Writing Dialogue

Writing Dialogue Writing richer conversations

Format • When characters speak, their exact language should be in quotes, and the reader should know who’s speaking, thus these rules: • Each speaker gets his or her own paragraph; a return indent. • Attributions(He said, she said and variations) should be used but not too much. • Always use a comma after an attribution (She said,) when intriducing a quote.

Example: When I was eight, my father dragged me into my bedroom after I lit a folded pile of his shirts on fire. I sat on the edge of the bed, not looking up, my hands folded mannerly in my lap. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Nothing,” I said. “You lit my shorts on fire! Where did you learn to do that?” “Daycare.” I snickered.

Enriched dialogue • Tags: he said, she said, Scott yelled, Leah cried, Dad asked. • When the speaker’s tag (not part of the actual dialogue) comes first, the comma is outside the quotation mark. • When it pertains to dialogue, sentence punctuation goes within quotation marks. • EX: “Speak up,” He barked.

Repetitious Tags • Do not over use certain tags! This creates a repetitious feel to your writing and is quite boring. “Hi,” he said. “Hey,” she said. “Want to go to homecoming?” he said. “Sure,” she said.

Repetitious Tags Much better… “Hi,” Tommy squeaked. “Hey,” Amy replied as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Want to go to homecoming?” Tommy barely managed to get out the words. “Sure!” she yelled with joy.

Writing Exercise • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Weaop_aiTg • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM-gZintWDc • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grSg8cd8v-Q • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPqYnC-SW5w

Writing Dialogue