Writing dialogue is something that a lot of authors struggle with, so I thought I’d share my top tips in hopes that it helps.

With dialogue, most trouble comes in three areas:

• how to tag your dialogue
• the natural flow of the conversation
• what to include and what to summarize

Here’s my best tip for each area.

HOW TO TAG YOUR DIALOGUE:

Don’t be concerned about using “he said” or “she said”. Said is an invisible dialogue tag that the reader’s brain skims right over and doesn’t see. That being said… if you can eliminate dialogue tags, you should. Oftentimes, it’s clear to the reader who is talking, so there’s no need for that. 

For example:

Sam strode towards the counter and winked at the barista. “Good morning,” he said.

In this example, it’s clear that Sam is the one who is saying good morning, because his action precedes the dialogue and it’s part of the same paragraph. So you could edit this to:

Sam strode towards the counter and winked at the barista. “Good morning.” 

Using a character’s actions to reactions to precede or follow dialogue is a great way to both tell the reader who is speaking, but also bring their words to life. Here are a few more examples of dialogue lines that are paired with character actions:

“I hate this town! Why don’t you understand that?” Jennifer kicked her backpack across the room.

“I thought we discussed this.” Frank’s shoulders sagged in defeat.

THE NATURAL FLOW OF CONVERSATION:

My best tip in this area is to use contractions. When people speak, they don’t normally separate words if they can combine them. How much you use them and to what extent depends on the character.

Example:  “We are going to go the park, do you want to come?”

Edit 1: “We’re going to go to the park, want to come?”

Edit 2 (most casual): “We’re gonna go to the park, wanna come?” 

An exception to the use of contractions or eliminated words would be if you have a very formal character, or potentially someone who is speaking English as a second language. 

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN DIALOGUE:

This is really about choosing what you will show in dialogue. Often authors start their dialogue at the beginning of a conversation and carry it through to the end, but that is often way too lengthy (and boring). Be selective with what you choose to show with dialogue. Ideally it will be the most interesting, emotional, or relevant part of the conversation. 

Example (what not to do):

The cell phone rang, startling Amber. Jim’s name appeared on her screen and she quickly grabbed the device and answered it. “Hey babe.”

“Hey.” Jim’s voice was hard to hear over the din of the airport.

“Already there?”

“Yep, my flight just landed.”

“Did you check a bag?”

“Nah, I just carried on my duffel.”

“Okay, I’ll head that way and meet you outside of baggage claim.”

“You should know…” he hesitated. “I brought someone with me.”

Amber frowned, confused at why Jim would have brought someone to their romantic weekend getaway. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to talk it out the phone. You’ll meet her when you get here.”

In this example, there’s a lot of boring details that are bogging down the flow of the book. With this scene, you could nix this dialogue altogether, such as shown in this second example.

Example (a better way to do it):

“I don’t want to talk it out the phone. You’ll meet her when you get here.” Jim’s words echoed in Amber’s head as she wove in and out of traffic, the airport exit still two miles away. Meet who? Jim had quickly ended the call, not saying anything else other than that he’d brought someone with him from Tulsa.

This opening is stronger, bogs down the scene less, and eliminates unnecessary details that don’t affect the story. 

I hope these tips help with your writing and editing of dialogue. Dialogue gets easier with time, and the more scenes you write.

Happy writing,

Alessandra