Fiction writer Rowena Macdonald says she finds writing dialogue much easier than constructing a plot—because, as she says, dialogue is all around us in real life, whereas strong fiction plots are not. She then offers 10 tips for solid dialogue. My favorites:
- “Don’t write out ums and ers. They are realistic, but they look cartoonish in a piece of literature. Instead, use ellipses to give the impression of pauses or uncertainty.”
- “If writing dialogue for a character with a specific accent, don’t write it out phonetically, as this can look patronizing and old-fashioned. Use odd syntax and a few choice bits of slang to convey their accent.”
- “Don’t be afraid to let conversations hang unresolved in mid-air and move on to another scene.”
Read more dialogue tips here from Macdonald—plus check out these other pieces from this month’s Glimmer Train bulletin:
- Want by Selena Anderson
- On the Preconceptual World by George Saunders
- To My Unknown Daughter: On the Inheritance of Writing by Melissa Sipin
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
Thanks, Jane. I’m like Rowena that dialogue is much easier to writer than plotting. I had a friend that said my first drafts always have my characters, naked, in a vacuum, but they’re talking up a storm.
Great tips. Writing dialog is hard for me, and this advice will help. 🙂
Dialogue is my favorite part to write. Gives me an excuse to talk to myself! I find it to be the most enjoyable challenge in writing because you really have to strive to let the characters develop through their word choices and verbal conflict.
Like the article, really professional tips. Writing dialogues is one of the most complicated things for me and probably for many others young writers. It’s not always easy to represent characters fully and to find your own way to do that, I will think over these tips, thank you!
So actual article! Will definitely use the tips in my work with students, thanks!
I always think writing dialogue is easy. But especially in script writing my editors always say it needs work. I find writing novels easier because I can get inside their heads.
I completely agree with this post. I would only add some technicalities that could make it or break it. Such as using correct dialogue tags, adjectives after those tags… Something like this https://katherinemilkovich.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/writing-style-and-dialogue/
Because unfortunately, I saw a lot of people ruining perfectly good dialogues by not following those simple writing rules.