.

Priya: Sounds good to me. Should we also bring some drinks?

Amit: Yes, I’ll bring some soda, and you can bring some water or juice.

Priya: Alright, I’ll bring some bottled water. Hey, do you want to invite some other friends to join us?

Amit: Sure, that’s a good idea. Let’s invite Ravi and Deepika. I’ll text them to see if they’re free this weekend.

Priya: Sounds great. I’m looking forward to it.

Amit: Me too. It’s going to be a fun day in the park.

Priya: Right. See you then, Amit. Take care.

Writing dialogues is a fun and effective way to improve your English skills. By following these tips and tricks, you can create engaging and communicative dialogues that will help you become more comfortable using English in everyday situations.

Remember to keep it simple, use appropriate transitions, and include some emotion and body language. With practice, you’ll become a master of writing dialogues in English!

Happy learning!

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How to write a complaint letter: with comprehensive examples, a guide to the proper business letter format with examples, how to use a semicolon in a sentence: a complete guide, how to write a personal letter in english: the ideal format, niaj a a khan.

Niaj A A Khan is an ESL Instructor with over 8 years of experience in teaching & developing resources at different universities and institutes. Mr. Khan is also a passionate writer working on his first book, "Learn English at Ease."

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Do you remember a specific favorite line of a movie or a book that you liked? Probably said by your favorite character in a movie, play or book. Well, that line is a dialogue.

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“may the force be with you.” ( star wars ).

This dialogue is quite famous if you are a fan of the movie series – star wars . Chances are you don’t recognize the movie, being a millennial. But it was as huge as probably Harry Potter if a parallel must be drawn. Anyway, to come to the point- dialogues can become quite legendary and dialogue  writing is quite an art. In this chapter, we are going to decipher this one by one and will use many fun examples.

Dialogues – Talk to Me

A dialogue is a verbal conversation between two or more people. When in writing, a dialogue is a way of showing a story instead of explaining one through writing. Through a dialogue, the writer allows the reader to know the characters first hand and interpret the characteristics and story themselves.

Dialogue writing exposes the traits of the character, emotions, internal motives at the same time it establishes the relationship between the people. Dialogue-writing also shows the actions taking place without boring the reader with a lot of explanations.

So while we are at it, let’s discuss how dialogues are written. First thing in grammar that is essential to dialogue-writing is punctuation . Commas, quotations, semi-colon, period, exclamation , question marks, apostrophe- all these punctuation marks portray the dialogue and its emotions. Let’s enlist all of them in detail:

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First comes Grammar

If you get this right, the writing will not only be easier for the reader to understand, it will convey a clear message through the dialogue.

Quotes or quotation marks mark the beginning and end of a dialogue. For example – Nina told Barti, “My mom makes the best pasta in town!” Here, we can tell the exact line Nina said to Barti by looking at the sentence inside the quotation marks. Notice that the exclamation mark that is also part of the quotation marks shows the emotion or the tone it was said with.

Now what happens when the person speaking wants to tell something else another person spoke. In that case, we can use double quotation marks around person A’s dialogue and single quotation marks around person B’s dialogue. Person A is the speaker and person B is the one person A is speaking of.

“Dexter, her sister asked me, ‘What time is the game?’ Do you think we should take her along?”

While we are here, let’s also not forget that the way quotation marks are used in American English is slightly different. Apart from sentences that end in period and commas , everything else goes outside the quotation marks.

Use a period at the end of a sentence but always keep it inside of the quotation marks, unless it isn’t a part of the quotation. If the quotation is ending before the sentence is, we can use a comma inside the quotation marks instead of a period.

“May his soul rest in peace,” said Father .

Father said, “May his soul rest in peace.”

Well, first of all, a comma separates a dialogue from the rest of the sentence.

Tamera said to Adrienne, “My two-year-old son has started riding a cycle.”

Question Marks

This is quite simple: if it’s part of the dialogue, keep the question mark inside the quotations and if it’s not, just keep it outside the quotations.

“Will you come to the party?”, asked Jeena to Candice.

Do you think Aden was telling the truth when he said, “I finished my homework.”?

Capitalisation

Whether it’s in the middle of a sentence or at the beginning, a dialogue always starts with a capital letter word. A dialogue tag like he said or she said may not be used everytime we use a dialogue. The quotation marks and the capitalization should be enough for that.

“Gina, will you pass me the spaghetti?

“Why, yes sir.”

Other Punctuation Rules in Dialogue Writing

• Even the punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.
• Use commas or periods after dialogue tags depending on where they are in the sentence.
• Always remember to capitalize the first word of what the person says.
• Start a new paragraph each time a person speaks.

Dialogue-writing: How to do it perfectly?

• Have a purpose for every single dialogue, a logical one. It might as well have an objective implication. For example, ask logical questions like – What does this say about my character? What characteristic am I painting with this dialogue? Is this dialogue moving the story?
• Try not overuse dialogues by writing dialogues that lead to no logical conclusions. Basically, keep filler dialogues as less as possible. The more interesting and information giving your dialogues are, the longer the reading span becomes of your dialogue.
• Use narration in between dialogues to abstain from stray dialogue-writing. Keep it short and simple. Create movement in the plot using actions and descriptions between dialogues.
• Keep it as real and closer to the characters as possible. Maintain the same theme or purpose throughout. Dialogues are supposed to feel real conversations. The less fake you make them, the better they sound.
• Convey a point through your dialogue-writing. Don’t repeat the same shade you painted in one dialogue into another. If you have established that A is tired, you can take another dimension to it instead of re-iterating directly the same point again and again.
• Keep the writing catchy and full of twists. Don’t forget the element of surprise is the backbone of good dialogue-writing. Try to keep the characters different, bring in one strong emotion every now and then to keep the dialogue-writing catchy and engaging. Make resonating points that the readers can relate to.

That brings us to the end of our chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading this one. Try and see if you could capture an interesting incident this week and channelize it into some dialogue-writing. Happy writing!

Solved Question for You

Identify the correct dialogue:

Jim: Are you going to the party tonight? Tom: No, I don’t think so. I am not feeling too well. Jim: Oh, __________

• I was sorry to hear you were sick.
• I am sorry to hear that, I hope you get well soon.
• Get well soon.
• I am truly sorry to receive news of your ill health.

Answer: B. I am sorry to hear that, I hope you get well soon.

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great article

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How to Write Dialogue in an Essay

Knowing how to insert source materials into an essay is a central theme of academic writing. Sources can be cited to support your argument, expand it or even to be used to dissect a counter-argument and examine its validity.

This skill is so essential the rules of using quotation marks of when quoting texts are pounded into the student’s head. So much so you know when to quote a textual source and the reason to do so.

One of the areas many students struggle with is when or how they should use dialogue in an essay. A high number of essay writers don’t even know the difference between dialogue and quotes, let alone the correct punctuation surrounding it. The main reason it happens is because a large number of academic subjects focus solely on claim-based essays where dialogue is not used. This article will look at why dialogue can be so effective within a narrative essay and why. The topics discussed will be:

What is dialogue?

When do you use dialogue?

Why use dialogue?

How to write dialogue?

And Where you can find more information on this subject.

Dialogue: A definition

Dialogue is defined as a literary technique that writers use to depict a conversation between two or more people. Dialogue is a device that is employed in all kinds of fiction – movie, plays, books and can even be used in essays. It's important not to confuse dialogue with quotations from an outside source. Dialogue is largely made up to create a more visual, dramatic effect. Whereas direct quotes can be verified through citations.

Quotation marks are used with quoting from source as well as to mark dialogue in an essay but the conventions around the two change. As such, it is important to know the difference between the two.

Here is a small table that documents the main differences.

One of the biggest mistakes an essay writer makes is when they use dialogue as a direct quote. This mistake occurs as we are trained to use speech as direct quotes in claim-based essays. As we are trained to do this in the majority of our subjects, we don't know that we can use crafted narration and create dialogue in narrative essays to give them more weight. Due to this, we do not understand the conventions around its use or why to use it.

Dialogue: When to Use it.

Dialogue is a big part of the movies, television, novels, and plays. It is important to keep in mind that when it comes to essay writing, a dialogue only really appears in one type of essay – the narrative essay.

A narrative essay differs from most kinds of essay writing. Other types of essays often aim to make a claim about something. If we look at an argumentative essay , for example, it makes a claim that one point of view is right. And an expository essay will make claims about how a model or idea works. A narrative essay doesn't make claims like this. It is an essay that is used to relate stories and experience to the reader, and as such, it is much more story like in nature. These experiences include conversations the writer has had with other people.

Presenting conversations you had with friends as dialogue in an argumentative essay or expository piece wouldn’t do much to strengthen your argument and would undermine your creditability. It is better to use direct quotes from the source – even if it is spoken material. Direct quotes will be seen as the conventional norm as these types of essay expect the writer to be objective and scientific in their discussion.

Dialogue: Why do you use dialogue

Narrative essays use dialogue as a device – much like written fiction. They add depth, tension and character development to nonfiction writing. It also helps move the story along. As it is reported speech, you would be unlikely to remember all the details; so, you will have to recreate them from memory – remember to use the words, tones, and emotions that report it in the correct flavor. Readers will trust realistic dialogue that captures the situation.

Dialogue: How to format

This section will demonstrate the correct formatting conventions to use when inserting your dialogue into a narrative essay. This section will look at the correct usage of the quotation marks, and where to put other punctuation marks. This will be looking at the U.S rules of grammar – the formations and convention in other variants of English might differ.

Quotations Marks

There are three main rules that surround the usage of quotation marks:

Double quotation marks are used to signify that a person is using speech.

Example: - When I was young, my father warned me, “Look in both direction before you cross the road.”

Single quotation marks are used to mark quotes in quotes.

Example: - “I remember read Oscar Wilde’s quote ‘I can resist everything except temptation’ and feeling so inspired,” the creative writer coach said.

When dialogue extends across several paragraphs, use quotation marks at the start of each paragraph, but only use the closing quotation make when the speech ends.

Example: - Rupert nodded and said, "Yeah I think you're correct. If we lay the carpet before painting the ceiling, we'll need dust sheets.

But if we do the ceiling before laying the new carpet it should be fine.”

If the quote is at the end of a sentence, always put the full stop inside the quotation marks.

Incorrect: - The bus driver said, “This is your stop”.

Correct: - The bus driver said, “This is your stop.”

Question marks and exclamation should be placed inside the quotation mark if they apply to the person's speech.

Incorrect: - The boy screamed, “Watched out the ceiling is falling”!

Correct: - The boy screamed, “Watched out the ceiling is falling!”

When the quote is simply embedded in a larger sentence that is a question or exclamation the punctuation should be placed outside the speech marks.

Incorrect : -How did you feel when the newscaster said, “JFK had been shot?”

Correct: - How did you feel when the newscaster said, “JFK had been shot”?

If a speech tags fall before the quote use a comma before the quotation marks to separate them.

Incorrect: - My brother said “I’m telling mom that you stole the cookies from the jar.”

Correct: - My brother said, “I’m telling mom that you stole the cookies from the jar.”

If the speech tag comes after the quotation marks, then the coma should be placed in the speech marks

Incorrect: - “Just be back in time for tea” My mum warned me before I went to play.

Correct: - “Just be back in time for tea,” My mum warned me before I went to play.

When a sentence is interrupted with a speech tag, a comma should be placed after the first segment of speech and at the end of the speech tag.

Incorrect: - “No” Karen said wrinkling her nose in disgust “That’s just all kinds of wrong.”

Correct: - “No,” Karen said wrinkling her nose in disgust, “That’s just all kinds of wrong.”

It is important to learn how to use quotation marks and punctuation correctly. These rules act as a convention between reader and writer, and as such, using them will make your work easier to read and understand. Without following these rules, your dialogue might be confusing and messy to the reader, which means it will not convey the message you want it to.

Dialogue: Where to find more resources

Here is a collection of some great links that will aid you in crafting the perfect narrative essay , and making sure you get your dialogue quotation spot on. You’ll be writing an amazing narrative essay in no time at all.

• How to write an engaging introduction for an essay
• The Major Paragraph Types
• Tips on Choosing College Essay Topics
• Research Paper Topics
• Tops 50 Literary Essay Topics

English that goes straight to the heart

Dialogue Writing Examples

A dialogue literally means a talk between two people. It is an exchange of thoughts and opinions on any kind of topic or issue.

A dialogue may either aim to form a concurrence of thought or differentiate one’s point of view from the others.

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The writing of dialogues in English is a useful form of composition for students trying to gain a command of spoken English. In this post, you will find the Top 10 Dialogue Writing Examples.

Dialogue Writing Examples #1

Reporter: Hello, my name is Mr. Thomson. I am a reporter for IBN and would like to meet Mr. Jack.

Secretary: Do you have an appointment?

Reporter: I do not have a formal one, but I spoke to him on the phone and he said that I could come today.

Secretary: You will have to wait for some time since Mr. Jack is in a meeting right now.

Reporter: How long will the meeting last?

Secretary: It should be over in about 15 minutes.

Reporter: That’s fine with me.

Secretary: Would you like some tea or coffee?

Reporter: No, thanks for asking.

Secretary: You’re welcome. Please have a seat. I will let you know as soon as he is free.

Reporter: I appreciate your cooperation.

Also, Read Dialogue Writing Topics

Dialogue Writing Examples #2

Anjuna: Hi Sweta, what a pleasant surprise! It’s a pleasure seeing a school friend after so many years.

Sweta: Indeed it is. How are you and what have you been up to?

Anjuna: I am great. Do you remember the paintings I made for pleasure in school?

Sweta: Yes I do, and I always told you what a great artist you would be one day.

Anjuna: Well, I guess you were right there.

Sweta: What do you mean?

Anjuna: After college, I studied painting at J. K. School of Art and today I am a professional painter.

Sweta: Oh really? That’s great news. I never doubted your potential.

Anjuna: I know, and I believe that the confidence you showed in me was one of the factors which encouraged me to conquer my dreams.

Sweta: Don’t flatter me. This is all the fruit of your hard work.

Anjuna: I am not. Believe me. I never considered my drawings of any consequence. It was you who saw the talent in me and gave me the boost I needed.

Sweta: Well then, I guess I deserve a treat.

Anjuna: You deserve more than that, but a treat is surely in order.

Sweta: Let’s have coffee.

Also, Read Conversation Dialogue Examples for Students

Dialogue Writing Examples #3

Omkar: Hey what are you doing? Would you like to come out to play?

Arvind: No. I’m a little busy right now. I’m writing a story for tomorrow’s storytelling competition.

Omkar: You have been working on that since the last week. How much more will you edit it?

Arvind: It’s a suspense story, Omkar. It has to be perfect or else it will lose its charm.

Omkar: That is true, but I have full faith in your skills. After all, you have been winning this competition for so many years now.

Arvind: That’s true. But that does not give me a reason to be careless with my work, does it?

Omkar: Yes you are right, but overdoing it is also dangerous, don’t you think?

Arvind: What do you mean?

Omkar: I mean you are so focused on this competition that you are neglecting every other thing like food, play, and your studies.

Arvind: I guess you have a point, Omkar. Come on, let’s go out.

Omkar: Finally! Let’s go.

Also, Read Short Dialogue Examples

Dialogue Writing Examples #4

Teacher: Ranita, are you ready for the interschool history quiz?

Ranita: No Miss, I am not. I had jaundice last month, and therefore, I couldn’t prepare for it.

Teacher: You are our best student, Ranita. You have to participate. How long will it take to prepare?

Ranita: Miss, please give me an extension. I am working on it, but I need some more time.

Teacher: Ranita, I would love to give you time. But I’m sorry I cannot; the date for the quiz is finalized by the principals of all the schools participating.

Ranita: I would really love to participate, but I am not prepared and it will be wrong on my part to spoil the school’s name this way.

Teacher: I appreciate your dedication. Also, I am confident that you will be able to do well. You just need to work a little harder. Besides, we are here to help you. Feel free to approach any one of us whenever you need.

Ranita: Thank you for your support, Miss.

Teacher: You are most welcome. Work hard and make us all proud.

Ranita: I’ll try my best, Miss. Thank you once again.

Also, Read How to Write a Dialogue?

Dialogue Writing Examples #5

Priya: Hello! My name is Priya. Can I speak to you for a moment?

Police Officer: Yes, how may I help you?

Priya: I have a robbery to complain about.

Police Officer: What exactly happened?

Priya: My handbag was stolen in the local market this afternoon.

Police Officer: Describe your handbag and give me a list of any important belongings that it contained.

Priya: My handbag is blue. It had my cell phone and about three thousand rupees.

Police Officer: Is that it? Did it have any other things?

Priya: Nothing of much importance. But I need my cell phone; the data in it is extremely important to me.

Police Officer: I will look into the matter and see what I can do. Did you see the thief?

Priya: Yes, I noticed that he was of average height, middle-aged, and wore a dirty grey t-shirt. He had medium-tangled hair and a small bruise over his right eyebrow.

Police Officer: Will you be able to recognize him if we find them?

Priya: I think so.

Police Officer: Okay then. We will call you when we get a lead on him.

Priya: Thank you!

Police Officer: You’re welcome!

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Dialogue Writing Examples #6

Bank Manager: Good morning! Please come in. How may I help you?

Raj Singh: Good Morning! I would like to open a savings account with your bank, but I find the process very confusing.

Bank Manager: Please take a seat. The process is very simple actually. All you have to do is fill out a savings account opening form and submit it with photocopies of your ID proofs and two passport-sized photographs.

Raj Singh: Which ID proofs should I get along with?

Bank Manager: We will need one photocopy of each of your ration cards, pan card, and Aadhar card.

Raj Singh: Ok, that sounds easy. Where will I get the account opening form?

Bank Manager: The clerk sitting at the desk opposite the cash counter will give it to you.

Raj Singh: What is the minimum deposit amount for opening an account?

Bank Manager: For a savings account, it is only 500 rupees. However, this amount cannot be withdrawn unless you wish to close your account permanently.

Raj Singh: What are the other facilities that I would be provided if I open an account?

Bank Manager: Apart from your chequebook, SBI will provide you with an ATM/debit card, internet banking, and phone banking facility.

Raj Singh: Thanks a lot! You have really simplified the procedure for me.

Bank Manager: The pleasure is entirely mine.

Dialogue Writing Examples #7

Dr. Sunil: This is the third time in two months you have come to me complaining of stomach ache, Rakesh. Have you been eating frequently from outside?

Rakesh: I have my lunch from the school canteen, doctor.

Dr. Sunil: How is the food in taste and appearance?

Rakesh: The food tastes good, except that it is spicy sometimes. Often, it is soaked in excess oil.

Dr. Sunil: No wonder you are falling sick so often, Rakesh! Eating spicy food regularly upsets your digestive system. Does the oil in the food smell abnormal?

Rakesh: I don’t know really. But yes, my throat often aches after eating a meal that had excess oil.

Dr. Sunil: That is due to the poor quality of oil being used to make the food. Rakesh, you should stop eating from the canteen at once. If possible, eat home-cooked food and for a few weeks only eat light meals.

Rakesh: Okay, doctor. What can I include in my diet for the next few days?

Dr. Sunil: Have home-cooked food with minimum spices. Avoid over-intake of fibrous foods as they are heavy to digest. Have plenty of water and fruit. In a couple of weeks, your system will be back to normal.

Rakesh: Thank you, Doctor. I will avoid eating outside henceforth.

Dr. Sunil: Yes, you should. Here are your medicines. In addition, please also engage in light exercise once a day so that you remain fit.

Rakesh: I will do that, doctor. Thank you for your time and consultation.

Dr. Sunil: Take care and get well soon Rakesh!

Dialogue Writing Examples #8

Mother: Looks like you had a lot of fun at school today. How was the Christmas party?

Riya: It was a truly spectacular mother. The children from the primary section enacted the Christmas story at the assembly.

Mother: Oh! That must have been really beautiful.

Riya: It was! Not only that; after a short speech by our school leader on the significance of Christmas, the school band played carols on their instruments. Mumma, you should have heard them, for a moment I felt like heaven had come down to Earth.

Mother: That does sound exceptional. I understand what you mean. Your school has the reputation for excelling in whatever it does.

Riya: Yes Mumma, it was! After that, we went to our class. There we played games with our teacher. It was great fun. We also had crib-making and classroom decoration competitions.

Mother: So, they kept y’all busy the whole day. Did they give y’all any snacks to eat?

Riya: Yes, they gave us Fruity, samosas, wafers, cake, and chocolates. I got many gifts from Santa Claus as well. He kept throwing them in all directions.

Mother: Well Riya, I’m glad that you had so much fun.

Riya: That I did, wait for Mumma there is more. I forgot to show you the gift I got. Every standard received a different toy. We received Brainvita. Playing this game is so much fun.

Mother: So, I see you opened it in the school itself.

Riya: Yes! Everyone did. We were so engrossed in it that we did not even realize when the bell rang at the end of the day.

Mother: That’s very nice. Be sure to thank your teachers when you go to school next for all the effort they put in.

Dialogue Writing Examples #9

Rajesh: Excuse me, what is your name, sir?

Beggar: My name is Dinesh Kumar. Why do you ask? You don’t need my name to curse me.

Rajesh: I do not wish to curse you, Mr. Kumar. I never saw you here before. You intrigue me; therefore, I want to know more about you. Who are you and why are you begging here?

Beggar: I cannot recollect the last time somebody called me by that name.

Rajesh: Tell me something about yourself.

Beggar: You know my name. Many years ago, I used to be a successful businessman dealing with scrap metals. The business was booming and I was surrounded by friends. I got married to a woman I loved and she bore me two children. I was a very good father fulfilling every desire my children had.

Rajesh: What changed that?

Beggar: I had a daughter and a son. When they got married, things started changing. Both of them vied for my business and property which I bequeathed to them. Once my son had control of my business, he ousted me. My daughter too, whom I gave my palatial house, threw me and my wife out.

Rajesh: Where did you go from there?

Beggar: My friends deserted me since I had no money. So, I begged for a living making enough to buy us two meals a day. My wife eventually succumbed to illnesses leaving me all alone in this world. At this age, I cannot beg. Sometimes I wait for death to catch up with me.

Also, Read How to Write Dialogue Between Two Characters

Dialogue Writing Examples #10

Sushant: Hello! May I speak to Mr. S. Kaushik?

S. Kaushik: Yes, who is this?

Sushant: Hello Sir. My name is Sushant. I saw the advertisement for your activity club in today’s newspaper and would like to enquire more about it.

Mr. Shah: Oh yes! We have recently opened an activity club for children of all age groups. I will be able to explain it to you further if you can tell me what exactly you are looking for.

Sushant: My son has a lot of free time, and since both my wife and I are working we would like to enrol him in a creative club.

S. Kaushik: We would be happy to oblige. What would you like to know?

Sushant: First, where exactly are you located?

Mr. Shah: Our club is located on the ground floor of Pravin Apartments which is about a 2–3 minute walk from the Santa Cruz railway station.

Sushant: Okay, could you give me some more details about the place?

Mr. Shah: We have converted a 1BHK flat into our club area furnished with colourful toys and other amenities . We also have a large garden at the back which can be accessed only through our flat.

Sushant: The place sounds safe enough. What activities do y’all teach?

Mr. Shah: We teach all forms of dance, singing, and craft. It’s an extensive list. I suggest you visit us once since it is impossible for me to list everything we do on a call.

Sushant: Okay, I will do that. Thank you for the information. I will call you back once I make up my mind.

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