#dialogue tips

(a crash course in vibes, verbal economy, and making your characters shut up already)

Okay. We need to talk about dialogue. Specifically: why everyone in your draft sounds like they’re in a high school improv group doing a dramatic reading of Riverdale fanfiction.

Before you panic, this is normal. Early dialogue is almost always too much. Too polished. Too "scripted." So if yours feels off? You’re not failing. You’re just doing Draft Zero Dialogue, and it’s time to revise it like a boss.

Here’s how to fix it.

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🎭 STEP ONE: DETOX THEATER ENERGY I say this with love: your characters are not all quippy geniuses. They do not need to deliver emotional monologues at every plot beat. They can just say things. Weird, half-finished, awkward things.

Real people:

interrupt each other

trail off mid-thought

dodge questions

contradict themselves

repeat stuff

change the subject randomly

Let your characters sound messy. Not every line needs to sparkle. In fact, the more effort you put into making dialogue ✨perfect✨, the more fake it sounds. Cut 30% of your clever lines and see what happens.

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🎤 STEP TWO: GIVE EACH CHARACTER A VERBAL FINGERPRINT The fastest way to make dialogue feel alive? Make everyone speak differently. Think rhythm, grammar, vocabulary, tone.

Some dials you can twist:

Long-winded vs. clipped

Formal vs. casual

Emojis of speech: sarcasm, filler words, expletives, slang

Sentence structure: do they talk in fragments? Run-ons? Spirals?

Emotion control: are they blunt, diplomatic, avoidant, performative?

Here’s a shortcut: imagine what your character sounds like over text. Are they the “lol okay” type or the “okie dokie artichokie 🌈✨” one? Now translate that into speech.

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🧠 STEP THREE: FUNCTION > FILLER Every line of dialogue should do something. Reveal something. Move something. Change something.

Ask:

Does this line push the plot forward?

Does it show character motivation/conflict/dynamic?

Does it create tension, add context, or raise a question?

If it’s just noise? It’s dead air. Cut it. Replace it with a glance. A gesture. A silence that says more.

TIP: look at a dialogue scene and remove every third line. Does the scene still work? Probably better.

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💥 STEP FOUR: REACTIVITY IS THE GOLD STANDARD Characters don’t talk into a void. They respond. And how they respond = the real juice.

Don’t just write back-and-forth ping pong. Write conflict, dodge, misunderstanding. If one character says something vulnerable, the other might joke. Or ignore it. Or say something cruel. That’s tension.

Dialogue is not just information exchange. It’s emotional strategy.

Try this exercise: A says something revealing. B lies. A notices, but pretends they don’t. B changes the subject. Now you’ve got a real scene.

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🔍 STEP FIVE: PAY ATTENTION TO POWER Every convo has a power dynamic, even if it’s tiny. Who’s steering? Who’s withholding? Who’s deflecting, chasing, challenging?

Power can shift line to line. That shift = tension. And tension = narrative fuel.

Write conversations like chess matches, not ping pong.

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✂️ STEP SIX: SCISSORS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND The best dialogue is often the second draft. Or third. Or fourth. First drafts are just you figuring out what everyone wants to say. Later drafts figure out what they actually would say.

Things to cut:

Greetings/closings ("Hi!" "Bye!"--skip it unless it serves tone)

Exposition disguised as chat

Obvious thoughts spoken aloud

Explaining jokes

Repeating what we already know

Readers are smart. Let them fill in blanks.

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🎧 STEP SEVEN: READ IT OUT LOUD (YES, REALLY) If you hate this step: too bad. It works. Read it. Mumbling is fine. Cringe is part of the ritual.

Ask yourself:

Would someone actually say this?

Does this sound like one person speaking, or a puppet show with one hand?

Where does the rhythm trip? Where’s the breath?

If you can’t say it out loud without wincing, the reader won’t make it either. Respect the vibe.

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🏁 TL;DR: If you want your dialogue to sound like real people, let your characters be real. Messy. Annoying. Human. Let them interrupt and lie and joke badly and say the wrong thing at the worst time.

Cut the improv class energy. Kill the urge to be ✨brilliant✨. And listen to how people talk when they’re scared, tired, pissed off, in love, or trying not to say what they mean.

That’s where the good stuff is.

—rin t. // thewriteadviceforwriters // official advocate of awkward silences and one-word replies

P.S. I made a free mini eBook about the 5 biggest mistakes writers make in the first 10 pages 👀 you can grab it here for FREE:

When writers struggle with dialogue, it’s often not the words themselves that are the problem, but how those words are presented on the page. Dialogue formatting, attribution, and action beats aren’t arbitrary rules invented to make writing harder. They exist to help the reader move through a scene smoothly, without stopping to ask, Who’s talking? What just happened? Let’s walk through the essentials.

1. New Speaker, New Line

Every time a new character speaks, begin a new paragraph. This is non-negotiable. It’s the clearest visual signal you can give the reader.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Lily said. “You never do,” Joe replied.

Even before reading the words, the reader understands there are two voices in the scene.

2. Dialogue and Attribution Tags

Spoken dialogue is enclosed in double quotation marks. When a line is followed by an attribution tag (he said, she asked), the dialogue ends with a comma inside the quotation marks.

“You’re late,” Lily said.

If the tag comes after a complete sentence, the dialogue itself still uses a comma, not a period. The sentence isn’t finished until the tag is finished.

When the tag comes before or in the middle of dialogue, punctuation shifts slightly:

Lily said, “You’re late.” “You’re late,” Lily said, “and you didn’t even text.”

If the same speaker continues after the tag, the next line of dialogue is capitalized like a normal sentence.

3. Action Beats vs. Tags

Action beats are not tags. They are full sentences that describe what a character does. Because they’re separate sentences, dialogue followed by an action beat ends with a period, not a comma.

“I warned you.” Joe grabbed him by the collar.

If the action and dialogue belong to the same character, they stay in the same paragraph.

“I warned you.” Joe folded his arms. “You didn’t listen.”

This tells the reader the same person is speaking and acting, without needing an extra he said.

4. When you don't need a tag at all

In a clear back-and-forth between two characters, attribution tags can often be omitted entirely.

“You coming or not?” “Give me a minute.” “You said that ten minutes ago.” “Will you get off my back?”

As long as the exchange remains uninterrupted and clear, the reader can track who’s speaking without help.

Once something interrupts the rhythm like a third speaker, an action, or a shift in focus, tags or beats need to return.

5. Interruptions and Cut-Off Dialogue

When a character is interrupted or cut off mid-sentence, use an em dash.

“I just thought—” “No,” Lily said. “Don’t.”

If the original speaker resumes after being interrupted, lead back in with another em dash.

“I just thought—” “No.” “—that you should know.”

Em dashes indicate interruption. Ellipses do something different.

6. Trailing Off and Ellipses

Ellipses suggest a voice fading, hesitating, or leaving something unfinished.

“I mean, I guess we could…” Joe looked away.

This isn’t interruption. It’s uncertainty.

7. Using Action to Replace Adverbs

Instead of telling the reader how a line is delivered, show it through context or movement.

Less effective:

“I don’t care,” Lily said angrily.

More effective:

“I don’t care.” Lily slammed the door behind her.

Action beats shape tone without forcing the reader to reinterpret the dialogue.

8. Internal Thoughts as Interruptions

Direct thoughts are usually italicized and don’t need tags, since we only hear them from the point-of-view character.

“This is a terrible idea,” Joe said. This is a catastrophic idea.

Thoughts can interrupt dialogue the same way actions can, adding subtext and contrast.

9. Multiple Speakers in a Scene

With more than two characters, tags and action beats become more important for clarity.

“That won’t work,” Lily said. Joe shook his head. “It will if you let it.” “You’re both missing the point,” Henry said, finally looking up.

Actions help attach each voice without constant repetition of names.

*A Final Rule Worth Remembering:

Whenever an attribution tag can be omitted without confusing the reader, it probably should be. Neutral tags like said and asked are nearly invisible, which is their strength. Overly descriptive tags and adverbs slow the reader down and pull focus away from the dialogue itself.

Dialogue should feel effortless to read. The goal is for the mechanics to disappear so character, tension, and emotion can take center stage.

Writing conventions are used to maintain clarity and understanding for the reader. That being said, conventions are not rules and some writers choose to subvert them. Whether learning conventions to use them or ignore them, being intentional and aware is ideal.

⬩ 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔩𝔢 𝔳𝔰. 𝔡𝔬𝔲𝔟𝔩𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔬𝔱𝔢𝔰 ⬩ 𝔭𝔲𝔫𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔫𝔱 ⬩ 𝔡𝔦𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢 𝔳𝔰. 𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔞𝔤𝔰 ⬩ 𝔠𝔞𝔭𝔦𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 ⬩ 𝔠𝔦𝔱𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫𝔰 ⬩ 𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔞𝔩 𝔡𝔦𝔞𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢 ⬩ 𝔢𝔪 𝔡𝔞𝔰𝔥𝔢𝔰 ⬩ 𝔢𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔭𝔰𝔢𝔰 ⬩ 𝔭𝔞𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔯𝔞𝔭𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 ⬩

^Here's what's included below :)

Okay… so one of the biggest writing hurdles I often face is writing dialogue. Good dialogue. I know such a statement can be pretty subjective, but there’s something to dialogue that demands attention. There’s things involved like subtext, purpose, characterization, and sense of realism. On the other hand, there’s also character voice, expression, body language, and dialogue tags (sparingly, if you can)… all of which can be important, too. Sometimes it’s tricky for me to get a handle on writing dialogue that sounds natural, less stilted, and more as though the characters are real and conversing like we humans would (not to say dialogue should include unnecessary filler-words and repetitions we tend to overuse in our day-to-day conversations). 

Today, I’m going to share three quick tips I’ve accumulated from research and from my own experiences in creative fiction workshops on improving your dialogue. 

1. Avoid needless filler-words and phrases.

Let’s just get this one out of the way. I know this was already mentioned a few sentences ago, but it needs to be further cemented. This is the kind of fluff that we use in day-to-day chatter, like misused grammar, useless small talk, and talking in circles that, more often than not, comes across as boring and trivial. We may think this is a good way to create realistic dialogue, but alas, there is such thing as too-realistic dialogue. Focus instead on crafting dialogue that sounds as natural as possible. At least, try to get rid of the fluff, or use it with caution, as it may bog down your pacing and slow down your readers. 

This doesn’t mean you can’t utilize some small talk, repetitions, filler words, or speech patterns like stammering. Rules are sometimes meant to be bent, just a little. It can be used to create distinctions between unique character voices, lighten the mood, express an emotion that is being felt, if you know where to put them. Dialogue can — and should — be personalized to each character. 

This brings me to the next point:

2. Refrain from revealing too much information at once. 

Not only is this considered info-dumping, but giving away a ton of detail in a piece of dialogue can come across as stiff and out-of-place.  Though it may seem convenient to utilize dialogue as a way to pass information to the reader without getting all repetitive or boring within the narrative, it tends to break away from what the character (or a real person) might actually say. Especially when it’s given to a character that has no reason or incentive to recite drawn-out exposition to give the reader some background. This can be attributed to being uncharacteristic. 

Try tweaking it as to fit your character’s voice: their mood, how they communicate their values, which aspects they find more important to discuss, which topics they actively avoid or tend to overlook. Also keep in mind who they’re speaking to, and whether or not they need to hear the information, as well. 

3. Think about what is being left un-said.

Now, I’ve mentioned subtext quite a bit, already. Subtext, as the definition goes from Literaryterms.net, is “the unspoken or less obvious meaning or message in a literary composition, drama, speech, or conversation.” Knowing this, we can implicitly communicate to the reader covertly a truer meaning or mood within a conversation or interaction between characters: that a character is smiling through a grimace trying to look as if he’s enjoying what his friend had cooked for him when in reality he’s forcing it to spare their feelings. Or, when a woman says “she’s fine” when actually she’s not fine (real). Her answer is forced, her tone clipped, her arms are firmly crossed and she’s angling herself away. How about when a character is pining for another? They might stammer over their words and are prone to blushing whenever they’re around. 

There’s a lot of different ways you can go about using subtext. I probably could’ve added a lot more, but all I want to say for now is that the beauty of subtext allows to stir interest and to further character examination, especially in dialogue. There is more that can be said, but the characters may choose not to. It could also be used to hint at the reader, to foreshadow, facilitate themes, make contradictions, to build tension and emotion… there’s internal conflict that can be explored here. Let your characters tell their own stories in their own, unique ways.  

Want to rise to the extreme challenge of a dialogue opening? If so, it’s yours to earn. Here are a few tips to help you keep from throwing away your novel’s most precious real estate:

Use dialogue that’s both distinctive and evocative—and worthy of the incredible spotlight you are shining upon it.

Make sure the dialogue helps orient the reader to the nature of your novel’s core conflict.

Allow spoken words to reveal character.

Avoid the biggest objection readers have to a dialogue opening—the inability to conjure context while not yet knowing the speakers or their situation— by providing contextual clues.

Tap into preset expectations by establishing genre.

Assert each character’s motivation for entering this dialogue.

Be mindful of pace, as back-and-forth dialogue along with its associated white space can, while reeling in the reader, also speed things up to the point that the reader might miss important contextual clues. Adding actions and setting details can enrich the dialogue and establish a more measured introduction the story.

As in any opening, base your choices on what the protagonist wants, not what you-as-author think the reader should know.

writer tips on something I struggle with, individuality in dialogue! sometimes I feel like all my characters sound like the same person, all their styles of speaking sound the same so here’s some things you can vary to switch it up! (also ideas for how to characterize through dialogue)

- use of slang, contractions, and curse words

- what filler words + phrases they use and how often (like, um, uh, ah, you know, so, etc.)

- catchphrases/words they use often

- how they get peoples attention to start a story/start talking (do they just start talking, add onto someone else’s thought, etc.)

- tone, tone, tone!! we’ve all heard to use words besides said and this majorly helps for differentiating characters

-  do they speak in complete sentences, do they ramble, do they interrupt people

- manners, basic things like if they say please, thank you, excuse me, pardon, etc. 

- speed/pace

- non-verbal things, do they fidget while they talk, lots of hand gestures, etc

- how often they speak and with which other characters

- do they mumble or talk to themselves

If you're ever having trouble writing wholesome or fluffy dialogue for your characters, listen to two guy best friends on a phone call or facetime (or just watch a video of boys haging out and being boys)!

I personally get inspiration from my dad when he talks to his friends for like 2 hours over the phone. Sometimes, their phone calls get a little serious, but for the most part, they're pretty wholesome and filled with playful/teasing banter, which is perfect for dialogue in my writing!

And from what I've seen, a lot of guys are like this, so finding good reference subjects shouldn't be too hard.

Your dialogue should be believable, but it does not have to be realistic!

Do you think anyone speaks the way that Jane Austen's characters speak? No!