How to Write Dialogue from the Ground Up

A New Approach to One of the Most Difficult Writing Skills

Sep 27, 2009

One of the most challenging tasks when writing stories is to get the characters speaking naturally. These writing tips for dialogue should help the scene flow.

Writing dialogue that (a) sounds natural and (b) flows easily is a challenge for most authors and others interested in creative writing. Even a master of the art like Robert Parker can have an off day (although that probably doesn't happen too often.)

Sometimes it's easier to go back to basics... and that means really the basics. To begin, strip the dialogue right back to the bones: that is, only the words that come out of the characters' mouths. From there, it's possible to build up the scene of dialogue, adding one or two elements at a time. Step by step, this is how to do it - using a brief scene from Harlen Coben's Hold Tight as an example.

Step One: Get The Characters Speaking - Words Only

Write this rather like a play script: put the character's name first (to keep track of who is speaking) and then write only the words he/she speaks. Then drop down to the next line and type the other character's response.

Why start writing dialogue in this way? Because this makes it possible to write rapid-fire dialogue without worrying about how people look or what they might be doing. The aim of this is just to get the dialogue flowing, as naturally as possible. Write non-stop for at least ten minutes. Take the dialogue wherever it leads – the more surprises the better. (Note: write on a word processor, so more can be added later.) Save this as Dialogue 1.

Step Two: How and Where are These Characters Talking?

It's time to start fleshing out the scene... but first, save it again as Dialogue 2. Now, think about where the characters are, what mood they are in, and how they are behaving while they're talking. Rewrite the paragraphs around the 'words only' speech to help the reader picture the characters talking. Be sparing with speech tags (like 'said Tia'): these should be used only if there might be confusion about who is speaking. In any case, it's better to make it clear who is speaking by attributing some action to the speaker, rather than using a tag.

When the basic conversation has been rewritten showing their actions and emotions, save it again as Dialogue 3.

Step Three: Use Writing Skills to Tweak the Scene

One unwanted side effect of fleshing out the scene of dialogue is that the writer can add too much padding. That's where writing skills come in: if the pace seems slow, then it might be that there's too much explanation of what characters are doing/feeling while they're talking. It's time to go back and listen to the characters speak, and work out where it needs to speed up. Don't be afraid to strip out some of what has been added if it makes more sense to have some 'tennis match dialogue' - that is, just words batted quickly back and forth.

Here's an example taken from a published book: harlen Coben's Hold Tight. Note that the first part of this example has, for the purposes of demonstrating the dialogue writing process, been stripped back to "words only".

Note how these 30 words, shared between two characters, take up half a page in the published novel when the scene has been fleshed out.

Tia opened the door before Betsy Hill had a chance to knock and asked without preamble: "Do you know where Adam is?"

The question startled Betsy Hill. Her eyes widened and she stopped. She saw Tia's face and quickly shook her head. "No," she said, "I have no idea."

Betsy's face lost color. Tia could only imagine what horrible memory this was conjuring up. Hadn't Tia thought before about how similar this whole thing was to what happened to Spencer?

There was no argument, no more discussion. Tia called out to Jill that she'd be right back - Jill would soon be old enough to leave alone for brief spells and it couldn't be helped - and then both women ran for the car.

Notice, in the example quoted above, how Coben shows the reader where the dialogue happens (at Tia's front door); what one of the characters looks like (Betsy's eyes widened and then her face lost color) and some of the viewpoint character's thoughts (Tia could only imagine what horrible memory this was conjuring up). Note, too, that Coben hasn't felt that it is necessary to add speech tags after "Tia?" and "Yes".

By starting off a scene of dialogue as the bare-bones, words-only version, and then fleshing it out, a writer can get more of an idea of the rhythm of the characters' speech. It's also a good writing exercise for pacing, because the writer has to analyse the finished scene to see what needs to be cut. All in all, it's a good way to get characters speaking naturally.

The copyright of the article How to Write Dialogue from the Ground Up in Writing Techniques is owned by Marg McAlister. Permission to republish How to Write Dialogue from the Ground Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.