what is dialogue in an essay

Writing A Narrative Essay

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• Books & EBooks
• What is an Narrative Essay?
• Choosing a Topic
• MLA Formatting

Using Dialogue

• Using Descriptive Writing
• OER Resources
• Copyright, Plagiarism, and Fair Use

Examples of Dialogue Tags

Examples of Dialogue Tags:

interrupted

Ebooks in Galileo

Additional Links & Resources

• Dialogue Cheat Sheet

Dialogue is an exchange of conversation between two or more people or characters in a story. As a literary style, dialogue helps to advance the plot, reveal a character's thoughts or emotions, or shows the character's reaction within the story. Dialogue gives life to the story and supports the story's atmosphere.

There are two types of dialogue that can be used in an narrative essay.

Direct dialogue  is written between inverted commas or quotes. These are the actual spoken words of a character 

Indirect dialogue  is basically telling someone about what another person said

Formatting Dialogue

Dialogue is an important part of a narrative essay, However formatting dialogue can be troublesome at times.

When formatting dialogue use these rules and examples to help with your formatting:

Place double quotation marks at the beginning an end of spoken words.  The quotations go on the  outside  of both the words and end-of-dialogue punctuation.

• Example:  "What is going on here?" John asked.

Each speaker gets a new paragraph that is indented.

      “hi,” said John as he stretched out his hand.

           "Good Morning, how are you?" said Brad shaking John’s hand.

                      "Good. Thanks for asking," John said.

Each speaker’s actions are in the same paragraph as their dialogue.

 A  dialogue tag  is anything that indicates which character spoke and describes how they spoke.

If the tag comes before the dialogue,  use a comma straight after the tag. If the dialogue is the beginning of a sentence, capitalize the first letter. End the dialogue with the appropriate punctuation (period, exclamation point, or question mark), but keep it INSIDE the quotation marks.

• Examples Before: 

James said, “I’ll never go shopping with you again!”

John said, “It's a great day to be at the beach.”

She opened the door and yelled, “Go away! Leave me alone!”

If the dialogue tag comes after the dialogue , Punctuation still goes INSIDE quotation marks. Unless the dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, it is  not  capitalized. End the dialogue tag with appropriate punctuation. Use comma after the quote unless it ends with a question mark or exclamation mark.

• Examples After: 

“Are you sure this is real life?” Lindsay asked.

“It’s so gloomy out,” he said.

“Are we done?” asked Brad . 

“This is not your concern!” Emma said.

If dialogue tag is in the middle of dialogue.  A comma should be used before the dialogue tag inside the closing quotation mark; Unless the dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, it is  not  capitalized. A comma is used after the dialogue tag, outside of quotation marks, to reintroduce the dialogue. End the dialogue with the appropriate punctuation followed by the closing quotation marks. 

When it is two sentences, the first sentence will end with a punctuation mark and the second begins with a capital letter.

• Examples middle: 

“Let’s run away,” she whispered, “we wont get another chance.”

“I thought you cared.” Sandy said, hoping for an explanation. “How could you walk away?”

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Jerry whispered. “I’ll miss him.”

Questions in dialogue.  

if there is a dialogue tag, the question mark will act as a comma and you will then lowercase the first word in the dialogue tag 

• Example: What are you doing?" he asked.

if there is simply an action after the question, the question mark acts as a period and you will then capitalize the first word in the next sentence.

“Sarah, why didn't you text me back?” Jane asked.

“James, why didn’t you show up?” Carol stomped her feet in anger before slamming the door behind her.

If the question or exclamation ends the dialogue, do not use commas to separate the dialogue from dialogue tags.

• Example:  “Sarah, why didn't you text me back?” Jane asked.

If the sentence containing the dialogue is a question, then the        question mark goes outside of the quotation marks.

Did the teacher say, “The Homework is due Tomorrow”?

If you have to quote something within the dialogue.  When a character quotes someone else, use double-quotes around what your character says, then single-quotes around the speech they’re quoting.

• Example: 

"When doling out dessert, my grandmother always said, 'You may have a cookie for each hand.'"

Dashes & Ellipses:

Dashes ( — ) are used to indicate abruptly interrupted dialogue or when one character's dialogue is interrupted by another character.

Use an em dash  inside  the quotation marks to cut off the character mid-dialogue, usually with either (A) another character speaking or (B) an external action.

• Including the em dash at the end of the line of dialogue signifies that your character wasn't finished speaking.
• If the speaking character's action interrupts their own dialogue . 
• Use em dashes  outside  the quotation marks to set off a bit of action without a speech verb. 

Examples: 

• Heather ran towards Sarah with excitement. “You won’t believe what I found out—”
• "Is everything—" she started to ask, but a sharp look cut her off.
• "Look over there—" She snapped her mouth shut so she didn't give the secret away.
• "Look over there"—she pointed towards the shadow—"by the stairway."

Use ellipses (...) when a character has lost their train of thought or can't figure out what to say

• Example:  “You haven’t…” he trailed off in disbelief.

Action Beats

Action beats show what a character is doing before, during, or after their dialogue.

“This isn't right.” She squinted down at her burger. “Does this look like it is well done to you?”

She smiled. “I loved the center piece you chose.”

If you separate two complete sentences, you will simply place the action beat as its own sentence between two sets of quotes.

“I never said he could go to the concert.” Linda sighed and sat in her chair. “He lied to you again.”

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How to Write Dialogue: 7 Great Tips for Writers (With Examples)

By Hannah Yang

Great dialogue serves multiple purposes. It moves your plot forward. It develops your characters and it makes the story more engaging.

It’s not easy to do all these things at once, but when you master the art of writing dialogue, readers won’t be able to put your book down.

In this article, we will teach you the rules for writing dialogue and share our top dialogue tips that will make your story sing.

Dialogue Rules

How to format dialogue, 7 tips for writing dialogue in a story or book, dialogue examples.

Before we look at tips for writing powerful dialogue , let’s start with an overview of basic dialogue rules.

• Start a new paragraph each time there’s a new speaker. Whenever a new character begins to speak, you should give them their own paragraph. This rule makes it easier for the reader to follow the conversation.
• Keep all speech between quotation marks . Everything that a character says should go between quotation marks, including the final punctuation marks. For example, periods and commas should always come before the final quotation mark, not after.
• Don’t use end quotations for paragraphs within long speeches. If a single character speaks for such a long time that you break their speech up into multiple paragraphs, you should omit the quotation marks at the end of each paragraph until they stop talking. The final quotation mark indicates that their speech is over.
• Use single quotes when a character quotes someone else. Whenever you have a quote within a quote, you should use single quotation marks (e.g. She said, “He had me at ‘hello.’”)
• Dialogue tags are optional. A dialogue tag is anything that indicates which character is speaking and how, such as “she said,” “he whispered,” or “I shouted.” You can use dialogue tags if you want to give the reader more information about who’s speaking, but you can also choose to omit them if you want the dialogue to flow more naturally. We’ll be discussing more about this rule in our tips below.

Let’s walk through some examples of how to format dialogue .

The simplest formatting option is to write a line of speech without a dialogue tag. In this case, the entire line of speech goes within the quotation marks, including the period at the end.

• Example: “I think I need a nap.”

Another common formatting option is to write a single line of speech that ends with a dialogue tag.

Here, you should separate the speech from the dialogue tag with a comma, which should go inside the quotation marks.

• Example: “I think I need a nap,” Maria said.

You can also write a line of speech that starts with a dialogue tag. Again, you separate the dialogue tag with a comma, but this time, the comma goes outside the quotation marks.

• Example: Maria said, “I think I need a nap.”

As an alternative to a simple dialogue tag, you can write a line of speech accompanied by an action beat. In this case, you should use a period rather than a comma, because the action beat is a full sentence.

• Example: Maria sat down on the bed. “I think I need a nap.”

Finally, you can choose to include an action beat while the character is talking.

In this case, you would use em-dashes to separate the action from the dialogue, to indicate that the action happens without a pause in the speech.

• Example: “I think I need”—Maria sat down on the bed—“a nap.”

Now that we’ve covered the basics, we can move on to the more nuanced aspects of writing dialogue.

Here are our seven favorite tips for writing strong, powerful dialogue that will keep your readers engaged.

Tip #1: Create Character Voices

Dialogue is a great way to reveal your characters. What your characters say, and how they say it, can tell us so much about what kind of people they are.

Some characters are witty and gregarious. Others are timid and unobtrusive.

Speech patterns vary drastically from person to person.

To make someone stop talking to them, one character might say “I would rather not talk about this right now,” while another might say, “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

When you’re writing dialogue, think about your character’s education level, personality, and interests.

• What kind of slang do they use?
• Do they prefer long or short sentences?
• Do they ask questions or make assertions?

Each character should have their own voice.

Ideally, you want to write dialogue that lets your reader identify the person speaking at any point in your story just by looking at what’s between the quotation marks.

Tip #2: Write Realistic Dialogue

Good dialogue should sound natural. Listen to how people talk in real life and try to replicate it on the page when you write dialogue.

Don’t be afraid to break the rules of grammar, or to use an occasional exclamation point to punctuate dialogue.

It’s okay to use contractions , sentence fragments , and run-on sentences , even if you wouldn’t use them in other parts of the story.

This doesn’t mean that realistic dialogue should sound exactly like the way people speak in the real world.

If you’ve ever read a court transcript, you know that real-life speech is riddled with “ums” and “ahs” and repeated words and phrases. A few paragraphs of this might put your readers to sleep.

Compelling dialogue should sound like a real conversation, while still being wittier, smoother, and better worded than real speech.

Tip #3: Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

A dialogue tag is anything that tells the reader which character is talking within that same paragraph, such as “she said” or “I asked.”

When you’re writing dialogue, remember that simple dialogue tags are the most effective .

Often, you can omit dialogue tags after the conversation has started flowing, especially if only two characters are participating.

The reader will be able to keep up with who’s speaking as long as you start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

When you do need to use a dialogue tag, a simple “he said” or “she said” will do the trick.

Our brains generally skip over the word “said” when we’re reading, while other dialogue tags are a distraction.

A common mistake beginner writers make is to avoid using the word “said.”

Characters in amateur novels tend to mutter, whisper, declare, or chuckle at every line of dialogue. This feels overblown and distracts from the actual story.

Another common mistake is to attach an adverb to the word “said.” Characters in amateur novels rarely just say things—they have to say things loudly, quietly, cheerfully, or angrily.

If you’re writing great dialogue, readers should be able to figure out whether your character is cheerful or angry from what’s within the quotation marks.

The only exception to this rule is if the dialogue tag contradicts the dialogue itself. For example, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said angrily.

The word “angrily” is redundant here because the words inside the quotation marks already imply that the character is speaking angrily.

In contrast, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said thoughtfully.

Here, the word “thoughtfully” is well-placed because it contrasts with what we might otherwise assume. It adds an additional nuance to the sentence inside the quotation marks.

You can use the ProWritingAid dialogue check when you write dialogue to make sure your dialogue tags are pulling their weight and aren’t distracting readers from the main storyline.

Sign up for your free ProWritingAid account to check your dialogue tags today.

Tip #4: Balance Speech with Action

When you’re writing dialogue, you can use action beats —descriptions of body language or physical action—to show what each character is doing throughout the conversation.

Learning how to write action beats is an important component of learning how to write dialogue.

Good dialogue becomes even more interesting when the characters are doing something active at the same time.

You can watch people in real life, or even characters in movies, to see what kinds of body language they have. Some pick at their fingernails. Some pace the room. Some tap their feet on the floor.

Including physical action when writing dialogue can have multiple benefits:

• It changes the pace of your dialogue and makes the rhythm more interesting
• It prevents “white room syndrome,” which is when a scene feels like it’s happening in a white room because it’s all dialogue and no description
• It shows the reader who’s speaking without using speaker tags

You can decide how often to include physical descriptions in each scene. All dialogue has an ebb and flow to it, and you can use beats to control the pace of your dialogue scenes.

If you want a lot of tension in your scene, you can use fewer action beats to let the dialogue ping-pong back and forth.

If you want a slower scene, you can write dialogue that includes long, detailed action beats to help the reader relax.

You should start a separate sentence, or even a new paragraph, for each of these longer beats.

Tip #5: Write Conversations with Subtext

Every conversation has subtext , because we rarely say exactly what we mean. The best dialogue should include both what is said and what is not said.

I once had a roommate who cared a lot about the tidiness of our apartment, but would never say it outright. We soon figured out that whenever she said something like “I might bring some friends over tonight,” what she meant was “Please wash your dishes, because there are no clean plates left for my friends to use.”

When you’re writing dialogue, it’s important to think about what’s not being said. Even pleasant conversations can hide a lot beneath the surface.

Is one character secretly mad at the other?

Is one secretly in love with the other?

Is one thinking about tomorrow’s math test and only pretending to pay attention to what the other person is saying?

Personally, I find it really hard to use subtext when I write dialogue from scratch.

In my first drafts I let my characters say what they really mean. Then, when I’m editing, I go back and figure out how to convey the same information through subtext instead.

Tip #6: Show, Don’t Tell

When I was in high school, I once wrote a story in which the protagonist’s mother tells her: “As you know, Susan, your dad left us when you were five.”

I’ve learned a lot about the writing craft since high school, but it doesn’t take a brilliant writer to figure out that this is not something any mother would say to her daughter in real life.

The reason I wrote that line of dialogue was because I wanted to tell the reader when Susan last saw her father, but I didn’t do it in a realistic way.

Don’t shoehorn information into your characters’ conversations if they’re not likely to say it to each other.

One useful trick is to have your characters get into an argument.

You can convey a lot of information about a topic through their conflicting opinions, without making it sound like either of the characters is saying things for the reader’s benefit.

Here’s one way my high school self could have conveyed the same information in a more realistic way in just a few lines:

Susan: “Why didn’t you tell me Dad was leaving? Why didn’t you let me say goodbye?”

Mom: “You were only five. I wanted to protect you.”

Tip #7: Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Dialogue tends to flow out easily when you’re drafting your story, so in the editing process, you’ll need to be ruthless. Cut anything that doesn’t move the story forward.

Try not to write dialogue that feels like small talk.

You can eliminate most hellos and goodbyes, or summarize them instead of showing them. Readers don’t want to waste their time reading dialogue that they hear every day.

In addition, try not to write dialogue with too many trigger phrases, which are questions that trigger the next line of dialogue, such as:

• “And then what?”
• “What do you mean?”

It’s tempting to slip these in when you’re writing dialogue because they keep the conversation flowing. I still catch myself doing this from time to time.

Remember that you don’t need three lines of dialogue when one line could accomplish the same thing.

Let’s look at some dialogue examples from successful novels that follow each of our seven tips.

Dialogue Example #1: How to Create Character Voice

Let’s start with an example of a character with a distinct voice from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling.

“What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can’t you?” Colin had run down from his seat and was now dancing alongside them as they left the field. Ron gave a huge heave and more slugs dribbled down his front. “Oooh,” said Colin, fascinated and raising his camera. “Can you hold him still, Harry?”

Most readers could figure out that this was Colin Creevey speaking, even if his name hadn’t been mentioned in the passage.

This is because Colin Creevey is the only character who speaks with such extreme enthusiasm, even at a time when Ron is belching slugs.

This snippet of written dialogue does a great job of showing us Colin’s personality and how much he worships his hero Harry.

Dialogue Example #2: How to Write Realistic Dialogue

Here’s an example of how to write dialogue that feels realistic from A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

“As much as I love this land, some days I think about leaving it,” Babi said. “Where to?” “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget. Pakistan first, I suppose. For a year, maybe two. Wait for our paperwork to get processed.” “And then?” “And then, well, it is a big world. Maybe America. Somewhere near the sea. Like California.”

Notice the punctuation and grammar that these two characters use when they speak.

There are many sentence fragments in this conversation like, “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget.” and “Somewhere near the sea.”

Babi often omits the verbs from his sentences, just like people do in real life. He speaks in short fragments instead of long, flowing paragraphs.

This dialogue shows who Babi is and feels similar to the way a real person would talk, while still remaining concise.

Dialogue Example #3: How to Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

Here’s an example of effective dialogue tags in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

In this passage, the narrator’s been caught exploring the forbidden west wing of her new husband’s house, and she’s trying to make excuses for being there.

“I lost my way,” I said, “I was trying to find my room.” “You have come to the opposite side of the house,” she said; “this is the west wing.” “Yes, I know,” I said. “Did you go into any of the rooms?” she asked me. “No,” I said. “No, I just opened a door, I did not go in. Everything was dark, covered up in dust sheets. I’m sorry. I did not mean to disturb anything. I expect you like to keep all this shut up.” “If you wish to open up the rooms I will have it done,” she said; “you have only to tell me. The rooms are all furnished, and can be used.” “Oh, no,” I said. “No. I did not mean you to think that.”

In this passage, the only dialogue tags Du Maurier uses are “I said,” “she said,” and “she asked.”

Even so, you can feel the narrator’s dread and nervousness. Her emotions are conveyed through what she actually says, rather than through the dialogue tags.

This is a splendid example of evocative speech that doesn’t need fancy dialogue tags to make it come to life.

Dialogue Example #4: How to Balance Speech with Action

Let’s look at a passage from The Princess Bride by William Goldman, where dialogue is melded with physical action.

With a smile the hunchback pushed the knife harder against Buttercup’s throat. It was about to bring blood. “If you wish her dead, by all means keep moving," Vizzini said. The man in black froze. “Better,” Vizzini nodded. No sound now beneath the moonlight. “I understand completely what you are trying to do,” the Sicilian said finally, “and I want it quite clear that I resent your behavior. You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen, and I think it quite ungentlemanly.” “Let me explain,” the man in black began, starting to edge forward. “You’re killing her!” the Sicilian screamed, shoving harder with the knife. A drop of blood appeared now at Buttercup’s throat, red against white.

In this passage, William Goldman brings our attention seamlessly from the action to the dialogue and back again.

This makes the scene twice as interesting, because we’re paying attention not just to what Vizzini and the man in black are saying, but also to what they’re doing.

This is a great way to keep tension high and move the plot forward.

Dialogue Example #5: How to Write Conversations with Subtext

This example from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card shows how to write dialogue with subtext.

Here is the scene when Ender and his sister Valentine are reunited for the first time, after Ender’s spent most of his childhood away from home training to be a soldier.

Ender didn’t wave when she walked down the hill toward him, didn’t smile when she stepped onto the floating boat slip. But she knew that he was glad to see her, knew it because of the way his eyes never left her face. “You’re bigger than I remembered,” she said stupidly. “You too,” he said. “I also remembered that you were beautiful.” “Memory does play tricks on us.” “No. Your face is the same, but I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore. Come on. Let’s go out into the lake.”

In this scene, we can tell that Valentine missed her brother terribly, and that Ender went through a lot of trauma at Battle School, without either of them saying it outright.

The conversation could have started with Valentine saying “I missed you,” but instead, she goes for a subtler opening: “You’re bigger than I remembered.”

Similarly, Ender could say “You have no idea what I’ve been through,” but instead he says, “I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore.”

We can deduce what each of these characters is thinking and feeling from what they say and from what they leave unsaid.

Dialogue Example #6: How to Show, Not Tell

Let’s look at an example from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This scene is the story’s first introduction of the ancient creatures called the Chandrian.

“I didn’t know the Chandrian were demons,” the boy said. “I’d heard—” “They ain’t demons,” Jake said firmly. “They were the first six people to refuse Tehlu’s choice of the path, and he cursed them to wander the corners—” “Are you telling this story, Jacob Walker?” Cob said sharply. “Cause if you are, I’ll just let you get on with it.” The two men glared at each other for a long moment. Eventually Jake looked away, muttering something that could, conceivably, have been an apology. Cob turned back to the boy. “That’s the mystery of the Chandrian,” he explained. “Where do they come from? Where do they go after they’ve done their bloody deeds? Are they men who sold their souls? Demons? Spirits? No one knows.” Cob shot Jake a profoundly disdainful look. “Though every half-wit claims he knows...”

The three characters taking part in this conversation all know what the Chandrian are.

Imagine if Cob had said “As we all know, the Chandrian are mysterious demon-spirits.” We would feel like he was talking to us, not to the two other characters.

Instead, Rothfuss has all three characters try to explain their own understanding of what the Chandrian are, and then shoot each other’s explanations down.

When Cob reprimands Jake for interrupting him and then calls him a half-wit for claiming to know what he’s talking about, it feels like a realistic interaction.

This is a clever way for Rothfuss to introduce the Chandrian in a believable way.

Dialogue Example #7: How to Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Here’s an example of concise dialogue from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

“Do you blame me for flunking you, boy?” he said. “No, sir! I certainly don’t,” I said. I wished to hell he’d stop calling me “boy” all the time. He tried chucking my exam paper on the bed when he was through with it. Only, he missed again, naturally. I had to get up again and pick it up and put it on top of the Atlantic Monthly. It’s boring to do that every two minutes. “What would you have done in my place?” he said. “Tell the truth, boy.” Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told him how I would’ve done exactly the same thing if I’d been in his place, and how most people didn’t appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull.

Here, the last paragraph diverges from the prior ones. After the teacher says “Tell the truth, boy,” the rest of the conversation is summarized, rather than shown.

The summary of what the narrator says in the last paragraph—“I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff”—serves to hammer home that this is the type of “old bull” that the narrator has fed to his teachers over and over before.

It doesn’t need to be shown because it’s not important to the narrator—it’s just “all that stuff.”

Salinger could have written out the entire conversation in dialogue, but instead he kept the dialogue concise.

Final Words

Now you know how to write clear, effective dialogue! Start with the basic rules for dialogue and try implementing the more advanced tips as you go.

What are your favorite dialogue tips? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you know how to craft memorable, compelling characters? Download this free book now:

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Hannah Yang

Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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Dialogue Definition

What is dialogue? Here’s a quick and simple definition:

Dialogue is the exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a book, play, or other written work. In prose writing, lines of dialogue are typically identified by the use of quotation marks and a dialogue tag, such as "she said." In plays, lines of dialogue are preceded by the name of the person speaking. Here's a bit of dialogue from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland : "Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." "How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice. "You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here."

Some additional key details about dialogue:

• Dialogue is defined in contrast to monologue , when only one person is speaking.
• Dialogue is often critical for moving the plot of a story forward, and can be a great way of conveying key information about characters and the plot.
• Dialogue is also a specific and ancient genre of writing, which often takes the form of a philosophical investigation carried out by two people in conversation, as in the works of Plato. This entry, however, deals with dialogue as a narrative element, not as a genre.

How to Pronounce Dialogue

Here's how to pronounce dialogue: dye -uh-log

Dialogue in Depth

Dialogue is used in all forms of writing, from novels to news articles to plays—and even in some poetry. It's a useful tool for exposition (i.e., conveying the key details and background information of a story) as well as characterization (i.e., fleshing out characters to make them seem lifelike and unique).

Dialogue as an Expository Tool

Dialogue is often a crucial expository tool for writers—which is just another way of saying that dialogue can help convey important information to the reader about the characters or the plot without requiring the narrator to state the information directly. For instance:

• In a book with a first person narrator, the narrator might identify themselves outright (as in Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , which begins "My name is Kathy H. I am thirty-one years old, and I've been a carer now for over eleven years.").
• Tom Buchanan, who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder. "What you doing, Nick?”

The above example is just one scenario in which important information might be conveyed indirectly through dialogue, allowing writers to show rather than tell their readers the most important details of the plot.

Expository Dialogue in Plays and Films

Dialogue is an especially important tool for playwrights and screenwriters, because most plays and films rely primarily on a combination of visual storytelling and dialogue to introduce the world of the story and its characters. In plays especially, the most basic information (like time of day) often needs to be conveyed through dialogue, as in the following exchange from Romeo and Juliet :

BENVOLIO Good-morrow, cousin. ROMEO Is the day so young? BENVOLIO But new struck nine. ROMEO Ay me! sad hours seem long.

Here you can see that what in prose writing might have been conveyed with a simple introductory clause like "Early the next morning..." instead has to be conveyed through dialogue.

Dialogue as a Tool for Characterization

In all forms of writing, dialogue can help writers flesh out their characters to make them more lifelike, and give readers a stronger sense of who each character is and where they come from. This can be achieved using a combination of:

• Colloquialisms and slang: Colloquialism is the use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech. This can be used in dialogue to establish that a character is from a particular time, place, or class background. Similarly, slang can be used to associate a character with a particular social group or age group.
• The form the dialogue takes: for instance, multiple books have now been written in the form of text messages between characters—a form which immediately gives readers some hint as to the demographic of the characters in the "dialogue."
• The subject matter: This is the obvious one. What characters talk about can tell readers more about them than how the characters speak. What characters talk about reveals their fears and desires, their virtues and vices, their strengths and their flaws.

For example, in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's narrator uses dialogue to introduce Mrs. and Mr. Bennet, their relationship, and their differing attitudes towards arranging marriages for their daughters:

"A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” “How so? How can it affect them?” “My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.” “Is that his design in settling here?” “Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”

This conversation is an example of the use of dialogue as a tool of characterization , showing readers—without explaining it directly—that Mrs. Bennet is preoccupied with arranging marriages for her daughters, and that Mr. Bennet has a deadpan sense of humor and enjoys teasing his wife.

Recognizing Dialogue in Different Types of Writing

It's important to note that how a writer uses dialogue changes depending on the form in which they're writing, so it's useful to have a basic understanding of the form dialogue takes in prose writing (i.e., fiction and nonfiction) versus the form it takes in plays and screenplays—as well as the different functions it can serve in each. We'll cover that in greater depth in the sections that follow.

Dialogue in Prose

In prose writing, which includes fiction and nonfiction, there are certain grammatical and stylistic conventions governing the use of dialogue within a text. We won't cover all of them in detail here (we'll skip over the placement of commas and such), but here are some of the basic rules for organizing dialogue in prose:

• Punctuation : Generally speaking, lines of dialogue are encased in double quotation marks "such as this," but they may also be encased in single quotation marks, 'such as this.' However, single quotation marks are generally reserved for quotations within a quotation, e.g., "Even when I dared him he said 'No way,' so I dropped the subject."
• "Where did you go?" she asked .
• I said , "Leave me alone."
• "Answer my question," said Monica , "or I'm leaving."
• Line breaks : Lines of dialogue spoken by different speakers are generally separated by line breaks. This is helpful for determining who is speaking when dialogue tags have been omitted.

Of course, some writers ignore these conventions entirely, choosing instead to italicize lines of dialogue, for example, or not to use quotation marks, leaving lines of dialogue undifferentiated from other text except for the occasional use of a dialogue tag. Writers that use nonstandard ways of conveying dialogue, however, usually do so in a consistent way, so it's not hard to figure out when someone is speaking, even if it doesn't look like normal dialogue.

Indirect vs. Direct Dialogue

In prose, there are two main ways for writers to convey the content of a conversation between two characters: directly, and indirectly. Here's an overview of the difference between direct and indirect dialogue:

• This type of dialogue can often help lend credibility or verisimilitude to dialogue in a story narrated in the first-person, since it's unlikely that a real person would remember every line of dialogue that they had overheard or spoken.
• Direct Dialogue: This is what most people are referring to when they talk about dialogue. In contrast to indirect dialogue, direct dialogue is when two people are speaking and their words are in quotations.

Of these two types of dialogue, direct dialogue is the only one that counts as dialogue strictly speaking. Indirect dialogue, by contrast, is technically considered to be part of a story's narration.

A Note on Dialogue Tags and "Said Bookisms"

It is pretty common for writers to use verbs other than "said" and "asked"  to attribute a line of dialogue to a speaker in a text. For instance, it's perfectly acceptable for someone to write:

• Robert was beginning to get worried. "Hurry!" he shouted.
• "I am hurrying," Nick replied.

However, depending on how it's done, substituting different verbs for "said" can be quite distracting, since it shifts the reader's attention away from the dialogue and onto the dialogue tag itself. Here's an example where the use of  non-standard dialogue tags begins to feel a bit clumsy:

• Helen was thrilled. "Nice to meet you," she beamed .
• "Nice to meet you, too," Wendy chimed .

Dialogue tags that use verbs other than the standard set (which is generally thought to include "said," "asked," "replied," and "shouted") are known as "said bookisms," and are generally ill-advised. But these "bookisms" can be easily avoided by using adverbs or simple descriptions in conjunction with one of the more standard dialogue tags, as in:

• Helen was thrilled. "Nice to meet you," she said, beaming.
• "Nice to meet you, too," Wendy replied brightly.

In the earlier version, the irregular verbs (or "said bookisms") draw attention to themselves, distracting the reader from the dialogue. By comparison, this second version reads much more smoothly.

Dialogue in Plays

Dialogue in plays (and screenplays) is easy to identify because, aside from the stage directions, dialogue is the only thing a play is made of. Here's a quick rundown of the basic rules governing dialogue in plays:

• Names: Every line of dialogue is preceded by the name of the person speaking.
• Mama (outraged)  : What kind of way is that to talk about your brother?
• Line breaks: Each time someone new begins speaking, just as in prose, the new line of dialogue is separated from the previous one by a line break.

Rolling all that together, here's an example of what dialogue looks like in plays, from Edward Albee's Zoo Story:

JERRY: And what is that cross street there; that one, to the right? PETER: That? Oh, that's Seventy-fourth Street. JERRY: And the zoo is around Sixty-5th Street; so, I've been walking north. PETER: [anxious to get back to his reading] Yes; it would seem so. JERRY: Good old north. PETER: [lightly, by reflex] Ha, ha.

Dialogue Examples

The following examples are taken from all types of literature, from ancient philosophical texts to contemporary novels, showing that dialogue has always been an integral feature of many different types of writing.

Dialogue in Shakespeare's Othello

In this scene from Othello , the dialogue serves an expository purpose, as the messenger enters to deliver news about the unfolding military campaign by the Ottomites against the city of Rhodes.

First Officer Here is more news. Enter a Messenger Messenger The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after fleet. First Senator Ay, so I thought. How many, as you guess? Messenger Of thirty sail: and now they do restem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance Their purposes toward Cyprus. Signior Montano, Your trusty and most valiant servitor, With his free duty recommends you thus, And prays you to believe him.

Dialogue in Madeleine L'Engel's A Wrinkle in Time

From the classic children's book  A Wrinkle in Time , here's a good example of dialogue that uses a description of a character's tone of voice instead of using unconventional verbiage to tag the line of dialogue. In other words, L'Engel doesn't follow Calvin's line of dialogue with a distracting tag like "Calvin barked." Rather, she simply states that his voice was unnaturally loud.

"I'm different, and I like being different." Calvin's voice was unnaturally loud. "Maybe I don't like being different," Meg said, "but I don't want to be like everybody else, either."

It's also worth noting that this dialogue helps characterize Calvin as a misfit who embraces his difference from others, and Meg as someone who is concerned with fitting in.

Dialogue in A Visit From the Good Squad

This passage from Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Good Squad doesn't use dialogue tags at all. In this exchange between Alex and the unnamed woman, it's always clear who's speaking even though most of the lines of dialogue are not explicitly attributed to a speaker using tags like "he said."

Alex turns to the woman. “Where did this happen?” “In the ladies’ room. I think.” “Who else was there?” “No one.” “It was empty?” “There might have been someone, but I didn’t see her.” Alex swung around to Sasha. “You were just in the bathroom,” he said. “Did you see anyone?”

Elsewhere in the book, Egan peppers her dialogue with colloquialisms and slang to help with characterization . Here, the washed-up, alcoholic rock star Bosco says:

"I want interviews, features, you name it," Bosco went on. "Fill up my life with that shit. Let's document every fucking humiliation. This is reality, right? You don't look good anymore twenty years later, especially when you've had half your guts removed. Time's a goon, right? Isn't that the expression?"

In this passage, Bosco's speech is littered with colloquialisms, including profanity and his use of the word "guts" to describe his liver, establishing him as a character with a unique way of speaking.

Dialogue in Plato's Meno

The following passage is excerpted from a dialogue by Plato titled Meno.  This text is one of the more well-known Socratic dialogues. The two characters speaking are Socrates (abbreviated, "Soc.") and Meno (abbreviated, "Men."). They're exploring the subject of virtue together.

Soc. Now, if there be any sort-of good which is distinct from knowledge, virtue may be that good; but if knowledge embraces all good, then we shall be right in think in that virtue is knowledge? Men. True. Soc. And virtue makes us good? Men. Yes. Soc. And if we are good, then we are profitable; for all good things are profitable? Men. Yes. Soc. Then virtue is profitable? Men. That is the only inference.

Indirect Dialogue in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried

This passage from O'Brien's The Things They Carried exemplifies the use of indirect dialogue to summarize a conversation. Here, the third-person narrator tells how Kiowa recounts the death of a soldier named Ted Lavender. Notice how the summary of the dialogue is interwoven with the rest of the narrative.

They marched until dusk, then dug their holes, and that night Kiowa kept explaining how you had to be there, how fast it was, how the poor guy just dropped like so much concrete. Boom-down, he said. Like cement.

O'Brien takes liberties in his use of quotation marks and dialogue tags, making it difficult at times to distinguish between the voices of different speakers and the voice of the narrator. In the following passage, for instance, it's unclear who is the speaker of the final sentence:

The cheekbone was gone. Oh shit, Rat Kiley said, the guy's dead. The guy's dead, he kept saying, which seemed profound—the guy's dead. I mean really.

Why Do Writers Use Dialogue in Literature?

Most writers use dialogue simply because there is more than one character in their story, and dialogue is a major part of how the plot progresses and characters interact. But in addition to the fact that dialogue is virtually a necessary component of fiction, theater, and film, writers use dialogue in their work because:

• It aids in characterization , helping to flesh out the various characters and make them feel lifelike and individual.
• It is a useful tool of exposition , since it can help convey key information abut the world of the story and its characters.
• It moves the plot along. Whether it takes the form of an argument, an admission of love, or the delivery of an important piece of news, the information conveyed through dialogue is often essential not only to readers' understanding of what's going on, but to generating the action that furthers the story's plot line.

Other Helpful Dialogue Resources

• The Wikipedia Page on Dialogue: A bare-bones explanation of dialogue in writing, with one or two examples.
• The Dictionary Definition of Dialogue: A basic definition, with a bit on the etymology of the word (it comes from the Greek meaning "through discourse."
• Cinefix's video with their take on the 14 best dialogues of all time : A smart overview of what dialogue can accomplish in film.

• Characterization
• Colloquialism
• Dynamic Character
• Point of View
• Personification
• Internal Rhyme
• Connotation
• Juxtaposition
• Anachronism

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

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Last updated on Jul 24, 2023

15 Examples of Great Dialogue (And Why They Work So Well)

About the author.

Reedsy's editorial team is a diverse group of industry experts devoted to helping authors write and publish beautiful books.

About Martin Cavannagh

Head of Content at Reedsy, Martin has spent over eight years helping writers turn their ambitions into reality. As a voice in the indie publishing space, he has written for a number of outlets and spoken at conferences, including the 2024 Writers Summit at the London Book Fair.

Great dialogue is hard to pin down, but you know it when you hear or see it. In the earlier parts of this guide, we showed you some well-known tips and rules for writing dialogue. In this section, we'll show you those rules in action with 15 examples of great dialogue, breaking down exactly why they work so well.

1. Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered 

In the opening of Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered, we meet Willa Knox, a middle-aged and newly unemployed writer who has just inherited a ramshackle house. 

     “The simplest thing would be to tear it down,” the man said. “The house is a shambles.”      She took this news as a blood-rush to the ears: a roar of peasant ancestors with rocks in their fists, facing the evictor. But this man was a contractor. Willa had called him here and she could send him away. She waited out her panic while he stood looking at her shambles, appearing to nurse some satisfaction from his diagnosis. She picked out words.      “It’s not a living thing. You can’t just pronounce it dead. Anything that goes wrong with a structure can be replaced with another structure. Am I right?”      “Correct. What I am saying is that the structure needing to be replaced is all of it. I’m sorry. Your foundation is nonexistent.”

Alfred Hitchcock once described drama as "life with the boring bits cut out." In this passage, Kingsolver cuts out the boring parts of Willa's conversation with her contractor and brings us right to the tensest, most interesting part of the conversation.

By entering their conversation late , the reader is spared every tedious detail of their interaction.

Instead of a blow-by-blow account of their negotiations (what she needs done, when he’s free, how she’ll be paying), we’re dropped right into the emotional heart of the discussion. The novel opens with the narrator learning that the home she cherishes can’t be salvaged. 

By starting off in the middle of (relatively obscure) dialogue, it takes a moment for the reader to orient themselves in the story and figure out who is speaking, and what they’re speaking about. This disorientation almost mirrors Willa’s own reaction to the bad news, as her expectations for a new life in her new home are swiftly undermined.

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2. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice  

In the first piece of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice , we meet Mr and Mrs Bennet, as Mrs Bennet attempts to draw her husband into a conversation about neighborhood gossip.

     “My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”      Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.      “But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”      Mr. Bennet made no answer.      “Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently.      “You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”      This was invitation enough.      “Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

Austen’s dialogue is always witty, subtle, and packed with character. This extract from Pride and Prejudice is a great example of dialogue being used to develop character relationships . 

We instantly learn everything we need to know about the dynamic between Mr and Mrs Bennet’s from their first interaction: she’s chatty, and he’s the beleaguered listener who has learned to entertain her idle gossip, if only for his own sake (hence “you want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it”).

There is even a clear difference between the two characters visually on the page: Mr Bennet responds in short sentences, in simple indirect speech, or not at all, but this is “invitation enough” for Mrs Bennet to launch into a rambling and extended response, dominating the conversation in text just as she does audibly.

The fact that Austen manages to imbue her dialogue with so much character-building realism means we hardly notice the amount of crucial plot exposition she has packed in here. This heavily expository dialogue could be a drag to get through, but Austen’s colorful characterization means she slips it under the radar with ease, forwarding both our understanding of these people and the world they live in simultaneously.

3. Naomi Alderman, The Power

In The Power , young women around the world suddenly find themselves capable of generating and controlling electricity. In this passage, between two boys and a girl who just used those powers to light her cigarette.

     Kyle gestures with his chin and says, “Heard a bunch of guys killed a girl in Nebraska last week for doing that.”      “For smoking? Harsh.”      Hunter says, “Half the kids in school know you can do it.”      “So what?”      Hunter says, “Your dad could use you in his factory. Save money on electricity.”      “He’s not my dad.”      She makes the silver flicker at the ends of her fingers again. The boys watch.

Alderman here uses a show, don’t tell approach to expositional dialogue . Within this short exchange, we discover a lot about Allie, her personal circumstances, and the developing situation elsewhere. We learn that women are being punished harshly for their powers; that Allie is expected to be ashamed of those powers and keep them a secret, but doesn’t seem to care to do so; that her father is successful in industry; and that she has a difficult relationship with him. Using dialogue in this way prevents info-dumping backstory all at once, and instead helps us learn about the novel’s world in a natural way.

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4. Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

Here, friends Tommy and Kathy have a conversation after Tommy has had a meltdown. After being bullied by a group of boys, he has been stomping around in the mud, the precise reaction they were hoping to evoke from him.

     “Tommy,” I said, quite sternly. “There’s mud all over your shirt.”      “So what?” he mumbled. But even as he said this, he looked down and noticed the brown specks, and only just stopped himself crying out in alarm. Then I saw the surprise register on his face that I should know about his feelings for the polo shirt.      “It’s nothing to worry about.” I said, before the silence got humiliating for him. “It’ll come off. If you can’t get it off yourself, just take it to Miss Jody.”      He went on examining his shirt, then said grumpily, “It’s nothing to do with you anyway.”

This episode from Never Let Me Go highlights the power of interspersing action beats within dialogue . These action beats work in several ways to add depth to what would otherwise be a very simple and fairly nondescript exchange.  Firstly, they draw attention to the polo shirt, and highlight its potential significance in the plot. Secondly, they help to further define Kathy’s relationship with Tommy. 

We learn through Tommy’s surprised reaction that he didn’t think Kathy knew how much he loved his seemingly generic polo shirt. This moment of recognition allows us to see that she cares for him and understands him more deeply than even he realized. Kathy breaking the silence before it can “humiliate” Tommy further emphasizes her consideration for him. While the dialogue alone might make us think Kathy is downplaying his concerns with pragmatic advice, it is the action beats that tell the true story here.

5. J R R Tolkien, The Hobbit  

The eponymous hobbit Bilbo is engaged in a game of riddles with the strange creature Gollum.

     "What have I got in my pocket?" he said aloud. He was talking to himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully upset.       "Not fair! not fair!" he hissed. "It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?"      Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask stuck to his question. "What have I got in my pocket?" he said louder. "S-s-s-s-s," hissed Gollum. "It must give us three guesseses, my precious, three guesseses."      "Very well! Guess away!" said Bilbo.      "Handses!" said Gollum.      "Wrong," said Bilbo, who had luckily just taken his hand out again. "Guess again!"      "S-s-s-s-s," said Gollum, more upset than ever. 

Tolkein’s dialogue for Gollum is a masterclass in creating distinct character voices . By using a repeated catchphrase (“my precious”) and unconventional spelling and grammar to reflect his unusual speech pattern, Tolkien creates an idiosyncratic, unique (and iconic) speech for Gollum. This vivid approach to formatting dialogue, which is almost a transliteration of Gollum's sounds, allows readers to imagine his speech pattern and practically hear it aloud.

We wouldn’t recommend using this extreme level of idiosyncrasy too often in your writing — it can get wearing for readers after a while, and Tolkien deploys it sparingly, as Gollum’s appearances are limited to a handful of scenes. However, you can use Tolkien’s approach as inspiration to create (slightly more subtle) quirks of speech for your own characters.

6. F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

The narrator, Nick has just done his new neighbour Gatsby a favor by inviting his beloved Daisy over to tea. Perhaps in return, Gatsby then attempts to make a shady business proposition.

     “There’s another little thing,” he said uncertainly, and hesitated.      “Would you rather put it off for a few days?” I asked.      “Oh, it isn’t about that. At least —” He fumbled with a series of beginnings. “Why, I thought — why, look here, old sport, you don’t make much money, do you?”      “Not very much.”      This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.       “I thought you didn’t, if you’ll pardon my — you see, I carry on a little business on the side, a little side line, if you understand. And I thought that if you don’t make very much — You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?”      “Trying to.” 

This dialogue from The Great Gatsby is a great example of how to make dialogue sound natural. Gatsby tripping over his own words (even interrupting himself , as marked by the em-dashes) not only makes his nerves and awkwardness palpable but also mimics real speech. Just as real people often falter and make false starts when they’re speaking off the cuff, Gatsby too flounders, giving us insight into his self-doubt; his speech isn’t polished and perfect, and neither is he despite all his efforts to appear so.

Fitzgerald also creates a distinctive voice for Gatsby by littering his speech with the character's signature term of endearment, “old sport”. We don’t even really need dialogue markers to know who’s speaking here — a sign of very strong characterization through dialogue.

7. Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet  

In this first meeting between the two heroes of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, John is introduced to Sherlock while the latter is hard at work in the lab.

      “How are you?” he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”      “How on earth did you know that?” I asked in astonishment.      “Never mind,” said he, chuckling to himself. “The question now is about hemoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?”     “It is interesting, chemically, no doubt,” I answered, “but practically— ”      “Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don’t you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!” He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been working. “Let us have some fresh blood,” he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. “Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction.” As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.      “Ha! ha!” he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a child with a new toy. “What do you think of that?”

This passage uses a number of the key techniques for writing naturalistic and exciting dialogue, including characters speaking over one another and the interspersal of action beats. 

Sherlock cutting off Watson to launch into a monologue about his blood experiment shows immediately where Sherlock’s interest lies — not in small talk, or the person he is speaking to, but in his own pursuits, just like earlier in the conversation when he refuses to explain anything to John and is instead self-absorbedly “chuckling to himself”. This helps establish their initial rapport (or lack thereof) very quickly.

Breaking up that monologue with snippets of him undertaking the forensic tests allows us to experience the full force of his enthusiasm over it without having to read an uninterrupted speech about the ins and outs of a science experiment.

Starting to think you might like to read some Sherlock? Check out our guide to the Sherlock Holmes canon !

8. Brandon Taylor, Real Life

Here, our protagonist Wallace is questioned by Ramon, a friend-of-a-friend, over the fact that he is considering leaving his PhD program.

     Wallace hums. “I mean, I wouldn’t say that I want to leave, but I’ve thought about it, sure.”     “Why would you do that? I mean, the prospects for… black people, you know?”        “What are the prospects for black people?” Wallace asks, though he knows he will be considered the aggressor for this question.

Brandon Taylor’s Real Life is drawn from the author’s own experiences as a queer Black man, attempting to navigate the unwelcoming world of academia, navigating the world of academia, and so it’s no surprise that his dialogue rings so true to life — it’s one of the reasons the novel is one of our picks for must-read books by Black authors . 

This episode is part of a pattern where Wallace is casually cornered and questioned by people who never question for a moment whether they have the right to ambush him or criticize his choices. The use of indirect dialogue at the end shows us this is a well-trodden path for Wallace: he has had this same conversation several times, and can pre-empt the exact outcome.

This scene is also a great example of the dramatic significance of people choosing not to speak. The exchange happens in front of a big group, but — despite their apparent discomfort —  nobody speaks up to defend Wallace, or to criticize Ramon’s patronizing microaggressions. Their silence is deafening, and we get a glimpse of Ramon’s isolation due to the complacency of others, all due to what is not said in this dialogue example.

9. Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants

In this short story, an unnamed man and a young woman discuss whether or not they should terminate a pregnancy while sitting on a train platform.

     “Well,” the man said, “if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.”      “And you really want to?”      “I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you really don’t want to.”      “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?”      “I love you now. You know I love you.”      “I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?”      “I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t think about it. You know how I get when I worry.”      “If I do it you won’t ever worry?”      “I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.”

This example of dialogue from Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants moves at quite a clip. The conversation quickly bounces back and forth between the speakers, and the call-and-response format of the woman asking and the man answering is effective because it establishes a clear dynamic between the two speakers: the woman is the one seeking reassurance and trying to understand the man’s feelings, while he is the one who is ultimately in control of the situation.

Note the sparing use of dialogue markers: this minimalist approach keeps the dialogue brisk, and we can still easily understand who is who due to the use of a new paragraph when the speaker changes .

Like this classic author’s style? Head over to our selection of the 11 best Ernest Hemingway books .

10. Madeline Miller, Circe

In Madeline Miller’s retelling of Greek myth, we witness a conversation between the mythical enchantress Circe and Telemachus (son of Odysseus).

     “You do not grieve for your father?”        “I do. I grieve that I never met the father everyone told me I had.”           I narrowed my eyes. “Explain.”      “I am no storyteller.”      “I am not asking for a story. You have come to my island. You owe me truth.”       A moment passed, and then he nodded. “You will have it.” 

This short and punchy exchange hits on a lot of the stylistic points we’ve covered so far. The conversation is a taut tennis match between the two speakers as they volley back and forth with short but impactful sentences, and unnecessary dialogue tags have been shaved off . It also highlights Circe’s imperious attitude, a result of her divine status. Her use of short, snappy declaratives and imperatives demonstrates that she’s used to getting her own way and feels no need to mince her words.

11. Andre Aciman, Call Me By Your Name

This is an early conversation between seventeen-year-old Elio and his family’s handsome new student lodger, Oliver.

     What did one do around here? Nothing. Wait for summer to end. What did one do in the winter, then?      I smiled at the answer I was about to give. He got the gist and said, “Don’t tell me: wait for summer to come, right?”      I liked having my mind read. He’d pick up on dinner drudgery sooner than those before him.      “Actually, in the winter the place gets very gray and dark. We come for Christmas. Otherwise it’s a ghost town.”      “And what else do you do here at Christmas besides roast chestnuts and drink eggnog?”      He was teasing. I offered the same smile as before. He understood, said nothing, we laughed.      He asked what I did. I played tennis. Swam. Went out at night. Jogged. Transcribed music. Read.      He said he jogged too. Early in the morning. Where did one jog around here? Along the promenade, mostly. I could show him if he wanted.      It hit me in the face just when I was starting to like him again: “Later, maybe.”

Dialogue is one of the most crucial aspects of writing romance — what’s a literary relationship without some flirty lines? Here, however, Aciman gives us a great example of efficient dialogue. By removing unnecessary dialogue and instead summarizing with narration, he’s able to confer the gist of the conversation without slowing down the pace unnecessarily. Instead, the emphasis is left on what’s unsaid, the developing romantic subtext. 

Furthermore, the fact that we receive this scene in half-reported snippets rather than as an uninterrupted transcript emphasizes the fact that this is Elio’s own recollection of the story, as the manipulation of the dialogue in this way serves to mimic the nostalgic haziness of memory.

Understanding Point of View

Learn to master different POVs and choose the best for your story.

12. George Eliot, Middlemarch

Two of Eliot’s characters, Mary and Rosamond, are out shopping,

     When she and Rosamond happened both to be reflected in the glass, she said laughingly —      “What a brown patch I am by the side of you, Rosy! You are the most unbecoming companion.”      “Oh no! No one thinks of your appearance, you are so sensible and useful, Mary. Beauty is of very little consequence in reality,” said Rosamond, turning her head towards Mary, but with eyes swerving towards the new view of her neck in the glass.      “You mean my beauty,” said Mary, rather sardonically.       Rosamond thought, “Poor Mary, she takes the kindest things ill.” Aloud she said, “What have you been doing lately?”      “I? Oh, minding the house — pouring out syrup — pretending to be amiable and contented — learning to have a bad opinion of everybody.”

This excerpt, a conversation between the level-headed Mary and vain Rosamond, is an example of dialogue that develops character relationships naturally. Action descriptors allow us to understand what is really happening in the conversation. 

Whilst the speech alone might lead us to believe Rosamond is honestly (if clumsily) engaging with her friend, the description of her simultaneously gazing at herself in a mirror gives us insight not only into her vanity, but also into the fact that she is not really engaged in her conversation with Mary at all.

The use of internal dialogue cut into the conversation (here formatted with quotation marks rather than the usual italics ) lets us know what Rosamond is actually thinking, and the contrast between this and what she says aloud is telling. The fact that we know she privately realizes she has offended Mary, but quickly continues the conversation rather than apologizing, is emphatic of her character. We get to know Rosamond very well within this short passage, which is a hallmark of effective character-driven dialogue.

13. John Steinbeck, The Winter of our Discontent

Here, Mary (speaking first) reacts to her husband Ethan’s attempts to discuss his previous experiences as a disciplined soldier, his struggles in subsequent life, and his feeling of impending change.

     “You’re trying to tell me something.”      “Sadly enough, I am. And it sounds in my ears like an apology. I hope it is not.”      “I’m going to set out lunch.”

Steinbeck’s Winter of our Discontent is an acute study of alienation and miscommunication, and this exchange exemplifies the ways in which characters can fail to communicate, even when they’re speaking. The pair speaking here are trapped in a dysfunctional marriage which leaves Ethan feeling isolated, and part of his loneliness comes from the accumulation of exchanges such as this one. Whenever he tries to communicate meaningfully with his wife, she shuts the conversation down with a complete non sequitur. 

We expect Mary’s “you’re trying to tell me something” to be followed by a revelation, but Ethan is not forthcoming in his response, and Mary then exits the conversation entirely. Nothing is communicated, and the jarring and frustrating effect of having our expectations subverted goes a long way in mirroring Ethan’s own frustration.

Just like Ethan and Mary, we receive no emotional pay-off, and this passage of characters talking past one another doesn’t further the plot as we hope it might, but instead gives us insight into the extent of these characters’ estrangement.

14. Bret Easton Ellis , Less Than Zero

The disillusioned main character of Bret Easton Ellis’ debut novel, Clay, here catches up with a college friend, Daniel, whom he hasn’t seen in a while. 

     He keeps rubbing his mouth and when I realize that he’s not going to answer me, I ask him what he’s been doing.      “Been doing?”      “Yeah.”      “Hanging out.”      “Hanging out where?”      “Where? Around.”

Less Than Zero is an elegy to conversation, and this dialogue is an example of the many vacuous exchanges the protagonist engages in, seemingly just to fill time. The whole book is deliberately unpoetic and flat, and depicts the lives of disaffected youths in 1980s LA. Their misguided attempts to fill the emptiness within them with drink and drugs are ultimately fruitless, and it shows in their conversations: in truth, they have nothing to say to one another at all.

This utterly meaningless exchange would elsewhere be considered dead weight to a story. Here, rather than being fat in need of trimming, the empty conversation is instead thematically resonant.

15. Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

The young narrator of du Maurier’s classic gothic novel here has a strained conversation with Robert, one of the young staff members at her new husband’s home, the unwelcoming Manderley.

     “Has Mr. de Winter been in?” I said.      “Yes, Madam,” said Robert; “he came in just after two, and had a quick lunch, and then went out again. He asked for you and Frith said he thought you must have gone down to see the ship.”      “Did he say when he would be back again?” I asked.      “No, Madam.”      “Perhaps he went to the beach another way,” I said; “I may have missed him.”      “Yes, Madam,” said Robert.      I looked at the cold meat and the salad. I felt empty but not hungry. I did not want cold meat now. “Will you be taking lunch?” said Robert.      “No,” I said, “No, you might bring me some tea, Robert, in the library. Nothing like cakes or scones. Just tea and bread and butter.”      “Yes, Madam.”

We’re including this one in our dialogue examples list to show you the power of everything Du Maurier doesn’t do: rather than cycling through a ton of fancy synonyms for “said”, she opts for spare dialogue and tags. 

This interaction's cold, sparse tone complements the lack of warmth the protagonist feels in the moment depicted here. By keeping the dialogue tags simple , the author ratchets up the tension —  without any distracting flourishes taking the reader out of the scene. The subtext of the conversation is able to simmer under the surface, and we aren’t beaten over the head with any stage direction extras.

The inclusion of three sentences of internal dialogue in the middle of the dialogue (“I looked at the cold meat and the salad. I felt empty but not hungry. I did not want cold meat now.”) is also a masterful touch. What could have been a single sentence is stretched into three, creating a massive pregnant pause before Robert continues speaking, without having to explicitly signpost one. Manipulating the pace of dialogue in this way and manufacturing meaningful silence is a great way of adding depth to a scene.

Phew! We've been through a lot of dialogue, from first meetings to idle chit-chat to confrontations, and we hope these dialogue examples have been helpful in illustrating some of the most common techniques.

If you’re looking for more pointers on creating believable and effective dialogue, be sure to check out our course on writing dialogue. Or, if you find you learn better through examples, you can look at our list of 100 books to read before you die — it’s packed full of expert storytellers who’ve honed the art of dialogue.

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How to Write Dialogue in an Essay: Perfect Writing Guide

Writing essays is a part of every student’s life. The tool that can be useful for all composition genres with no limitations is dialogue. Typically, article writing at school and college is related to informative or argumentative intentions.

Dialogues can be included in reflective or narrative texts and creative assignments, such as screenplays. Likewise, if your paper is more on the argumentative side, you may include a dialogue when transcribing an extract from an interview to reinforce your thesis.

To get the highest mark for your paper, it is crucial to know how to write a dialogue in an essay. Keep reading this article to find out how to add it to your paper, whether for academic, informative, or creative purposes.

Usage of Dialogues in Essays

Over our educational years at school and university, we are taught to compose argumentative, narrative, informative, creative, and expository essays. Writing becomes a skill we need to develop to be successful when composing a report.

Quote, text line, or dialogue represents two or more characters talking, and can turn a dull paper into an easy-going and fun learning experience.

And just like when watching a movie, dialogues will have us more engaged in discovering the ending of the tale. Moreover, you will have a strong thesis for persuasive essay texts by including dialogues in them. How is this accomplished?

Dialogue serves more than just fiction, as we stated earlier. They transform information into a fluid and rhythmic piece of writing, providing data on an actual scenario portrayed as a conversation. This results in a direct and captivating piece that will teach and entertain the reader. That sounds like a win-win situation, right?

How to Format Dialogue in an Essay?

Here you will encounter some of the essential rules in terms of punctuation and formatting that should be followed when writing effective dialogue in your article so that it is read naturally. If you are unsure of your profile essay writing skills, keep reading this page to get accurate and precise information for composing your best paper.

• How to add dialogue in an essay: you can either use double quotation marks to indicate what someone said, or start in a new line using a Dash followed by the actually spoken phrase every time a new character speaks. This demonstrates that dialogue conversations have started.

“Elisa gave me this purse for my birthday.”

—Elisa gave me this purse for my birthday.

—It looks good on you.

—Thank you, I like it a lot.

• If you are quoting already, use single quotation marks to add another quotation within. This is useful when you depict someone describing a certain circumstance that happened to them.

“He was eating lunch next to me when Tom came by and yelled, ‘let’s go outside,’ so we went.”

• Make sure to use closing quotation marks when the character finishes talking. If dashes are used instead, end that person’s speech with a complete stop, showing that a dialogue has ended.

“I took my cat to the Vet last night to get a shot. He is alright now.”

• When a character is quoted, exclamation and question marks should be placed inside the quotation marks. If the exclamation or quotation marks refer to the greater sentence, not the quotation itself, place them outside the quotation marks.

My niece screamed, “let’s play hide and seek!”. What was your reaction when your niece screamed, “let’s play hide and seek”?.

• Do not add a period if the character pauses in the speech; in this case, write the speech, then use a comma to include a remark and add another comma before the last part of said speech.

“I couldn’t finish the presentation tonight,” he said with a tired voice, “I will tomorrow.”

• If a quote is too long, for example, longer than a paragraph in the essay, you can break it into two sections to make it easier to read. Such a situation is frequent when you write a narrative text. This type of assignment is often given to college and high school students. And it’s one of the most difficult tasks. If you need more confidence in your composition writing skills but still want to get a great mark and impress your teacher, we recommend you to buy narrative essays from professional writers. They will definitely know how to deal with complicated quotes. Here you can see an example of how a big direct quote was shortened to create a new paragraph for the text:

“Christmastime at work is very intense, and we work long shifts. Last year, we launched fifteen new products so that they were sold out during Christmastime. Luckily, it was a success. Our most popular items were: a Christmas cookie-scented candle, a new edition of the traditional elf-pet costume, and a unique knife that cuts the turkey easily and evenly.

I tried the candle immediately and loved the scent; my sister dressed her dog and three cats as elves, poor things, but she looked amused, and my mom tried the turkey knife; she genuinely said it was the best she could use to cut the turkey.”

How to Write Dialogue in an Essay?

Knowing how to put dialogue in your essay will allow you to bring out your creative side while mastering the skill of showing rather than telling. If you want to know particular features of  writing a good process essay , read to master how to write a dialogue and search for relevant sentences. Also, you’ll need to craft coherent paragraphs, use speech tags and be aware of the format and punctuation rules when writing dialogue in your paper.

Common Dialogue Mistakes to Avoid

Mistakes are easy to make when we need to learn the rules of correct essay writing, so pay attention to the most common mistakes to avoid delivering an enjoyable and compelling text.

One of the most frequent mistakes students make when they need to learn how to put dialogue in an essay is confusing dialogue with citations. The latter is adequate when directly referencing, word-by-word, other authors to support statements previously made regarding a particular topic. At the same time, dialogues are supposed to deliver information by being creative and motivating the reader to relate to a life situation described in the dialogue.

Citation: also known as direct quotes, is information written by an author and referenced to support a claim.

Dialogue: a speech between two or more characters, often portrayed to captivate the reader, and what is used is only a part of a greater conversation.

Other mistakes to avoid in your text:

• Providing too many details and unnecessary talk can be counterproductive. Keep it simple.
• Repeating information from one word to another. Describe it in your own words or show it through dialogue formatting. This will make the topic more interesting as the teacher will use their imagination. If you need help with how to do it properly, we recommend asking for help from a specialized platform, such as Edusson.com . Here you will find professional writers who will write your article quickly, plagiarism-free papers with high quality, and at a reasonable price.
• Using more dialogue tags than required can distort the readability of the conversation.
• Mentioning the characters’ names often, which only happens in real talk, decreases credibility.
• Incorrect use of opening quotation marks.

Some types of articles would benefit from dialogues to bring more dynamics into them. Check to avoid the mistakes we presented to you, compose creatively, and most importantly, just as dialogue tells a story. It describes a scenery that will make the reader learn through real-life association, so use dialogue when you think it will add value to the text.

Example of Dialogue in an Essay

Here we will give you examples of how to add dialogue to an essay:

Do thorough research on the topic by looking up reliable sources Use an online plagiarism checker to ensure that your paper is unique Explain the purpose of your study, providing supporting arguments, examples, and close by validating the thesis mentioned at the beginning. If the topic you are writing about is rather technical, define the meaning of its relevant vocabulary Teach the reader, do not assume they know everything. Otherwise, they wouldn’t come to read Verify that your composition is cohesive and informative Finally, read both your text and dialogue out loud to check they are coherent and eloquent.

Knowing these dialogue rules, you are ready to write with confidence! Whether you are writing for college, creating a dialogue for fun, or just eager to learn about this topic, you already know the essentials of how to write a dialogue in your essay with the correct format and punctuation rules. Additionally, if you are ever in need of professional help for your writing, you can always opt to pay to write an essay to ensure that you are submitting a well-written, high-quality paper.

Related posts:

• 6 Step Process for Essay Writing
• How to Write a Diagnostic Essay (Without Fail)
• How to Write a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
• Footnotes 101: A Guide to Proper Formatting

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What is the Purpose of Dialogue in a Narrative Essay?

In a narrative essay, the writer conveys the story using first-person narration and often emphasizes particular personal experiences of life. Such essays and stories are non-fiction but it encompasses some fictional elements. However, one of the most significant elements in a narrative essay is dialogue through which the message deliverance takes place.

Dialogues are considered a crucial tool in an essay. It not only allows characters to do conversations but is also useful regarding other aspects. Anyhow, let’s explore what is the purpose of dialogue in a narrative essay and how to write them effectively.

What is a Dialogue?

From an existing writing stance, dialogue is the means of communication between two or more characters, which is generally spoken loud. Usually, within an essay or a story, a dialogue is denoted by quotation marks or dialogue tags.

Anyhow, there are two types of dialogues:

Direct Dialogue

Direct dialogue is the speech using the exact words of the speaker or the character. In this case, quotation marks are placed around the direct dialogues.

For instance,

Katherine asked Maria, “Why do you look sad?”

Indirect Dialogue

Indirect dialogue is someone’s speech that is conveyed by a third person or something which is not said or written in the exact words.

For example,

Katherine asked Maria why she looked sad.

How Dialogue Matters in a Narrative Essay?

Let’s discover some important roles of dialogue within an essay or a story.

It Gives the Character Life

Dialogue can help characters grow. In fact, at least one of the characters should shift expression in every successful discussion. Also, dialogues within an essay are explicitly helpful in driving the plot and generating connections and relationships between numerous characters. It directly reveals the events that may not be deceptive by the description. Through dialogue, characters experience a variety of feelings that may be lost if they were narrated by a narrator.

It Outlines the Character

Character qualities can also be revealed through dialogue. Since the writer is the protagonist in a personal narrative, the author’s interaction with others is equally significant. To give the essay reality, the language serves to convey each character’s true personality and voice. At the same time, the author allows the characters to speak for themselves without interfering too much. The conversation also expresses the feelings of the characters and demonstrates how they connect with one another.

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It Shows, Not Tells

You must have been hearing this old piece of advice by your instructor while writing a descriptive essay: “Show, don’t tell.” Dialogue may be utilized to add authenticity to a personal narrative and to make the story more realistic by demonstrating rather than telling the reader what is going on. It reveals emotion and information through sensory aspects like seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting.

For example, consider the following sentence: “William was enraged after Oscar deceived him.” Rather, if the author preferred dialogue, he or she may write, “William walked around the room stomping his feet. ‘Ah! What right does he have to say that? How could he betray me like that?'” Without mentioning the word “angry,” the latter conveys fury through conversation.

It Moves the Essay Ahead

The purpose of dialogue in a narrative essay is to assist the plot’s progress by recreating people’s discussions and ideas. External conversation refers to spoken words, whereas internal dialogue refers to notions and ideas. One or both of these sorts of dialogues can be found in a personal narrative essay. The pace of the story can also be accelerated by using dialogue, while the narration slows it down. It can also be used to break up extended paragraphs of narrative.

How to Write Dialogue in a Narrative Essay?

Although composing dialogue might be difficult, proficient writing requires consistency and knowledge of convention. To organize your discussion on the page, follow these formatting principles.

Place Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are usually placed around direct dialogues when you write the exact words of someone within the content. However, make sure to place the period within the quotation marks.

Mark said, “let’s go shopping.”

Put Dialogue Tags Outside the Quotations

Dialogue tags assign a line of dialogue to one of the characters, that enables the reader to figure out who is delivering the dialogue. The dialogue tags should be placed outside the quotation marks, whereas the punctuation should be placed within.

“I’m starving,” Karen said.

However, if the dialogue tag comes in first, then the comma would be placed outside the quotation marks.

Karen said, “I’m starving.”

On the other hand, if there is an exclamation or question mark at the end of the dialogue, then it would be placed inside the quotation marks.

“I’m starving!” Karen said.

John asked, “Would you like to eat pizza?”

Begin Dialogue in a Separate Sentence

If an event takes place before or after the dialogue, make sure to begin it with a new sentence. Or, in other words, when you start a new dialogue after the description, start it from a separate sentence.

Adam immediately went out of the room and saw Carol.

“What are you doing here?” asked Carol.

Use Single Quote Marks When There is Dialogue within the Dialogue

If the character is saying something and delivering someone else’s dialogue within their dialogue, then you would use two quotation marks. One would be the inverted commas around the main dialogue and single quotation marks (apostrophe) around the internal dialogue.

Olivia suggested, “When you asked, ‘Which profession should I choose?’ the medical field instantly came to my mind.”

Use Lowercase When the Dialogue Interrupts

If an action or dialogue tag comes between a single dialogue and it is broken down into two segments, then the first letter of the second segment would be in lowercase.

“After tomorrow,” said James, “she will never come back.”

Avoid Adding Extra Punctuation Marks

If the dialogue ends with an ellipsis, you should not place any comma or other punctuation mark, instead of the three periods. Usually, ellipses are used to indicate faltering speech.

Jasmine was trying to recall the event, “I… I don’t remember what happened last night…”

So, we hope this article has answered a few questions. What is the purpose of dialogue in a narrative essay? How to write a dialogue in a narrative essay? Although we’ve all spent our lives reading, it’s not until we have to create a conversation that we comprehend the complexities involved. How do you decide where a dialogue tag should go? This is frequently an aesthetic decision rather than a clear and fast law. I frequently use the tag where it appears to be the least obtrusive. When a speaker tag is required, it should be as “transparent” as possible to avoid interfering with fluent reading.

For assistance with narrative essay writing , you can hire one of our writing experts by placing an order now. For more inquiries, you can contact us through WhatsApp or Live Chat!

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What is Dialogue? (How to Write, Examples, Grammar, Tips)

What is dialogue in writing? What are examples of dialogue in writing? What are examples of dialogue conversations? Often, writers use dialogue to show how characters relate to one another. The idea of dialogue is mostly how it sounds, conversation (or small talk). Though, most often, characters in a story will have dialogue with each other. And it’s important to learn how they should get written and what the best forms of dialogue are to make your readers comprehend the subject .

What Is Dialogue?

A dialogue is nothing more than an exchange of words between two or more people.

To be precise, the word “dialogue” comes from the Greek word “dialogos.” “Dia” means “through,” and “logos” means “word” or “reason.”

Plato likened dialogue to a stream of meaning flowing between and through people, which would emerge new meanings or understandings. He introduced philosophy to the masses through his dialogues, which you can read more about here .

Renowned painter Erik Pevernagie once said, “A world without dialogue is a universe of darkness.”

He strongly believed that sharing your views and ideas through dialogue allows you to understand the world and appreciate its beauty.

Dialogue is the most fundamental way that human beings communicate. 

In literature, dialogue is what allows us to see characters fight, debate, love, and reconcile with one another.

Famous Examples of Dialogue From Literature

The maltese falcon – dashiell hammett (dialogue example).

Spade grinned sidewise at her and said, “You’re good. You’re very good.”

Her face did not change. 

She asked quietly, “What did he say?”

“About what?”

She hesitated. 

“About me .”

“Nothing.” 

Spade turned to hold his lighter under the end of her cigarette. His eyes were shiny in a wooden Satan’s face.

To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee (Dialogue Example)

“What are you all playing?” he asked.

“Nothing,” said Jem.

Jem’s evasion told me our game was a secret, so I kept quiet.

“What are you doing with those scissors, then ? Why are you tearing up that newspaper? If it’s today’s, I’ll tan you.”

“Nothing, what?” said Atticus.

“Nothing, sir.”

“Give me those scissors,” Atticus said. “They’re no things to play with. 

There are too many passages in books filled with dialogues worth quoting. You can read more here .

How to Write Dialogue (in a story or otherwise)

Different authors have different opinions on what makes a piece of dialogue click . But there are general rules you must keep in mind to ensure your dialogue is easily understood and leaves an emotional impact on readers.

1. Use quotation marks to end and begin your dialogue.

“Like this?” 

“Exactly so.”

Quotation marks are where your character’s voice begins. This simple bit of punctuation brings life to a dull block of prose that would otherwise be soulless and characterless.

“That was easy enough. So what’s next?”

Closing quotation marks should end the single dialogue in the lines of dialogue that make up the conversation between two characters.

2. Keep your dialogue tags outside the quotation marks.

A dialogue tag is what tells your readers that a line of dialogue belongs to a specific speaker.

“Is this what you mean?” asked Alice.

“That is exactly what I mean,” said Bob, nodding.

“What about this asked Alice?”

“Now I have no idea how to read what you said,” said Bob.

3. Keep your punctuation inside the quotation marks.

As a rule of thumb, if you write the dialogue tag first, you want to bring the comma before the quotation mark .

But what if you use an exclamation mark or a question mark?

“Like this one?” asked Bob.

“Yes, exactly like that,“ said Alice.

In this situation, you write the following dialogue tag in lowercase instead of uppercase. 

“Oh, God , punctuation! My mortal enemy!” said Alice, shaking her fist at the skies.

Very good, Alice.

Tip: If your line of dialogue ends in an exclamation point or question mark, the tags that follow should be in lowercase.

3. Use a separate sentence for actions that happen before and after your dialogues.

Any action or movement should be given its own sentence next to your dialogue.

Alice gasped, dropping her glass onto the floor. It shattered into a million pieces.

“That sounds complicated!”

Bob gasped, clapping a hand over his mouth.

“My rug! My expensive wine!”

4. Never use double quotes inside dialogue. Use single quotes instead.

If your character is quoting someone else, make sure you use single quotes, or your text will quickly get confusing.

“I remember a nice Englishman that once said, ‘To be or not to be,’” said Bob, “But I don’t remember the question.”

5. Indicate new speakers with new paragraphs.

Every time you change a speaker, you must start a new paragraph. If you are writing a manuscript, you must also indent the paragraph.

If your character performs an action, keep the action in the same paragraph. Only then should you move to the following line in the next paragraph when you bring in your new speaker.

“We’re all out of wine!” said Alice. She pointed at the empty bottle in her hands.

“Can you please not break any more glasses?” said Bob as he gingerly picked up pieces of shattered glass with gloved hands.

6. Every time an action interrupts your dialogue, begin with lowercase again.

“At the end of the day,” Alice whispered to herself, placing the bottle tenderly on the table, “why does all the wine disappear?”

7. Indicate an interruption with an em dash.

Em dashes are not the same as hyphens. They are used to show readers that a line of dialogue has been cut off mid-sentence.

You should always place your dash inside the quotation marks, just as you would with all other punctuation marks . If you’d like a refresher on the difference between an em dash and a hyphen , read this . 

Bob returned with a new wine bottle in hand.

“This is a 1787 Chateau Lafite Rothschild,” said Bob, unable to keep the pride out of his voice, “it belonged to my—“

“Gimme!” said Alice, grabbing the bottle from his hands.

Writing Dialogue: Identifying a Speaker

Not all dialogue needs dialogue question.

“Yes. Really.”

But when you use a dialogue question, you must use a comma. You must place a comma, quotation, and dialogue tag, in that order.

Any punctuation in the sentence must come inside the quotes.

“You know,” said Alice, “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”

What if you don’t want to put the dialogue tag in the middle of the sentence? You must identify the speaker in advance by bringing attention to an action or gesture before writing their dialogue.

Bob sighed, settling into this chair.

“I’m happy to hear that, Alice.”

Sometimes, you will identify the speaker explicitly.

“And by explicit, you mean telling the reader outright who is speaking, right?” said Alice.

Sometimes, you will identify the speaker implicitly.

“That is exactly what that means, Alice, dear, yes.”

The above dialogue does not have the speaker referenced by name. But with the help of context and preceding dialogue, we can tell exactly who is speaking.

At other times, we will identify the speaker through anaphora.

“What does anaphora mean?” asked the clumsy yet enthusiastic lady.

“It means indirectly identifying the speaker without using their name, dear,” came the unhappy man’s response.

Other times, you can identify the speaker even when a dialogue tag is not used. This happens when the dialogue directly refers to the person being spoken to, making the speaker obvious.

“I’m referring to you now, Alice.”

“I know, Bob, you don’t have to tell me.”

Readers get tired of the whole “he said,” “she said,” business if it’s overdone. You want to juggle different methods of identifying the speaker as you write, making sure to sprinkle in clues about who the speaker is.

This prevents stale and overdone writing. It adds spice to an otherwise repetitive piece of prose and breathes life into the text.

How To Format Dialogue (Formatting Dialogue Examples)

When writing a manuscript, begin the first line of each paragraph indented. 

If using British English, use single quotation marks.

If using American English, use double quotation marks.

But whatever the region, enclose the spoken words inside the quotation marks.

“Quotes are the best way to tell your readers someone is talking.“

“I know, Alice.”

“Why do Americans use double quotes instead of single quotes, Bob?”

Bob shrugged.

“That’s just the way it is. The same reason the English add the letter ‘u’ in many of their words while Americans don’t.”

(If you’d like to read an expert’s opinion on why different regions use single and double quotes, read this )

Always keep dialogue tag/questions out of your quotes

“But enough about grammar , Alice,” said Bob, sinking into his chair. 

“Look at the nice weather we’re having.”

“I can see the sun for once, yes,” said Alice.

“What a sight to behold,” said Bob, smiling.

Don’t forget to use lowercase when following up a dialogue tag that has a quotation or exclamation mark.

“On the whole, this has been a surprisingly good day, don’t you think?” said Alice.

“Except for the part where you spilled my expensive wine all over the carpet!” shouted Bob.

There was a pause as Alice sank into her chair.

Make sure that all actions before and after the dialogue go into a separate sentence.

Alice placed the glass to her lips.

“Hey, this isn’t half bad !”

Bob smiled, pointing to the bottle he’d set on the table.

“It was my grandfather’s. I’m glad you like it.”

Make sure to place all punctuation inside the quotes

“I’m sorry ,” said Alice, setting her glass down, “I was just excited.”

“No, no,” said Bob, waving a dismissive hand, “don’t worry about it.”

The ellipsis deserves a special mention here. If you end any dialogue with an ellipsis, make sure not to add further punctuation, such as a comma after it. (For some extra tips on formatting your dialogue, read this .)

For instance, you would never write:

“I miss granddad…,” said Bob, his eyes misting over.

You would instead write:

“I miss granddad…” said Bob, his eyes misting over.

Always place single quotes within double quotes when referencing something from an outside source. This includes famous proverbs, cliches, and dialogues that other characters in your story have used in the past .

“’Save it for a special one, boyo,’” said Bob, smiling, “that’s what my granddad said when he gave me that.”

Start a new paragraph when changing speakers.

“What’s special about today?” said Alice, tilting her head. 

“You don’t remember?” said Bob.

“No,” said Alice.

“Are you serious?” said Bob.

Alice frowned, trying to remember. She looked up at him and shrugged.

Writing Compelling Dialogue

1. subtext is king..

People in real life often have wide gaps between what they say and think. There are also gaps between what a character understands and what they refuse to hear.

Two characters that know each other often have more unspoken dialogue than spoken dialogue. These are vital and valuable territories that writers can take advantage of to create drama and tension. 

2. Good dialogue advances the plot and reveals character.

Characters speak for a reason. Desire forces characters to interact; through this interaction, we witness the unraveling of events and scenarios.

These events either push them away or toward achieving the story’s primary goal. Dialogue is also best to show how your characters feel instead of just telling your readers how they feel. You introduce context through dialogue and use it to reveal how a character thinks about someone.

3. Dialogue reflects your character’s background.

Each person has their way of speaking. A brute and a scientist have noticeably different syntaxes of speech where readers can peer into their thought processes by examining the words they use and how they say them.

Social class, upbringing, personality, and coping mechanisms also factor into how a character speaks.

4. Keep your dialogue tags simple. 

The most straightforward dialogue tags are often the best. While many critics believe that writers should never use words other than “said,” others believe it’s okay to have a little variety.

A few dialogue tags like “called” or “muttered” can be illustrative and draw attention to critical moments and emotions.

Others believe mentioning a single adverb is an outright sin, but they have their place in descriptive prose. You can read more about writing engaging dialogue here .

Internal Monologue Versus External Dialogue

An internal monologue is nothing more than the character’s innermost thoughts that the writer is exposing to the audience. This monologue contains the character’s voice and serves as a way for readers to understand the character’s thought processes better.

This monologue does not reveal every thought the character has but is used to display selective emotions and thought processes in response to meaningful story events. 

An internal monologue is not omniscient in the same way that a narrator’s exposition is. 

External dialogue is the words exchanged between two or more characters. These are words that are being spoken out loud.

This dialogue is often accompanied by dialogue tags, action tags, and descriptions. 

If you’d like to learn more about how to create a compelling internal monologue, read this .

How to Punctuate Dialogue Correctly

Literary dialogue has its own rules for punctuation. In most instances, commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks go inside the quotations.

“It’s a beautiful and happy day today,” he said.

“What a beautiful day!” he said.

“Isn’t this a beautiful day?” he asked.

The one exception to this rule regards question marks.

When a character is referencing a proverb/statement/cliche that contains a question, we place the question mark outside the quotation mark to denote that it is a reference to something.

Did the professor say, “The equation goes here”?

For a more comprehensive list of rules on punctuation, read this .

When and How to Use Quotation Marks in Dialogue

The primary purpose of a quotation mark is to indicate words being spoken by a character or referenced from an outside source.

Using them in literature or formal documentation comes with specific rules. 

• Always use quotation marks in pairs. 
• Always capitalize the first letter of a word used verbatim in a quote.
• Don’t use capital letters when referencing only a fragment of a quote from another source.
• The period or comma always comes before the final quotation mark. The only exception to this is content written explicitly by the Modern Language Association (MLA) style guidelines.

The quotation mark has a long and fascinating history which you can learn more about here .

The Best Books to Learn Dialogue

Emulating the masters is the perfect way for beginners to learn. I’ve compiled this short list of books widely regarded as having some of the best dialogue in fiction.

Once you read these, mimic the style of the masters and add your unique flair to create your style of dialogue.

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
• Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare  
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

While literary fiction contains some of the best dialogue, screenplays are another source of good dialogue.

Screenplays focus exclusively on dialogue, ignoring literary devices such as descriptions and dialogue tags. You can read more about writing dialogue in screenplays here .

Speak Your Story

Dialogue is an indispensable part of every story. It helps to move a story forward. One character can present new ideas to another. Helping to advance a short story or written novel. Written well helps you create memorable characters and explore fun and dramatic situations.

But poor, overly formal, stilted, or illogical dialogue can quickly drive readers away. The best way to improve your dialogue writing is to talk to more people and read more books.

Read genres out of your comfort zone to see how different stories make characters tick and transform.

”Good morning, Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Good morning, Mr. Wolf.”

“Where are you off so early in the morning?”

“I’m going to my grandma’s with some bread and honey!”

“The dialogue in this movie is more comedy than horror.”

“Socratic dialogue is a conversation between people where questions are constantly asked to make people think critically.”

Inside this article

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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How to Format Dialogue: Complete Guide

Dialogue formatting matters. Whether you’re working on an essay, novel, or any other form of creative writing. Perfectly formatted dialogue makes your work more readable and engaging for the audience.

In this article, you’ll learn the dialogue formatting rules. Also, we’ll share examples of dialogue in essays for you to see the details.

What is a Dialogue Format?

Dialogue format is a writing form authors use to present characters' communication. It's common for play scripts, literature works, and other forms of storytelling.

A good format helps the audience understand who is speaking and what they say. It makes the communication clear and enjoyable. In dialogue writing, we follow the basic grammar rules like punctuation and capitalization. They help us illustrate the speaker’s ideas.

General Rules to Follow When Formatting a Dialogue

Dialogue writing is an essential skill for both professionals and scholars . It shows your ability to express the issues and ideas of other people in different setups. The core rules of formatting are about punctuation. So, below is a quick reminder on punctuation marks’ names:

And now, to practice.

Please follow these rules for proper dialogue formatting:

•  Use quotation marks. Enclose the speaker’s words in double quotations. It helps readers distinguish between a character’s speech and a narrator’s comments.
•  Place punctuation inside quotation marks. All punctuation like commas, exclamations, or interrogation marks, go inside the double quotations.
•  Keep dialogue tags behind quotation marks. A dialogue tag is (1) words framing direct speech to convey the context and emotions of a conversation. For example, in (“I can’t believe this is you,” she replied.), the dialogue tag is “she replied.”
•  Use an ellipsis or em-dashes for pauses or interruptions. To show interruptions or pauses, end phrases with ellipses inside quotations. Em-dashes go outside quotations. No other extra marks are necessary here.
•  Remember a character’s voice.  Ensure that each character’s phrases reflect their background and personality.

5 More Rules to Know (+ Examples of Dialogue)

For proper formatting of dialogue in writing, stick to the following rules:

1. Each speaker’s saying comes in a new paragraph

Begin a new paragraph whenever a new character starts speaking. It allows you to differentiate speakers and make their conversation look more organized. (2)

“Has Mr. de Winter been in?” I said.    “Yes, Madam,” said Robert; “he came in just after two, and had a quick lunch, and then went out again. He asked for you and Frith said he thought you must have gone down to see the ship.”    “Did he say when he would be back again?” I asked.    “No, Madam.” — from Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

2. Separate dialogue tags with commas

When using dialogue tags ( e.g., “she said,” “he replied,”), separate them with commas. 

For example:

“You’ve got to do something right now , ” Aaron said , “Mom is really hurting. She says you have to drive her to the hospital.” “Actually, Dad , ” said Caleb, sidling in with his catalog , “There’s someplace you can drive me, too.” “No, Caleb.” — from The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

3. When quoting within dialogue, place single quotes

If a character cites somebody or something while speaking, we call it a reported dialogue. In this case, use single quotations within double ones you place for a direct speech. It will help readers see that it’s a quote.

John started to cry. “When you said, ‘I never wanted to meet you again in my life!’ It hurts my feelings.”

4. You can divide a character’s long speech into paragraphs

Dialogue writing is different when a person speaks for a longer time. It’s fine to divide it into shorter paragraphs. Ensure the proper quotation marks placing:

 The first quotation mark goes at the beginning of the dialogue. Each later paragraph also starts with it until that direct speech ends.

 The second quotation mark — the one “closing” the monologue — goes at the dialogue’s end.

Josphat took a deep breath and began. “ Here’s the things about lions. They’re dangerous creatures. They only know how to kill. Have you ever seen a lion in an open area? Probably not. Because if you had you’d be dead now. “ I saw a lion once. I was fetching firewood to cook lunch. All of a sudden I found myself face to face with a lion. My heart stopped. I knew it was my end on earth. If it wasn’t the poachers we wouldn’t be having this talk. ”

Yet, you can keep a long text as a whole by adding some context with dialogue tags. Like here:

As you can see, there’s no quotation mark at the end of the paragraph in red. It’s because the next “Ha! ha!” paragraph continues the character’s speech.

5. Use action beats

Describe actions to provide context and keep readers engaged. Help them “hear” your characters. Punctuation also helps here: exclamation (!) or interrogation with exclamations (?!) demonstrate the corresponding tone of your narrative.

He slammed the door and shouted , “I can’t believe you did that ! “

Mistakes to Avoid When Formatting Dialogue

A good dialogue is a powerful instrument for a writer to show the character’s nature to the audience. Below are the mistakes to avoid in formatting if you want to reach that goal.

 So, please don’t :

• Allow characters to speak for too long. Writing long paragraphs will bore the reader, making them skip through your speech. Short but sweet talk is the best. When writing, aim to be brief, dynamic, and purposeful. If your character speaks too much, generating opinion essays , ensure this speech makes sense and serves a bigger purpose.
• Overburden dialogue with exposition.  Avoid telling the story background or building sophisticated words in your characters’ speeches. Instead, reveal the narrative content in small bursts and blend it around the rest of the prose. Convey it through your character’s actions and thoughts rather than summaries and explanations.
• Create rhetorical flourishes. Make your characters sound natural. Let them speak the way they’d do if they were real people. Consider their age, profession, and cultural background — and choose lexical items that fit them most.
• Use repetitive dialogue tags. Constant “he asked” and “she said” sounds monotonous. Diversify your tags: use power verbs, synonyms, and dialogue beats.

Frequently Asked Questions by Students

How to format dialogue in an essay.

Formatting a dialogue in an essay is tricky for most students. Here’s how to do it: Enclose the speaker’s words with double quotations and start every other character’s line from a new paragraph. Stick to the citation styles like APA or MLA to ensure credibility. 

How to format dialogue in a novel?

 A dialogue in a novel follows all the standard rules for clarity and readability. Ensure to use attributions, quotation marks, and paragraph format. It makes your dialogue flow, grabbing the reader’s attention.

How to format dialogue in a book?

Dialogue formatting in a book is critical for storytelling. It helps the audience distinguish the hero’s words. Follow the general rules we’ve discussed above:

Use double quotations and isolate dialogue tags with commas. Remember to place the discussion in blocks for better readability.

How to format dialogue between two characters?

A two-character dialogue offers the best way to prove successful formatting skills. Ensure you use action beats, quotations, and attribution tags. It allows readers to follow the conversation and understand it better.

What is the purpose of dialogue in a narrative essay?  

Dialogue writing is the exchange of views between two or more people to reach a consensus. It reveals the character’s attitude and argumentation. Last but not least, it helps convey the descriptive nature of your narrative essay.

References:

• https://valenciacollege.edu/students/learning-support/winter-park/communications/documents/WritingDialogueCSSCTipSheet_Revised_.pdf
• https://www.ursinus.edu/live/files/1158-formatting-dialogue
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What is the Purpose of Dialogue in a Narrative Essay

October 25, 2023

Understanding Dialogue in Narrative Essays

Dialogue plays a vital role in narrative essays, serving various purposes that enhance the overall storytelling experience. This article will explore the significance of incorporating dialogue into narrative essays and shed light on its purpose.

Firstly, dialogue breathes life into the characters, making them more relatable and engaging for the readers. Through conversations and interactions, the characters’ personalities, emotions, and motivations are revealed, allowing the audience to connect with them on a deeper level. Dialogue creates a sense of realism, enabling the readers to visualize the characters’ actions, gestures, and expressions, thereby enriching the narrative.

Moreover, dialogue serves as a tool for exposition and advancing the plot. It can provide background information, introduce conflicts, or foreshadow future events. By integrating dialogue strategically, authors can effectively convey information without lengthy paragraphs or excessive narration, keeping the readers captivated and maintaining the flow of the story.

Furthermore, dialogue aids in building tension and creating dramatic moments in narrative essays. It allows for the expression of differing opinions, conflicting emotions, or heated arguments between characters, adding intensity and excitement to the storyline. This helps to sustain the reader’s interest and keeps them engaged throughout the narrative.

In conclusion, dialogue serves a crucial purpose in narrative essays. It breathes life into characters, advances the plot, and creates tension and drama. By incorporating dialogue effectively, writers can enhance the overall quality of their narrative essays, making them more compelling and enjoyable for readers.

Enhancing Character Development

Dialogue is a powerful tool for enhancing character development in narrative essays. By using dialogue, writers can delve deeper into the personalities of their characters and provide readers with a deeper understanding of who they are. Here are several ways dialogue helps in enhancing character development:

• Revealing traits and motivations: Through conversations, characters can express their thoughts, desires, fears, and aspirations, allowing readers to gain insight into their motivations and values. Dialogue provides a platform for characters to reveal their true selves and showcase their unique traits.
• Showing relationships and dynamics: Dialogue allows writers to portray the dynamics between characters. It showcases how they interact, whether they are friends, enemies, or lovers. Conversations provide opportunities to display conflicts, tension, or camaraderie, giving readers a glimpse into the complexity of relationships.
• Demonstrating growth and change: Dialogue helps to showcase character development over the course of the narrative. By observing how characters communicate and express themselves, readers can witness their growth, changing attitudes, and evolving perspectives.
• Adding authenticity: Dialogue adds authenticity to characters, making them more believable and relatable. Through their conversations, characters can speak with unique voices, dialects, or mannerisms, making them feel like real individuals with distinct personalities.

In conclusion, dialogue is a powerful tool for enhancing character development in narrative essays. By using conversations, writers can reveal traits and motivations, show relationships and dynamics, demonstrate growth and change, and add authenticity to their characters. Skillful use of dialogue allows readers to connect with the characters on a deeper level, enriching their reading experience.

Advancing the Plot

Dialogue is an effective way to advance the plot in narrative essays. Conversations between characters can serve as a powerful narrative device, driving the story forward and keeping readers engaged. Here are several ways dialogue helps to advance the plot:

• Introducing conflict: Dialogue can introduce conflicts between characters, creating tension and propelling the plot forward. Through their conversations, characters can express differing opinions or goals, leading to an exciting clash of ideas.
• Conveying information: Dialogue can be used to deliver important information to readers, without resorting to lengthy exposition or description. By providing details through conversations, writers can keep the narrative moving while informing the reader.
• Foreshadowing events: Dialogue can foreshadow future events, building anticipation for what’s to come. Characters can make cryptic comments or hint at what’s to come, leaving readers eager for more information.
• Establishing mood: Dialogue can set the tone for a scene and create a specific mood or atmosphere. The words chosen, the tone of the conversation, and the way the characters interact can all contribute to the overall feeling of the story.

In conclusion, dialogue is a valuable tool for advancing the plot in narrative essays. It can introduce conflict, convey information, foreshadow events, and establish mood. Skillful use of dialogue can keep readers engaged and propel the narrative forward, allowing the story to unfold in an exciting and captivating way.

Generate captivating narrative essays with our new AI Essay Writer .

Creating Realism and Authenticity

Dialogue plays a crucial role in creating realism and authenticity in narrative essays. By incorporating natural and believable conversations between characters, writers can bring their stories to life and make them more relatable to readers. Here are several reasons why dialogue is essential for creating realism and authenticity:

• Mimicking real-life speech: Dialogue aims to replicate the way people actually talk. By using realistic dialogue, writers can capture the intricacies of everyday language, including slang, colloquialisms, pauses, and interruptions. This authenticity helps readers immerse themselves in the story.
• Reflecting different voices: Different characters have unique voices and ways of speaking. Through dialogue, writers can showcase these distinct voices, including variations in speech patterns, vocabulary choices, or accents. Dialogue allows readers to connect with characters on a deeper level by hearing their individual voices.
• Portraying emotions: Dialogue allows characters to express their emotions in a more direct and immediate way. Readers can experience the characters’ joy, sadness, anger, or frustration through their spoken words and the accompanying subtext. This emotional depth adds a layer of realism to the narrative.
• Providing context and details: Dialogue can provide important context and details about the setting, time period, or cultural references. By incorporating relevant conversations, writers can enrich the story with authentic cultural or historical elements, making the narrative more vibrant and realistic.

In conclusion, dialogue is a crucial element in creating realism and authenticity in narrative essays. It mimics real-life speech, reflects different voices, portrays emotions, and provides contextual details. By employing natural and believable dialogue, writers can transport readers into their stories and make the characters and settings feel genuine and relatable.

Conveying Emotions and Thoughts

One of the main purposes of dialogue in a narrative essay is to convey the emotions and thoughts of the characters. Through conversations, writers can delve into the inner workings of their characters’ minds, providing readers with a deeper understanding of their motivations, fears, and desires. Here are several reasons why dialogue is effective in conveying emotions and thoughts:

• Expressing feelings directly: Dialogue allows characters to express their emotions and thoughts in a direct and immediate manner. By giving characters a voice, writers can convey joy, sadness, anger, confusion, and a range of other emotions more effectively.
• Providing insight into internal struggles: Dialogue can reveal the characters’ internal conflicts and struggles. By letting them voice their thoughts and engage in introspective conversations, writers can explore the complexities of their characters’ minds, allowing readers to empathize and connect with them.
• Offering subtext: Dialogue often includes subtext, which adds depth and layers to the characters’ words. Through subtle hints, unsaid desires, or hidden meanings, dialogue can convey emotions and thoughts beyond what is explicitly stated, adding complexity to the narrative.
• Enhancing character development: By using dialogue to convey emotions and thoughts, writers can develop their characters more fully. Readers gain a deeper understanding of the characters’ personalities, motivations, and growth throughout the narrative, fostering a stronger emotional connection.

In conclusion, dialogue serves the purpose of conveying emotions and thoughts in a narrative essay. It allows for an authentic and direct expression of feelings, offers insight into internal struggles, provides subtext, and enhances character development. By skillfully utilizing dialogue, writers can bring their characters to life and create a more immersive and emotionally engaging reading experience.

Using Dialogue as a Literary Device

Dialogue serves a dual purpose in narrative essays – not only does it drive the plot and convey information, but it also functions as a literary device, adding depth and complexity to the storytelling. Here are several ways in which dialogue can be used as a literary device in narrative essays:

• Revealing character traits: Through dialogue, writers can reveal the unique qualities of their characters. By carefully crafting their words and interactions, writers can show aspects such as personalities, values, and beliefs, providing readers with a deeper understanding of the characters.
• Creating tension and conflict: Dialogue can be used to create tension and conflict between characters, heightening the dramatic effect of the narrative. By employing sharp exchanges, disagreements, or verbal sparring, writers can generate a sense of anticipation and suspense, keeping readers engaged.
• Establishing voice and style: Dialogue allows writers to establish their own voice and style. Each character can have a distinctive way of speaking, reflecting their personality or social background. This adds authenticity to the story and helps readers differentiate between characters.
• Enhancing symbolism and subtext: Dialogue can be imbued with symbolism and subtext, adding layers of meaning to the narrative. Characters may engage in metaphorical or poetic conversations that convey deeper messages or explore themes in a nuanced manner.

In conclusion, dialogue serves as a multifaceted literary device in narrative essays. It reveals character traits, creates tension and conflict, establishes voice and style, and enhances symbolism and subtext. By utilizing dialogue in these ways, writers can elevate their storytelling, making the narrative more compelling, thought-provoking, and memorable for readers.

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I. What is Dialogue?

Dialogue (pronounced die-a-log) means “conversation.” In the broadest sense, this includes any case of two or more characters speaking to each other directly. But it also has a narrower definition, called the dialogue form . The dialogue form is the use of a sustained dialogue to express an argument or idea. This article will focus more on the narrower definition, since this definition is generally less familiar to people than the more general one.

II. Examples of Dialogue

Many modern playwrights use dialogue to explore philosophical ideas. One famous example is Copenhagen by Michael Frayn, in which two great physicists – one Danish and the other German – meet in the midst of World War II. Their conversation ranges over science, politics, and their personal relationship, and each of these conversations deeply influences the other two, producing an extremely complex and philosophical narrative, despite having only two main characters .

Perhaps the most famous use of the dialogue form is Plato’s Symposium . In this highly influential work of philosophy, Plato describes a conversation between Socrates and several of his friends. They are all lying on couches in various states of drunkenness, arguing about the meaning of love. Over the course of the dialogue, the arguments become more and more sophisticated, until in the end we see the ultimate conversation between Socrates and his intoxicated student, Alcibiades. Socrates ultimately demonstrates that love is a far more complex and ever-present reality than the simpler notions of affection that his friends have been describing.

III. The Importance of Dialogue

In ancient Greece, drama and philosophy were very closely related. Plays, whether comedy or tragedy, were supposed to express important religious and philosophical ideas, not simply entertain people. As a result, early philosophers such as Plato employed the dialogue form in writing their philosophy. Although philosophy is now written in monologue (with only one voice, namely the author’s), there is still a value to the dialogue form.

Any argument, whether in philosophy or any other discipline, proceeds by responding to counterarguments and reader doubts . It starts by saying something that can be doubted (a thesis or main claim), and then responds to those doubts in order to persuade the reader that the main claim is true.

The dialogue form takes this interplay of doubt and persuasion, and makes it explicit – typically, one or more of the characters represents the reader’s view, while another character represents the author’s view. This allows the author to acknowledge the reader’s anticipated objections in the process of answering them.

IV. Examples of Dialogue in Literature

The dialogue form is not solely an ancient phenomenon. It was also used by Mohandas Gandhi in his famous Hind Swaraj or Indian Self Rule (1909), in which he argues that the Indian people must take control both of their country (then under British rule) and of their souls and emotions. The dialogue is between two characters: Editor, representing Gandhi, and Reader, representing skeptical readers who might disagree with his ideas.

The Bhagavad Gita , one of the most sacred texts in the Hindu faith, is structured as a dialogue between Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna. The two divine heroes discuss virtue, ethical behavior, duty, and enlightenment over the course of a long chariot ride.

V. Examples of Dialogue in Pop Culture

In music, a song sung by two different artists is called a “duet,” but it sometimes has the same effect as a dialogue, with each vocalist expressing his or her own viewpoint. One recent example would be Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know,” in which the male and female singers have different perspectives on the story. Note that if both singers share the same perspective, it’s not really a dialogue.

Nearly all movies have a significant amount of dialogue – any time the characters speak to one another is dialogue! In many movies, the dialogue takes a back seat to the action, but this isn’t always the case – My Dinner With Andre , for example, is entirely about a long conversation between two characters talking about their lives and philosophies.

Although standup comedy almost always takes the form of a monologue, there are some exceptions – ventriloquists, for example, use dummies (puppets) to “respond” and set up their jokes. There are also routines, such as those of Abbott & Costello, or Monty Python, that employ dialogue in their comedy. Monty Python’s “Argument Clinic” sketch actually satirizes the dialogue form by creating a comically unsophisticated conversation. (For most of the sketch, the two characters are just saying “yes it is” and “no it isn’t” back and forth.)

VI. Related Terms

A monologue is an extended speech by a single character – the typical standup routine is an example of a monologue. This is also the form of almost all philosophical and academic writing today. However, there are still a few experimental authors who employ the dialogue form in writing out their arguments.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
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• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
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• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
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• Intertextuality
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• Literary Device
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Why Is Dialogue Important? 7 Roles Dialogue Plays in a Story

by Joslyn Chase | 0 comments

If you’re looking for a surefire way to improve your story, you’ll be happy to know there’s a fast-acting method at your disposal. According to writing expert James Scott Bell, it’s “the fastest way to improve any manuscript.”

I’m talking about dialogue.

But here’s the thing—dialogue is more than just the words you put in your characters’ mouths. On screen and stage, it’s the actor’s job to take their lines and infuse them with meaning, expression, emotion, and so on. On the page, that’s your job.

Effective dialogue usually includes action, body language, subtext, and the thoughts, opinions, and emotions of the viewpoint character. It’s a powerful, dynamic device that, done right, will draw readers deep into your story.

7 Tasks Dialogue Must Accomplish

Dialogue isn’t just window decoration. It must earn its place in the story by performing one or several crucial functions. There’s no room for boring chitchat or static bits of fluff in a compelling story.

Here are seven important points in the job description for dialogue. A single passage of dialogue might not do all these things at once, but it should accomplish at least one:

1. Characterize

Dialogue is a great way for characters to reveal themselves in the words they use and the way those words are delivered . Make sure you stay consistent within each character by using unique speech patterns, vernacular, and the lingo of each character's particular occupation or background. Realistic dialogue will bring your characters to life. 

When your POV character speaks, their thoughts, emotions, and opinions should carry the same flavor as their words , or provide an explanation to the reader as to why they don’t.

For example, consider the differences in character that are revealed in these three ways of saying the same thing:

“Fix me a sandwich, will you?” “Get off your butt and make me a friggin sandwich.” “I could really go for a sandwich, and no one makes them better than you. Would you mind?”

2. Intensify conflict

The conflict can be external—character vs. character or character vs. environment—or the dialogue can reflect the viewpoint character’s internal struggle. Conflict in dialogue can arise and escalate in many ways—through disagreement, threat, lies, wheedling, demands, cajoling, and taunting, to name a few—but don’t let it devolve into a tedious tug o’ war.

Here’s a short example from my thriller, Steadman’s Blind :

Frank hadn’t moved since Steadman left him to pursue the fleeing man, and he didn’t answer Steadman’s enthusiastic announcement. Dread, like a lead weight, sank in Steadman’s gut. “Frank?” A tense moment passed, then a shaky voice rose out of the crevice. “I’m here.” “What’s wrong, Frank? You told me you were okay.” Steadman couldn’t keep a note of accusation from creeping into his words. “No, I didn’t,” Frank replied. “I said I wasn’t shot. I never claimed my leg ain’t broke.” “Oh hell, Frank. Hold on—I’m coming.”

In this dialogue exchange, we learn that Frank has been injured. The dialogue intensifies the conflict and we learn the truth at the same moment Steadman hears it. 

3. Create suspense

Dialogue is a great way to send out prickles of suspense and to set up for later payoffs. Your characters can foreshadow future events by giving little hints that make the reader wonder, guess, and grow concerned about greater danger or conflict ahead. Use this technique in a moment of low tension to heighten and build, but don’t waste it on unimportant events.

In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo says to Juliet:

“I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes, And but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate Than death proroguèd, wanting of thy love.”

Thereby laying the groundwork for peril and tragedy. Readers make a mental note and read on to discover how the foreshadowing will play out.

Here's another example from Alfred Hitchcock's film Psycho . When the Janet Leigh character checks into the Bates Motel, she witnesses a toxic argument between Norman Bates and his mother. He responds to her concern by explaining that “mother is as harmless as one of those stuffed birds.”

The scene sets up tension between characters and makes us suspect something lurks beneath the surface of their relationship. We’re hooked into watching further.

4. Advance the plot

A passage of dialogue should produce a sense of movement, taking your characters farther from, or closer to, their respective goals. This often happens at the turning point of the scene, when information is revealed that changes the dynamic in a dramatic way.

In my thriller Nocturne In Ashes , I have a character desperately in need of a helicopter and pilot. This bit of dialogue advances the plot by moving him yet farther from his goal, upping the ante and the tension:

“He told me if anyone could get me there, it was Bobby Baines, and he gave me this address. I hope you don’t mind.” He snapped his empty glass down on the rosewood table at his elbow. “I’m afraid Bobby was my last hope.” She swirled her drink, regarding its depths with a solemn eye, then shifted her gaze to his. “You’re looking at a classic good news/bad news situation here. The good news is, I’m Bobbi Baines, and I am one hell of a pilot. The bad news is that the sort of operation you’re talking about, aside from the extreme peril, would tear up an engine, virtually killing the helicopter. No one wants to subject their bird to that.”

This reveal takes the character farther from his goal, but the next line of dialogue from Bobbi Baines changes everything, setting the storyline on a new trajectory. I won't spoil it for you. Read the book!

5. Reinforce atmosphere and create mood

Do this by having your characters use words that convey the tone of your story. In their comments to one another, they make judgments about their surroundings, creating a picture in the reader’s mind and setting the mood .

Here’s an example from Ken Follett’s excellent novel The Key to Rebecca :

Ishmael was standing at his shoulder. He said: “Was it a long journey?” Achmed nodded. “I came from El Agela, in Libya.” The names meant nothing to his cousin. “I came from the sea.” “From the sea!” “Yes.” “ Alone? ” “I had some camels when I started.” Ishmael was awestruck: even the nomads did not make such long journeys, and he had never seen the sea.

*Fun fact—Did you notice those camels Achmed mentioned he had when he started? The opening line of The Key to Rebecca is one of the most famous ever, and it goes like this: “The last camel collapsed at noon.”

6. Deliver background information

Don’t stop the action to make this happen. Keep the characters moving and weave the information into the action.

Elizabeth George calls this a THAD—Talking Heads Avoidance Device. Characters sitting static at a table is rife with difficulties for the writer. Make it easier on yourself and the reader by giving your characters something to do , and if you choose well, the activity can reveal more about the characters and theme.

As always, you must make sure the reader cares about your character before you dive into too much background. James Rollins gave a fantastic workshop on how to do that which I summed up in How to Write Action Scenes That Thrill Your Reader .

Be sure to include sensory details, filtered through your viewpoint character, as well as emotion, reaction, and opinion. And don’t be gratuitous with this, loading the dialogue with information the characters would already know. The reader picks up on such tactics and it feels artificial. Keep it real.

7. Sum up offstage business

Some events in your story may take place behind the scenes, but the reader still needs to know what happened. Having your characters talk about the important elements of that offstage business is a valid and economical way to cover your bases.

Again, make certain the reader is invested in the outcomes and avoid using language that makes it feel like a report. Find fresh ways for your characters to talk to each other.

The Importance of Dialogue

I love writing dialogue. It’s fun, and the fact that it’s a power player in your writer’s toolbox is a fabulous bonus. Readers eat up white space. When there’s more dialogue and shorter paragraphs, it draws the eye and enhances the pace so it keeps readers turning those pages.

Study the techniques and put them to practice in your work. Make sure you learn the proper mechanics and organize your paragraphs correctly so there’s nothing impeding the flow of the dialogue.

Fire up your keyboard and put dialogue to work in your story today!

Can you think of other important roles dialogue plays in a story? Tell us about it in the comments .

Let’s write some dialogue! Choose one of the prompts and write a passage of dialogue between two characters, making sure the conversation accomplishes at least one of the purposes discussed in the article.

On a trans-Atlantic flight, Joan has the window seat and needs to get past Felix to use the bathroom.

In the supermarket, Brenda rushes to find all the items for her party, and her teenage daughter is more of a hindrance than a help.

In the woods, two men argue over the best way to start the campfire before the sun goes down.

Write for fifteen minutes . When you are finished, post your work in the Pro Practice Workshop , and be sure to provide feedback for your fellow writers!

Joslyn Chase

Any day where she can send readers to the edge of their seats, prickling with suspense and chewing their fingernails to the nub, is a good day for Joslyn. Pick up her latest thriller, Steadman's Blind , an explosive read that will keep you turning pages to the end. No Rest: 14 Tales of Chilling Suspense , Joslyn's latest collection of short suspense, is available for free at joslynchase.com .

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• Dialogue Writing

Dialogue Writing - Style, Format and Examples

Are you a good speaker or a great listener? If you are, you should have definitely come across multiple instances where something you said or you heard someone say stuck to your mind. This happens mainly because those words touched your heart or made you think. That is the effect of a good dialogue. Even a simple conversation with your family, friends or even an unknown group of people can give you ideas and thoughts to ponder on.

This article will introduce you to the art of dialogue writing and give you information about all that you need to know. Furthermore, go through the sample dialogues and analyse how they make an effect.

Table of Contents

What is dialogue writing, the purposes of writing a dialogue, inner dialogue, outer dialogue, basic format and structure of a dialogue, punctuation, what not to do when writing a dialogue – points to remember, dialogues from stories and plays, dialogues from movies and tv shows, frequently asked questions on dialogue writing in english.

The term ‘dialogue’ is something all of you would be familiar with. As social beings, people (irrespective of being young or old, male or female) communicate with each other. Such a communication where both parties involved in the conversation have something to say about the topic being discussed can be said to be dialogue. A dialogue can be on any topic – a very simple talk about a daily chore, a serious talk about a social or medical problem, a discussion about what has to be done for an event and so on. The only point that you should remember is that a dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically.

The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conversation in text is referred to as dialogue writing.

What do you think is the reason behind writing dialogues in a story, play or film? Is it mandatory to include dialogues in a story? There are stories where you have a third person narrator or one of the characters of the story presenting the story from their perspective. What difference does it make when there are dialogues instead of just someone narrating each and everything that is happening in the story?

Having dialogues along with stage directions instead of just narrations can be said to be a better writing technique as it gives the readers a clear picture of the characteristics of the various characters in the story, play or movie. It also gives your characters life, and above all, a voice of their own. Dialogues portray the emotional state, mindset, background information and attitude of the speakers. This will always be more effective as it would let the readers connect with the characters on a more personal level.

Dialogue writing is also one area where the writers get to be creative even to the extent of breaking some conventional grammatical rules. For instance, elongating a word or writing the whole word in capital letters or using multiple question marks or exclamation marks to stress on whatever is being said. For example: YESSSS!!

Another component of dialogue writing is adding stage directions. Stage directions are short phrases written in brackets that give the reader an idea of what the character is doing as they engage in the dialogue. For example: Dan (rubbing his eyes): I am still tired.

Types of Dialogues

Dialogues can be classified into two main types namely,

The term ‘inner dialogue’ refers to the individual character’s thoughts which are not spoken aloud; in other words, said to anyone else. They can be something a character is thinking as the other character is speaking and their thoughts about what is going on or what the other character is doing. These inner dialogues are not placed within quotation marks .

As the name suggests, ‘outer dialogues’ are thoughts that are spoken aloud. They refer to everything the two characters involved in the dialogue say to each other. Outer dialogues are usually placed with quotation marks.

Fundamental Rules to Be Followed When Writing a Dialogue

Dialogue writing can look and sound simple; however, when actually putting dialogue in writing, there are certain rules regarding the structure and format you need to follow. Go through each of these in detail in the sections given below.

Dialogues can be part of a story, a play or a movie. Each one has a different structure and format in which the dialogues have to be presented; however, there is a basic structure that can be followed. Go through the following points to learn the essential attributes a dialogue must have.

• The first thing you have to do before you write a dialogue is to decide who the characters are.
• You should also have a clear idea of the plot of the story, or in general, the context of the dialogue.
• Dialogues can be just a sentence, two or three lines or even a short paragraph. Whatever be the case, always remember that each character’s dialogue, no matter how short or long, has to be written on the next line. In other words, no two dialogues should appear on the same line. Also see to it that you indent each dialogue.
• If the dialogues are one-liners, you can write them one after the other. On the contrary, if each of your characters are speaking in chunks (short or long paragraphs), it is mandatory that you show the difference by using an optimum line spacing.
• Be very careful with the tense used in the dialogue.
• It is better to skip the small talk (including greetings) and start off with the point of discussion unless the small talk is crucial to setting the mood of the conversation.

In every form of writing, punctuation is an important factor that makes it sensible. In the same manner, dialogue writing also would not make any sense without proper punctuation. Learn how to punctuate dialogues by going through the following points.

• The first rule would be adding a colon after the name of the character to indicate that the particular character is the one speaking at the moment. Sometimes, a hyphen is used instead of a colon.
• The name of the character should always start with a capital letter as it is a proper noun. Sometimes, you will have characters such as villagers, student 1, student 2, etc. In these cases also, you will have to use a capital letter.
• Dialogues are to be placed within quotation marks.
• If you are including a character’s dialogue in another character’s dialogue, it has to be placed within single quotation marks. For example: “Don’t you think Rakesh saying ‘I will take the lead’ has some hidden agenda?”
• Also remember that any punctuation mark corresponding to the dialogue should always be placed within double quotation marks. For instance, if the dialogue is an interrogative sentence , the question mark has to come first marking the end of the sentence followed by the double quotation marks marking the end of the dialogue.
• When you insert the tag in the middle of the dialogue, make sure you close the quotation marks before the tag. The tag is preceded and followed by a comma . When you open quotation marks to continue the dialogue, see to it that you use a small letter to begin with if it is the continuation of the dialogue, and close the quotation marks once the dialogue is complete. For example: “Do you know”, he shouted to everyone, “who the new manager is?”
• If the dialogue tag is positioned in the beginning of the sentence, see to it that you start it with a capital letter as you are starting a new sentence. Place a comma after the dialogue tag followed by open quotation marks, the dialogue starting with a capital letter followed by the punctuation mark of the quote and close quotation marks. For example: Josh mumbled, “Nobody understands the main problem here.”
• A dialogue can also appear at the end of the sentence. In this case, the quotation comes first. Once you punctuate the quote and close the quotation marks, place the dialogue tag. Note that the dialogue tag is not capitalised. For example: “Are you coming with us?” Sarah asked.
• If a character’s dialogue is being interrupted by another character, use a dash to indicate the interference. For example: “I was wondering –”

“Are you ready to go?”

• Actions and body language of characters can be described in sentences and they can appear in between dialogues. For example: “I am not interested.” She shrugged her shoulders. “But, I will do it just for you.”

Now that you know how to write a dialogue, let us also look at what all you are not supposed to do when writing a dialogue.

• Using dialogue tags does give some clarity about the action and body language of the characters, but see to it that you do not use dialogue tags with every single dialogue. Also, make sure you don’t use too little.
• Using colloquial language is allowed in dialogue writing, but use them only if it matches the context.
• Dialogues need not be grammatically correct all the time. That does not mean you can write structureless sentences. You can have individual words or phrases as a dialogue. For example: “What?”, “Of course!”, “She started the fight?”

Examples of Dialogue Writing

To help you understand and learn the art of dialogue writing, here are a few examples from some famous stories, plays, movies and TV shows.

A few examples from ‘The Crocodile and the Monkey’ are given below. Go through them and try to analyse how the description and dialogues are written.

• The crocodile’s wife thought to herself, “If the monkey eats only these sweet rose-apples, his flesh must be sweet too. He would be a delicious dinner.”
• When they reached, the monkey climbed up the tree to safety. He looked at the crocodile and said, “Now you can go back to your wicked wife and tell her that her husband is the biggest fool in this world. Your foolishness has no parallel. You were ready to take my life because of an unjust demand from your wife. Then you were stupid enough to believe me and brought me back to the tree.”

Here are a few examples from the short story, ‘The Gift of the Magi’ by O. Henry. Check them out.

• “Twenty dollars,” said Mrs. Sofronie, lifting the hair to feel its weight.

“Give it to me quick,” said Della.

• “Jim, dear,” she cried, “don’t look at me like that. I had my hair cut off and sold it. I couldn’t live through Christmas without giving you a gift. My hair will grow again. You won’t care, will you? My hair grows very fast. It’s Christmas, Jim. Let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I got for you.”

Here are a few quotes from the play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare.

• Shylock: Three thousand ducats; well.

Bassanio: Ay, sir, for three months.

Shylock: For three months; well.

Bassanio: For which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.

Shylock: Antonio shall become bound; well.

Bassanio: May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? shall I know your answer?

Shylock: Three thousand ducats for three months and Antonio bound.

• Bassanio: And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

Gratiano: Yes, faith, my lord.

Bassanio: Our feast shall be much honour’d in your marriage.

Gratiano: We’ll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.

Check out the following section to learn how dialogues from movies and TV shows are written. Furthermore, analyse the style and language used.

The following sample conversation is from the Disney movie ‘Moana’. Check it out.

Maui: Boat! A boat! The Gods have given me a (screams)

Moana: Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea. I am Moana…

Maui: Hero of Man.

Moana: Wh..What?

Maui: It’s actually Maui, shapeshifter, demigod of the wind and sea, hero of man. I

interrupted, from the top, hero of man. Go.

Moana: I am Mo…

Maui: Sorry, Sorry, sorry, sorry. And women. Men and women. Both. All. Not a guy-girl

thing. Ah, you know, Maui is a hero to all. You’re doing great.

Moana: What? No, I came here to…

Maui: Oh, of course, of course. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Maui always has time for his fans.

When you use a bird to write with, it’s called tweeting. (laughs) I know, not every day you

get a chance to meet your hero.

Moana: You are not my hero. And I’m not here so you can sign my oar. I’m here because

you stole the heart of Te Fiti and you will board my boat, sail across the sea, and put it

The following example is taken from the series ‘Anne with an E’.

• Diana: Anne!

Anne: Hello, Diana!

Diana: My, what have you done to your hat?

Anne: Well, I wanted to make a good first impression and it was so plain.

Diana: You’re making an impression all right.

Anne: I’m glad you found your way.

Diana: I expect we should be able to walk together soon.

Anne: We can’t?

Diana: I’m sure it won’t be long until my parents accept you, now that you’re a Cuthbert and all.

Also check out: Conversation between Teacher and Student │ Conversation between Doctor and Patient │ Conversation between Two Friends │ Conversation between Shopkeeper and Customer

What is dialogue writing?

A dialogue isn’t just any conversation but a conversation between two people specifically. Transcribing a dialogue in writing or presenting a conversation in text is referred to as dialogue writing.

What is the definition of a dialogue?

The Collins Dictionary defines the term ‘dialogue’ as “a conversation between two people in a book, film, or play”.

What is the format of dialogue writing?

The basic structure and format of a dialogue is as follows:

• Every speaker gets a new paragraph.
• The name of the character is followed by a colon and then the dialogue within quotes is written.
• If dialogue tags are used, use a comma after it if it comes in the beginning, a comma before and after if it comes in the middle and place it immediately after the quotation marks if it comes at the end.

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How to Write a Dialogue in an Essay with Example

This article will reveal all you need to know about how to write a dialogue, types of dialogues in an essay, and formatting . In addition, in this article, you will find several examples of English essay dialogue and dialogue between two characters.

What Is a Dialogue?

The definition of a dialogue is as simple as it gets. Dialogue is a conversation or discussion between two or more people in a book, play, or film. If you are wondering where the surprise part is coming in, here it is: it is not just any conversation. If you include a dialogue in an essay, it has to convey some kind of conflict, emotional tension, a surprising fact, or an interesting turn of events.

Dialogues in essays are not focused on mundane things because mundane things are just not interesting to read about.

There is a range of things NOT to include in your dialogue, such as:

• Throat-clearing sentences – parts of dialogue that do not add to the plot, but simply take space
• Rambling – this is the least relevant and interesting type of dialogue, which your readers are most likely to skip
• Words like “um”, “hm”, “like”, “sorta”, “kinda” – while it is important to speak the language of your readers to engage with them, avoid making them feel like they listen to a discussion between two people on the street.
• Profanities and slang – keep it classy instead of crassy.

  It is surely rare to hear people in real life speaking like characters in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, but this doesn’t mean dialogues shouldn’t be refined to sound realistic.

Types of Dialogues

While choosing how to convey the words of characters in an essay for the readers, you have two options: active and passive dialogue . Active dialogue includes quotes and quotation marks, while passive dialogue implies paraphrasing of the quotes and telling them from the narrator.

Examples of these types of dialogue are below:

1 Active dialogue example

Peter asked, “Joanna, can you take kids to your mother tonight?”

“Sure, I will drive them there as soon as they get back home from school,” she replied.

2 Passive dialogue example

Peter asked Joanna whether she would be able to take kids to her mother tonight. Joanna was exhausted by a long ride, however, agreed anyway, taking the chance to avoid the serious talk she needed to have with her husband.

From these short dialogues, we can see that active dialogue allows readers to imagine the situation much better, while passive dialogue can provide more details just by adding extra facts to the narration.

How to Put a Dialogue in an Essay?

The purpose of a dialogue in an essay is to create a more vivid picture for the audience. The functions of a dialogue in an essay include:

• Providing extra information about characters
• Unravel interesting or surprising plot twists and details about the story
• Attract readers’ attention

If your dialogue meets at least one of these criteria, it is a good dialogue to put in an essay. In fact, dialogues can help you tell a lot of information about the story and characters in a relatively short abstract. Adding descriptions of how people say something or why they say it is the key to describing their own behavior.

How to Format a Dialogue

Now let’s move on to the most intriguing part of writing a dialogue – punctuation and formatting . When you stumble upon a dialogue in any narrative essay or text, punctuation might seem to have a lot of different styles, which is confusing.

Of course, common errors in English are still relevant here, but dialogues have evolved their own punctuation rules.

There are three simple steps you need to follow in order to format your dialogue correctly in an essay:

1 In a dialogue, commas, exclamation marks, and question marks are inside the quotation marks:

“How could you do this? Moving a couch across the room isn’t a job for a fourteen-year-old girl!” Diane’s mom yelled in despair. “These macaroons are just exquisite! I would love it if you would give me a recipe,” my aunt asked me. “This movie was so scary that I could barely look at the screen!” her son complained after watching Jaws.

2 Use commas to set off dialogue tags, such as “he said” or “she exclaimed”:

“Enough of this,” he said, “I am absolutely tired of repairing this car! I will rather save up and buy a new one.” “Pepsi has too much sugar in it, this is diabetes in a can,” the grandmother said in a sad voice. “I have been reading The New York Times for years now,”the teacher said. “This newspaper has never disappointed me.”

3 If your quotation is at the end of the sentence, put a period inside the quotation marks as well:

Uncle Joe frowned, scratched his forehead, and finally replied, “I have no idea why my car keys are in the fridge.” He then told her the biggest lie he could ever tell, “I never left the wet towel on the bathroom floor.” Sarah pointed at zebra and asked her father, “Daddy, I have never seen a black and white horse.”

Pay attention to the following: if one person’s speech takes more than one paragraph, use opening quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, however, do not use closing marks till the end of the speech .

My new neighbor always seems to be the most enthusiastic to tell me about her perfumes. One day, I asked her, “How did you come to like and wear perfumes?” She replied, “I have always wondered about where perfumes came from. This huge industry has grown from our scent preferences, experience with different smells, and scent associations. Probably, this is connected to our evolution as species, where detecting specific smell would mean choosing safe food. “Until recently, I have never been wearing perfumes myself, but admired them from a distance. Now I have a small collection of fragrances. I have learned a lot about fragrance industry and notes used in perfumery.”

How to Write a Dialogue Between Two Characters

Now that you know all about the purpose of a dialogue in an essay as well as how to write it and use punctuation, learning how to write a dialogue between two characters will be a piece of cake.

The rules you should follow are:

• Give your characters a setting . Just like in movies, mise-en-scene is often as important as the dialogue itself. Set the scene for the dialogue by briefly describing where and when the dialogue takes place. This will help your readers imagine the picture more vividly.
• Keep it realistic . Unless it suits your essay style, there is no need to be smarty pants and write dialogues with words and scientific facts that are hard to understand for an average reader. While writing a dialogue, reread it several times and make sure it doesn’t make you think “nobody talks like that!”
• Let the dialogue flow naturally . Put yourself into your characters’ shoes and imagine how you would react to something being said to you. This is how you will find the way for the dialogue to seem natural and flow seamlessly.
• Don’t overuse it . While dialogue is a great tool for an essay, turning an essay into a play script with only quotes is another mistake you want to avoid.
• Make your characters human . Add details about feelings and emotions into the dialogue, both from the narrator and from the dialogue itself. Let your audience understand the tone and mood of the dialogue.
• Give the dialogue a purpose . By all means, discussion about whether a cake is tasty or not can be passionate, emotional, and tense altogether. However, this is not something to include in a dialogue. Your dialogue should have a purpose in the plot and affect the characters involved in it.
• Make sure to indicate who is who . This might seem like a rookie mistake in writing a dialogue in an essay, however, it happens. Have you ever read a long dialogue where you couldn’t understand anymore who talks? If your dialogue in an essay is longer than 5-6 quotes, make sure to add narrator’s text that will clarify who says those lines.

In a dialogue between two characters, it is easy to do because the readers do not need to remember many names or attributes. To avoid repetitions, use “he” or “she”, or specific features and roles, such as family member name (aunt, uncle, grandmother, nephew, etc.), significant appearance characteristic (blonde girl, tall man, lady in red, etc.), and specific roles people have (student, cashier, sale associate, doctor, nurse, etc.). In case you use any of those, make sure that you mention these attributes earlier in the text to avoid confusion.

Following these tips will help you write a truly meaningful dialogue between two characters and help readers understand additional information about them, their mood, features, preferences, role in the story, and relationships between them.

English Essay Dialogue Example

John finally returned home after a long day at work. It was raining cats and dogs and his raincoat was soaked. He opened the door, entered his apartment, and put his bag on the floor. suddenly , his phone started ringing. John took it out of his pocket and picked up. “Dad, itl burned down… I am so sorry,” he heard his daughter’s sad voice. She was crying. “What are you talking about?! Jen, are you alright?” “Dad, your summer cottage, it burned down to the ground” she was clearly devastated. John asked, “How did this happen?” “Just an accident, dad. You must have left the fire in the fireplace,” Jen replied. At this moment, John sighed with relief, even though his daughter might have thought he was very upset by the loss. She had no clue that her father insured their summer cottage and now the word “accident” meant lining his pocket from insurance money for sure.

So, now you know everything you need to write a dialogue in your essay successfully! Still, I strongly recommend to consider whether you need it at all — even when tutors assign such a creative writing, they are very meticulous in its evaluation. Moreover, pay attention to editing — due to sophisticated punctuation, dialogues are a never-ending source of students’ errors.

Did you know that Homework Lab is a student task sharing platform? You can work on tasks on your own or ask professional Geeks for help. Join anytime, anywhere for free.

If you have any questions about dialogues unanswered, please share your comment — I will get back and resolve any issues you have 😎.

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Dialogue: The Dos and Don’ts of Quotes in Your College Essay

“Hey,” I began, “you have cow eyes. I know that sounds like a bad thing but have you ever looked into a cow’s eyes? They are so deep and brown and beautiful. I’ve looked into a lot a cow eyes because I’m from Wisconsin.”

This dialogue segment is from Malcolm Conner’s winning “Modern Love” College Essay , p r i n t e d j u s t a c o u p l e m o n t h s a g o i n t h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s . Without dialogue, he might have said “I fumbled with my words, trying to compliment her,” but the dialogue shows his rambling and awkward demeanor instead.

Dialogue is an underutilized tool in the college essay. So many students don’t even consider adding an outdated adage from a parent or a hilarious crack from a high school coach to break up their prose, set the scene or build the profiles of their stories’ characters.  And yet, dialogue is one of those devices that can give you a lot of bang for your buck, delivering a punch of personality or a wallop of context using just a few carefully culled utterances. Dialogue is also one of those tools that is easy to waste if you don’t know how to wield it for maximum effect. So when should you use dialogue in your college essay? And when should you avoid it?

Use dialogue:

If it reveals something specific about a character in your essay. Is your character cranky? A jokester? Is your character selfish? (“You can’t have any.”) Dialogue can telegraph these kinds of qualities to a reader very quickly.

If it helps to move the story forward. Maybe when everything is going great, your friend pulls you aside and says, “I have to tell you something, something bad.”

If it expresses humor or heartache or other emotions in the character’s own words. Is your character a funny grandparent? (“If you eat any more potatoes, Ireland’s gonna come for you, sport.” “Honey, if I had known about senior discounts, I would have let my hair go grey twenty years ago.”)

Don’t use dialogue:

If it is expressing something that is obvious to the reader without adding an additional layer of context or insight to the story or your characters. If it doesn’t tell us anything new about the character, the story may be better without it.

If you’ve already used it a few times in your essay. The impact of dialogue is enhanced when it’s used sparingly — especially in short pieces of writing.

If it takes away from the focal point of your story. Dialogue can be great insight into a character or situation, but if it doesn’t serve a purpose in hitting home your main point, it needs to be cut.

All of this said, of course, there are exceptions to these rules. If used intentionally, as a conscious creative choice, submitting an essay overflowing with dialogue can actually work to amazing effect. For example, maybe your essay is a discussion between you and your former self, between you and your best friend, or you and your parent.  In these cases, you should ask yourself: why is this the best way to share my story? If you can answer that question and still believe you’re making the right choice, by all means, continue with your experiment.

Otherwise, the tips above should help you on the road to incorporating the right kind and amount of dialogue into your college essay. When used well, dialogue illuminates. It shows personality. It’s specific. I say, “Do it! Do it! Do it!”

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Category: Admissions , advice , College Admissions , Essay Tips , Essay Writing , Quick Tips , Tips , Uncategorized

Tags: 2017-2018 college applications , college admissions , college admissions essay , college applications , college essay , college essay help , college essay tips , dialogue , Essays

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As Israel Braces for Iran’s Retaliation, Diplomats Work to Avoid Wider War

President Biden convened his national security team and spoke with King Abdullah II of Jordan, and foreign ministers from Islamic countries plan to gather in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

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By Vivian Nereim and Farnaz Fassihi

Vivian Nereim reported from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Diplomats across the Middle East worked on Monday to contain escalating tensions between Israel and Iran as fears grew of a widening conflict in the region and Tehran vowed to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh , on Iranian soil.

With Israel’s war with Hamas raging in Gaza, the killing of Mr. Haniyeh last week in Tehran has intensified concerns among Arab and American officials that an even broader regional conflict could erupt. Israel has not publicly taken responsibility for the killing, but Iran and Hamas have both blamed Israel, and American intelligence has assessed that Israel was behind it.

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who was briefed on the country’s air-defense readiness on Monday during a visit to a military command center, said, according to a government statement, “We must be prepared for anything — including a swift transition to offense.”

In a separate statement, the Israeli government said Mr. Gallant had briefed the U.S. defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, overnight on Israel’s “readiness to defend Israel against potential threats posed by Iran and its proxies.”

Mr. Austin on Friday ordered more combat aircraft and missile-shooting warships to the Middle East in response to the threats from Iran and its proxies, the Pentagon said.

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