Tips for Writing Great Dialogue

by Larry J. Leech II @LarryJLeechII

Mom likes to needle me that when I moved from baby talk to speaking English that I haven’t shut up since. Well, uh, she might be … uh, dare I write it, correct. 

Well, I’m probably not the only one. Gosh, I hope not. One thing for sure is that people talk—every day. Even in the modern age in which written communication is often done with texts, emails, and instant messaging, people still speak words. Some might mumble. Others may babble. But words are spoken.

Writing spoken words in storytelling can be a little tricky. Keep these items in mind to write great dialogue.

6 Things to Remember to Write Great Dialogue

1. Skip ‘said’

Readers tend to skip over tags. I teach my clients that “said” is preferred (even for the word ‘asked’ with some publishers), but action is preferred over said. People move while they talk. Rarely do two people talk and sit with their hands plastered to their side or in their lap. We move. Gesture. Slam a fist on the table. Make your characters move. Without action, the characters can feel like they are floating around in space. Anchor them in the scene with a touch of setting and get them moving.

2. Mind your tone 

The number one pitfall I see is tone after dialogue. If the tone is after the dialogue, the reader doesn’t read with the intended tone. For example: “I hate you,” she said angrily. But by putting the tone before the dialogue, we read with the intended tone. But tone can be substituted with action. For example: She slammed her fist on the table. “I hate you.” Or She giggled. “I hate you.” In the examples, we know “she” is mad and being playful, respectively.

3. “You talking to me?”

Direct address in two-person dialogue is not needed. It’s a waste of words. Remember, projects are based on word count, not page count. An acquisition editor or agent will ask, “How many words is your manuscript?” They don’t ask “How many pages?” So, don’t waste words on unnecessary direct address in dialogue. But, and often there is an exception, direct address between a parent and child can be acceptable.

4. Awkward Greetings

Most new writers like to include greetings for answering the door or a phone call. Wasted words and bogs down the reader. The example I use of how to avoid comes from a Richard Castle novel. In the scene, the characters Jameson Rook and Nikki Heat meet Rooks’s mother at a restaurant. Instead of writing out all the greetings, the author wrote: After hugs and hellos, … In an instant, we see and hear the greetings between the three characters without reading the words each spoke. 

5. Penny for your thoughts

In recent years, we’ve seen a move away from italics for internal dialogue. That makes introducing internal thoughts a little tricky. But the solution is simple. Action before internal dialogue will set up the thought beautifully. For example, I gave her a sideways glance and smirked. “I hate her.” Obviously, the speaker is talking about someone else. With the quote marks, that looks like spoken dialogue. Without the quote marks, we know it’s internal dialogue. 

6. KISS your dialogue

Keep it simple, silly. Avoid long sentences of explanation. Large chunks of dialogue often feel like an info dump. I’ve seen manuscripts with dialogue that tops 150 words. While I don’t like a restriction on word count, that much dialogue will fill up most of a printed page and create a gray blob on the page. To fix that problem, to make the dialogue feel more organic, first make sure every bit of information is needed. If it is, break it apart with an interaction with another character or an action.

These six items are just a few that should help you write snappier dialogue. I’ve got more, so shoot me an email if you want more dialogue tips.

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As the former Editor-in-Chief at Bold Vision Books and writing coach of award-winning authors, Larry J. Leech II has spent more than forty years writing and editing. He started his career as a sportswriter in southwestern Pennsylvania where he covered prep, college, and pro sports, including the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers. 

In 2004, after 2,300 published articles, Larry moved into the book publishing industry. Since that time, he has ghostwritten 30 books, edited more than 400 manuscripts, and coached hundreds of authors through the writing and publication process. You can find him online on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.