There’s a lot of good, easy-to-follow advice on ‘how to write realistic dialogue,’ and I will soon share my ideas on that here, but this first post on the subject will cover when and why I choose to use dialogue. Every writer should have this conversation with themselves before refining the dialogue that’s already on…
Tag: dialogue
Realistic dialogue shouldn’t sound too real.
Writers are great observers. We pay attention to people’s mannerisms and listen to conversations in cafes and train stations. Something we all know is that real-life conversation is not realistic dialogue. More than other writers, this is something I need to be reminded of because I love realism. I attempt to write my dialogue as…
What is subtext?
A previous post on writing dialogue with purpose is critical information, but it’s still just a small part of writing good and realistic dialogue overall. A line packed with purpose, for example, could still be a poor line if it lacks subtext. I’ll show what subtext is and explain why subtext is important to dialogue. …
What is the purpose of dialogue?
Every line of dialogue must serve a purpose. This instruction was something that I mentioned in my introductory post on the subject, How to write realistic dialogue? I half-dismissed it because every line of your writing – not only conversations between characters – must serve a purpose, but now I want to explore that point…