Dialogue Tips

He said, she said…Dialogue makes your story sparkle! It will help make your characters and your story come to life. The trick is, doing it right.

Leave out the small talk. You want it to sound natural, but not EXACTLY how we talk. In real life our conversation if full of small talk. But in written stories, don’t waste you reader’s time with fluff:
“Hi, how are you?”
“Fine. And you?”
“So-so.”
“What’s up?” 
"There's someone following me."
Cut the unimportant chatter and get right to the point. Someone is following the character? Let's hear about that! Dialogue is your chance to advance the plot, add information, and flesh out your characters. 

Use dialogue tags to help the reader keep track of who is talking in the scene.
These can either be verbal tags: “I haven’t the faintest idea,” Bill said.
Or action tags: Bill shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
Notice the verbal tag uses a comma and the action tag is a completed sentence with a period. Tags can also go before the dialogue: Bill said, “I haven’t a clue.”

When using verbal tags, keep it simple. Use ‘said’ or ‘asked’ most of the time. You want your dialogue tags to be invisible. If you try to be ‘creative’ by using a variety of tags (stated, interjected, questioned, chorused, commanded, cheered) it draws attention to the tag and away from the dialogue. When necessary, you can use tags like whispered, yelled, cried, repeated, mumbled, but be sparing with these. If you use ‘hiss’ as a tag, make sure the dialogue has some ‘s’ sounds in it. “You’ll be sorry,” she hissed. Not: “You’ll regret it,” she hissed.

Also, make sure the verbal tag is really speech. You can’t smile, laugh or toss dialogue. Use an action tag instead: Max smiled. “You know I love you best.”
Joanna laughed. “You love your dog more!”
Don’t use an action tag where a verbal tag belongs: “I agree,” he nodded.

As often as possible, ditch the tags completely. If you have just two people speaking and you’ve established who is in the scene, then leave the tags out. Readers love all that white space on the page:
Mom was waiting for me when I burst into the house.
“Where have you been?”
“Out.”
“Out where? I was so worried.”
“You worry too much, Mom.”

You can tell who is speaking not only from the dialogue, but also by the format. Each time a different person speaks, start another paragraph. Alternating lines are the cue for a change in speakers and they keep the reader from being confused.

Punctuation: When dialogue ends with a tag line, use a comma not a period inside the quotes and before the tag. Put the period AFTER the tag:  “I love you,” he said.

If the dialogue is a question or exclamation, put the mark inside the quotes and use a period after the tag (if a tag is used).
“I love you!” he yelled.
“You do?”

You can interrupt dialogue: “Listen carefully,” Mary said, “because I’m only going to say this once.” That’s all one sentence so only one period is used. Or you could use two sentences: “Listen carefully,” Mary said. “I’m only going to say this once.”

Resist the urge to describe how characters are talking. No adverbs! J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame drove her readers nuts with adverbs in dialogue tags. Maybe it’s OK in British English, but it drives Americans crazy. My favorite: “Take care of yourself, Harry,” said Sirius seriously. The dialogue itself or the actions with it should be enough to convey the emotion. No need to say, “Watch out!” he yelled loudly. (yelling IS loud) “I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered softly. (A whisper IS soft)

Thoughts are not spoken so they are usually put in italics with no quote marks: Mary turned away from John. He’s so full of himself, she thought.

If you find yourself telling the reader what people said (Mother said Uncle James was coming over but then Dad blew up at her for not telling him sooner) see if you can rewrite using dialogue instead. It will break up tedious paragraphs of description, liven up the story and give the reader more of that precious white space they love.

For more tips on dialogue, check out this blog:
http://theeditorsblog.net/2010/12/08/punctuation-in-dialogue/



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