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The Craft of Writing
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The Fundamentals of
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Dialogue in Fiction
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by

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C. Patrick Schulze
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 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

The Fundamentals of
Dialogue in Fiction
2

by C. Patrick Schulze

This is an introductory level booklet designed for

WRITER’S TIP:
Effective dialogue is of
utmost importance to
your novel and second
only to the story.
the novice fiction writer. It offers basic instruction
for writing character dialogue.
While you peruse this book, look for writer’s tips
like the one to the left. They will help condense
this lesson into digestible sound bites, if you will.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Table of Contents

General Information ............................................................................... 4

3
Part One: Dialogue Between Characters .............................................. 5
Part Two: Conversation verses Dialogue .............................................. 8
Part Three: Dialogue Tags ................................................................... 11
Part Four: Break Up Dialogue with Action ........................................ 13
Part Five: Dialect versus Dialogue....................................................... 15
Part Six: Punctuation in Dialogue ....................................................... 17
Part Seven: General Dialogue Tips ..................................................... 21
Part Eight: Articles on Dialogue .......................................................... 23
Part Nine: Conclusion:.......................................................................... 24
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

The Fundamentals of
Dialogue in Fiction
4

General Information
Dialogue is a critical component of your novel and without an effective mastery over this literary
device, your novel has little chance of publication or acceptance.

The purpose of dialogue is multi-faceted and its major

goals are as follows:

 Provide character backstory WRITER’S TIP:

 Reveal a character’s personality, internal conflicts
or mental state Each word of dialogue in
 Establish the tone or mood of a particular point in your story should have a
your story specific purpose.
 Provide character motivation
 Build reader empathy / Immerse them in the novel
 Build or expand conflict
 Move the plot forward
 Increase / decrease the pace of your novel
 Tweak the reader’s memory of past events within the novel
 Foreshadow coming events

If your dialogue does not perform one or more of the above functions, it should probably be
deleted from your manuscript.

A good test as to the viability of your dialogue is to read the scene without any questionable
dialogue to see if any critical plot points are affected. If the plot or storyline is not affected, the
dialogue is most likely unnecessary.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part One: Dialogue Between Characters

When two characters speak to each other in a novel, their words should encompass a few basic
characteristics.
5
Their words should:

 Give the reader the impression they are reading conversation

 Insure the characters are talking to each other and not at each other
 The spoken words come together in the correct order
 Be held to a minimum
 Amplify one or more of the purposes to dialogue

The best way to accomplish these goals is to write your

WRITER’S TIP:
Envision your scene
without dialogue first. If it
"works," then add your
character's words.
expressions, his mannerisms? The wordless scene may take place in this fashion.
scene at first without any dialogue. Outline the scene
with only your characters’ physical actions. If the scene
doesn't make sense without dialogue, it most likely won't
work with dialogue either.
Imagine a cowboy as he bellies up to a bar in the late
nineteenth century America. If he orders a drink, what
might you see happen? Do not think of his words, but
imagine instead his “conversation” with the barkeep as if
wordless. Can you picture his actions, his facial

A dusty cowboy saunters in, looks around the salon and hocks a
chew of tobacco in the general direction of the spittoon. He bellies
up to the bar, then parks one boot on the brass railing near the
floor. He leans over the counter and places one elbow on the oak
top. He raises his other hand and summons the barkeep.

The disinterested barkeep saunters up to the cowboy. He holds a

shot glass which he wipes with a soiled cloth. He nods to his
customer.

The cowboy points to a bottle of whiskey that sits in front of the

room-wide mirror and orders a drink.

The bartender again nods, tosses the cloth over his shoulder and
grabs the bottle. He sets the shot glass on the bar and pours the
cowboy a healthy portion of booze.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

The cowboy downs the drink in a single gulp. With a finger, he

motions for another.

Can you envision this scene? What might these characters say to each other? What is the
minimal number of words necessary to make this scene work? What purpose might their words
serve?
6
Review the purposes of dialogue on page three. Then read this scene I've rewritten with minimal
dialogue. You'll see it fulfills purpose number two, to highlight the cowboy's personality. Here's
the abbreviated scene with dialogue.

Bart bellied up to the bar and hung an elbow over

the countertop.

He called out to the aproned man behind the bar.

"Barkeep!"

The proprietor sauntered up to the cowboy. "What'll

it be?"

The cowboy pointed to a bottle in front of the room-

wide mirror. "Whiskey. None of that cheap crap
you serve them Indians neither."

"Uh-huh." He pours a shot glass full of the elixir

and slides it across the bar.

Bart drinks it in a long gulp then motions for

another.

What did this dialogue indicate as to the personalities of

the cowpoke?

Can you tell the cowboy is uneducated by his manner of WRITER’S TIP:
speaking? Can you tell he's frequented saloons before? He
speaks only a few words, yet you've already begun to see The better you know your
his personality, haven't you? character, the more
authentic your dialogue.
Let's take a quick look at the barkeeper? He only spoke
four words but can't you see he's not interested in his
customer at all?

This exercise exhibits the basic use of dialogue. It meets the guidelines for its use and utilizes a
minimal number of words to accomplish the task.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Now, here's a secret to dialogue. The better you know your character, the more convincing his
dialogue.

With that said, how might you get to know your characters? Regardless the era in which you
novel takes place or the types of characters you create, one tips is to model them after people you
know. If you use people you know as your models, your characters will tend to have a more
complete and interesting personality. A standard use of people you know is to lift one or two of 7
their personal traits and infuse them into your characters. (I don’t recommend you model your
characters after a single person.) Mix up the various aspects of people with whom you are
familiar and your characters will come more to life.

For example, you may use the temper of person A, the humility of person B and the humor of C
and implant these traits into character X. Your character will have more appeal than any of the
individuals you used as your model.

If you combine personality traits in this manner, you will have a better understanding of your
characters. In turn, this will assist you to get to know your characters and develop more
convincing dialogue.

Now, you try it. A writing prompt follows and I'd like you to write a scene from this prompt.
We'll have you begin to flesh this scene out as we go along.

John and Mary meet after work. Earlier in the day their boss was
fired but they have no idea as to why. Write a scene, without
dialogue, as to what they do when at the bar.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Two: Conversation verses Dialogue

Dialogue between people is the most natural of methods to convey information. You might
assume because you speak every day, dialogue would seem nothing more than putting
conversations to paper. You'll find that assumption incorrect. Dialogue is quite different from 8
normal conversation.

If truth be told, most authors find dialogue as one of the

more difficult aspects to penning a novel. It’s difficult
even for experienced writers. WRITER’S TIP:
Effective dialogue is an illusion in so far as the reader Dialogue is, as much as
“forgets” the characters are not speaking as normal anything, a writer's trick.
people might. To them, it’s real conversation when, in
fact, it is nothing of the sort.

To best see the difference between verbal conversation and written dialogue, record a
conversation then transcribe it word for word. When you then read what you wrote, you’ll find it
stilted, confusing, fragmentary and often meaningless.

The trick to writing successful dialogue is to make the

WRITER’S TIP:
When writing dialogue,
characters say more
with fewer words.
read.
words spoken by your characters sound like formal
conversation between people, despite the fact the two are
dramatically different in nature. This makes the skill of
self-censoring paramount in writing.
When two people carry on a conversation in real life, their
exchange is peppered with incomplete sentences, “um’s”
and “ah’s”, visual clues and more. If you write dialogue in
that sense, your reader will find this stilted and difficult to

Here’s an example of ordinary speech patterns from one end of a phone conversation.

“Uh-huh.”

Pause.

“Sure.”

Pause.

“Yep. Okay.”
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Pause.

“Sure, I’ll go. Uh, where is it and when, is it?”

Pause

“Let me write that down.” 9

I’m certain you found that painful to read, yet, had you been the person on the far end of that
line, it would've made perfect sense. It's different when you read conversation, isn't it?

Now let’s look at that same conversation in written dialogue.

“Sure.”

Pause.

“Yeah. I’ll go with you. Tell me where it is again while I write it down.”

In the second example, all unnecessary words and pauses are eliminated, yet the full meaning of
the dialogue is still intact. It is more compact, easy to
understand, has lost none of the primary meaning of the
conversation. It's also much less troublesome to read.
WRITER’S TIP:
Further, characters get straight to the point. There is no
need for idle chitchat or wasted words that do not add to The trick is to make your
the story. Failure to take this to heart will lose your dialogue sound like
readers almost at once. spoken conversation,
despite the fact the two are
Another secret to effective dialogue is to read it aloud. different in nature.
If the dialogue you created doesn’t flow or sound
natural to you, it won’t to those who read your book,
either. If you hear an awkward phrase within the
conversation, so too will your readers.

One way that dialogue and conversations are alike is they both come in short bursts of words.
You'll see what I mean in the following examples.

This is too long, and therefore, not typical conversation.

We first went to the beach but most of us got sunburned. While there
we went for a walk and ogled the girls in their bikinis, had some lunch
then after a nap in the sun, then went bodysurfing. Later, we slathered
ourselves in Aloe, then hit the sub shop for a quick bite before making
the rounds at the local bars.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

In both a novel and real life, most conversations come in short bursts. It might sound something
like this:

“We went to the beach.”

“Sounds like you had fun. What did you guys do while you were
there?” 10

“We went for a walk, ogled the girls in their bikinis, had lunch and
then took a nap in the sun.”

“Get sunburned?”

“Yep, everyone did.”

WRITER’S TIP:
A trick to creating
effective dialogue is to
read it aloud, then trust
your intuition.
I’ll not continue, but you get the idea. Though there are
exceptions, use shorter sentences when writing dialogue.
The important thing to remember is not to get too carried
away with the length of their responses. Most people
speak in shorter spurts back and forth.
Now you try it.

Create a verbal exchange between the characters in the

scene you created after the first lesson. Your opening line
is: “What happened in there today?”
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Three: Dialogue Tags

Dialogue tags are those words that relate to the speaker and precede or follow quoted remarks.
With two exceptions, dialogue tags are considered inappropriate in novel writing. At best, the tag
interrupts the flow of the spoken words. At worst, it may even eliminate the writer’s credibility.
Perhaps worst of all, some find tags annoying. 11

Dialogue tags accomplish two major goals:

 They break up long-winded dialogue.

 They make it easier for readers to follow who
is speaking.

The novice author has a tendency to fill their dialogue

with "action tags." Action tags are those dialogue tags WRITER’S TIP:
that emphasizes an act the speaking character
performs. They include such words as "sneered" or The secret is to eliminate
"scoffed" or "surmised" or "chuckled" and the like. all action tags, save for,
“said” and “asked.”
Too many action tags often create what those in the
industry call, “Dialogue Tag-Overkill.” That is, they
attempt to punch up their written conversations with
indications of thoughts, feelings, actions and the like.

In general, the only acceptable tags are, “said” or “asked.”

Review the sentence that follow

“No, I won’t go!” he yelled.

The action tag in the preceding sentence is "yelled."

If you notice, the exclamation point gives the necessary emphasis the sentence attempted to
convey by the tag, "yelled." Would you have known the character yelled had you written only:

"No, I won't go!"

This shows how tags are often unnecessary. It also

WRITER’S TIP:
If your writing and
punctuation is efficient, a
tag is redundant.
teaches us a secret to acceptable tags usage is found in
correct punctuation.
As you never know how a reader will interpret what
you’ve written, insure your tags are limited and your
punctuation is correct.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

If you feel it necessary to have some sort of action accompany what is being said, place that
action into a sentence of its own. An example follows.

“No, I won’t go!” His voice rose to a roar as he yelled at her.

As you see in this example, his actions and emotions are incorporated by way of a complete
sentences that stands on its own. 12

You try it. Rewrite your conversation between John and Mary with effective dialogue tags.
Include at least one sentence to show action in lieu of a tag.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Four: Break Up Dialogue with Action

As with verbal conversation, a great deal of information lies within the nonverbal aspects of
dialogue. Often when people or characters speak to each other, much of their conversation is
physical in nature. The talk is punctuated with nods, smiles, frowns, chuckles and all sorts of 13
other physical actions. The same is true with dialogue.

A general rule is that written dialogue should follow the “Index Finger Rule.” This principle says
a block of uninterrupted dialogue should be no longer
than the average index finger, or about three inches.
Unless necessary, break up any lengthy dialogue with
character actions or some other technique. Long, WRITER’S TIP:
unbroken blocks of dialogue are difficult to read and
A general rule is that
corrupt the flow of your novel.
written dialogue should
You can break up protracted dialogue by a number of follow the “Index Finger
methods. You may toss in another character's reaction Rule.”
or even their retort. You might also add some sort of
setting description, such as a noise that draws the
speaker’s attention or a phone ringing when not
expected.

Whatever method you choose, a natural transition is essential. Though it can be difficult to create
an effective break, an ineffective one can disrupt the reader’s concentration and the flow of your
writing.

As an example, consider the following:

“I called you all together for this meeting to put an end to the scuttlebutt racing around
the company as to the reasons we will be downsizing our staff. In fact, some of you now in this
room will receive your pink slips before you leave today. As you know, we are undergoing
serious financial setbacks due to lagging sales. We place the blame for our faltering income on
the recent marketing program that inadvertently offended our primary target market, the young
homemaker. It seems nobody in the marketing department noticed one of the actors was drunk
during the filming, and our adult female audience reacted in a negative fashion, causing the
entire campaign, and our sales, to tank.”

I’ll now write that same dialogue with a couple of breaks inserted.

“I called you all together for this meeting to put an end to the
scuttlebutt racing around the company as to the reasons we will be
downsizing our staff. In fact, some of you now in this room will
receive your pink slips before you leave today.”
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

A rustle of discontent rose among the audience.

“As you know, we are undergoing serious financial setbacks due

to lagging sales. We place the blame for our faltering income on
the recent marketing program that inadvertently offended our
primary target market, the young homemaker.” He cleared his
throat before he continued. “It seems nobody in the marketing 14
department noticed the actor we hired as the pregnant woman was
drunk during the filming.”

A nervous chuckle rolled across the audience.

“As you might imagine, our adult female audience reacted in a

negative fashion, causing the entire campaign, and our sales, to
tank.”

The insertions used to break up the lengthy dialogue are

WRITER’S TIP:
A character’s physical
actions give your reader
the visual clues as to the
character’s true inner
thoughts.
winded dialogue.
in italics. By reading these two dialogue examples aloud,
one after the other, you will how the breaks tend to make
for easier reading.
If you pay attention to these dialogue breaks, you'll notice
fit the storyline as well as make sense relative to the
spoken words and the situation.
You’ll also notice I’ve incorporated actions by those
listening, thus inserting sound into the story. That is
another effective technique you can use to break up long-

You try it. Take the scene you’ve created in these exercises and break up your dialogue with
character actions.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Five: Dialect versus Dialogue

Aspiring authors struggle with many issues and one of the most onerous is dialect. How does a
writer present the correct vernacular in his story and meet
contemporary readers’ expectations? One sees the 15
challenge when considering dialects within regions,
within nations, from around the world and through time. WRITER’S TIP:
Remember, I’m not talking about languages among The best way to learn to
peoples of the world, but the way the same language is
write dialogue is to
spoken by various individuals. As I’m from the United
eavesdrop on
States, I’ll use my own home as an example. Let’s
consider three people who say the same statement in the conversations.
vernacular of their unique location within the country.

First, let’s consider a construction worker from New

York City inviting someone to fight.

“Yo! Ya wanna piece o’me? I’ll give ya a piece of dis right 'tween
ya eyes!”

Next, listen to a shipyard worker from Newport News, Virginia asking the same question.

“Ya want I should kick yer butt?”

Now consider how a Midwesterner might ask the same thing.

“Why, I outta whip yer butt. Think you might enjoy that?”

Notice all the misspellings, colloquialisms, and odd punctuation. It all makes for a difficult read
to those not accustomed to these speech patterns. The challenge for the writers is to present these
varied dialects into a readable, enjoyable style for the modern reader regardless his personal
dialect.

There is a secret I learned from the best-selling author, Susann Cokal. Her genre is historical
fiction within the medieval era. If she were to ask the same question in her medieval era novels
as the American counterparts above, she might write something to this effect;

“Forsooth, faire sir, for must I smite thee?”

You can imagine if she wrote in this fashion today, it would be difficult for modern readers to
appreciate her work.

Her advice, and what I recommend, is to look past the words, past the intonations, past all those
oppressive commas and contractions. Look instead to the cadence, the music within the
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

vernacular and mimic that. Listen for how the words flow within the dialect and use
contemporary wording within that flow. Good advice!
Perhaps you’ll want to include a limited number of colloquiums or abbreviations for authenticity,
but keep those to a minimum.

For those of you who write historical fiction, as do I, I’ll give you a specific example. My
writing takes place in a time when human bondage was prevalent in the United States. Let’s 16
listen to what I envision as a typical slave speaking to his master.

“Yeah, sah. I’s done puttin’ suppah on da

plate fo’ ya an’ ya’ chil'in.”

In this sentence there are fourteen words, ten of which WRITER’S TIP:
are misspelled, not to mention the six apostrophes. It’s
almost unreadable. At best, it will cause the reader to Look past the words, past
slow their reading pace or read it a second or even third the intonations, past all
time. Slowing your readers’ pace is not a good thing, by those oppressive commas
the way. and contractions. Look
instead to the cadence, the
Now I’ll try to write the same sentence, match the music music, within the
within the dialect and, at the same time, make it vernacular for your
palatable for today's reader. dialogue.

“Yes, sah. I’s putting supper on a plate for you and your
children.”

Though I retained a couple idioms to enhance the authenticity, it now has only one less word, but
seven fewer misspellings and just one apostrophe. If you read both sentences with the mannerism
you might expect a slave to exhibit, you’ll see in the second example, the dialect is left intact yet
the readability is enhanced.

Yes, it takes practice. It takes a lot of practice. But as with any craft, work at it and the technique
will soon become a natural part of the dialogue you write.

Now you try it. Revise your earlier exercise to exhibit John’s dialect if her were from deep in the
heart of the southern US.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Six: Punctuation in Dialogue

For many authors punctuation is difficult even without ellipses, colons and semicolons. Why,
even the simple apostrophe is peculiar all by itself. And when you start to toss dialogue in the
mix, well, punctuation can get well into scary. 17

Punctuation has specific purposes and among them

are:

1. To improve the rhythm of the written word WRITER’S TIP:

2. To define the structure of writing
All those interesting
3. To clarify the meaning of the written word
symbols of punctuation
4. Identify what is being said by whom
are the traffic signs of the
Without correct punctuation, readers may have a writer’s world.
difficult time determining what you intended with
your writing. They’ll lose control over who is
speaking, or even what you meant to say.

To be honest, it is difficult to tell you how to punctuate dialogue, so we’ll work with a series of
examples.

Let’s first examine a typical spoken comment.

A. “Do you see Mary running?”

The punctuation of this is simple enough. Quotation marks belong at each end of the spoken
words. Other punctuation, in this case the question mark, is enclosed by the quote marks.

Our second example is the classic “said” sentence.

B. John said, “See Mary run.”

If a tagline begins the sentence, separate the tag from the dialogue with a comma, then insert a
space and the open quotes immediately after the tag. The quotation marks are placed around the
spoken words. The first letter of the spoken words is always capitalized and the trailing
punctuation, in this case a period, is placed inside the quotes. Enter a space for the next
sentence as usual.

(See how simple this is?)

The next example shows the same sentence with the tag at the end.

C. “See Mary run,” said John.

 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

The quotation ends with a comma, which is bracketed within the quotes. (As the quote is not the
end of the sentence, a comma replaces the period found in the prior illustration.) This is followed
by a space and then the speech tagline and your period. As always, the first letter in the spoken
words is capitalized.

Let’s now use punctuation in a more complex dialogue environment. 18

D. John said, “See Mary run,” then he walked to the door.

You can see the same rules incorporated in the first two examples are in play here. The sentence
starts with a tagline, which is followed by a comma and a space. Next, open quotes and a capital
letter begin the verbalization. A comma is inserted at the end of the spoken words, which is then
followed by the close quotes, a space and the rest of the sentence. Note: if the first word after a
quote is a proper noun, it is capitalized as with normal punctuation.

We’ll now look at the same type of sentence, but with the tagline in the center.

E. “Hello, everyone,” John said, “we hope you’re having a good morning.”

Getting trickier now, isn’t it? Here we have a situation where quotes begin and end a sentence.
Not to worry, the same rules already discussed will apply.

You start the sentence with your opening quotation marks and a capital letter. You end the first
quote with a comma and your close quotes, then a space. Next, you add your tagline, which is
followed by a comma and another space. (This tagline is capitalized only because it begins with
a proper noun.) Your second quote begins with another opening quote and a lowercase letter.
(Unless, of course, the second quote begins with a proper noun.) At the end of the sentence, you
close with the appropriate punctuation mark, in this case a period, and your close quote. Add one
last space and you’re ready for the next sentence.

Whew…

Now let’s evaluate a quote that requires something other than a period or a comma.

F. “I feel so excited!” said Mary.

G. “Are you enjoying yourself?” asked John.

In these cases, where a comma or period does not adequately punctuate the quoted words, you
might wish to finish your quotation with a question mark or exclamation point. The secret, as
noted above, is to enclose this punctuation within the closing quotation mark. In effect, it
replaces the comma we’ve already seen. These spoken words are followed by the close quote, a
space and the tag. Don’t forget the entire sentence still ends with a period and your tagline begins
with a lowercase letter, assuming it is not a proper noun.

We’ve discussed the spoken word, but how does one handle thought in lieu of the spoken word?
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

H. John wondered. Is she enjoying herself?

I. Is she enjoying herself? John wondered.
J. John thought, She is enjoying herself!

In the case where someone is thinking instead of speaking, all the same punctuation rules apply,
except you omit the formal quotation marks. Today, some writers italicize the thought, whereas 19
other writers do not. I prefer the italics as it makes things more clear for me. You’ll see examples
of both options listed. In examples “H” and “J”, you’ll note John’s actual thought begins with a
capital letter, as it would if they were spoken words inside quotation marks.

*Take deep breath here.*

Now, let’s look at a few other quick tips on how to punctuate the spoken word.

Every time the speaker changes, the paragraph changes.

“Are you having fun?” John asked.

“Oh, yes. A great deal,” Mary said.

“I’m so glad.”

Insure the speaker is obvious to the reader. Taglines are one way to identify your speaker,
though they are not necessary with every line of dialogue. In the following paragraphs, the reader
has no idea if it is John or Mary speaking.

“Are you having fun?”

“Oh, yes. A great deal.”

“I’m so glad.”

Taglines after every quote will have a dulling effect on your writing, so you may identify
speakers in other ways, too. Here is an elementary example.

“Are you having fun?” John turned toward her to ask the question.

“Oh, yes. A great deal.”

“I’m so glad.”

This dialogue is stilted, I know, but it shows taglines are not always necessary to identify who is
speaking. Use them if you need them for clarification.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

One last thought as to punctuation in dialogue.

The ellipses, those three dots in sequence (…), are overused by aspiring authors. Its purpose is to
indicate a trailing or incomplete thought but if rarely, if ever, used in dialogue. If you see more
than a couple of them in your novel, review your dialogue for more appropriate punctuation or
even tags. 20

You try it. Take your earlier scene with John and Mary, and review your punctuation to see if
you can't eliminate any taglines. Also check each time someone speaks. Is it obvious who is
talking? If not, add the appropriate tags.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Seven: General Dialogue Tips

Slang and Profanity:

The problem rests in their diminishing effect with use. 21

Besides, Dude, if you want to have another Dude understand what

the first Dude said, the second Dude has to listen to the first Dude.
Ya dig, Dude?

As this example typifies, slang gets real old real fast when written. Besides, in the case of
profanity, it may exasperate your readers should your words belie their personal feelings. You do
that, and you’ve killed an entire potential market for your book. Consider this, how many
fundamental Christians will read your story if it’s replete with expletives?

Use profanity and slang with caution and most often only for emphasis. Anything that is
overused becomes ordinary and loses its effect. If you must have vulgarity to make the scene
work, then by all means use it. However, if you interject the profanity for shock value, it will
most often come off as anything but shocking.

Judicious use of that sort of verbalization will offer maximum effect when it does come into
play.

The same goes for stereotypes, gore, sex, depravity and the like. What gets used gets old. What’s
old gets boring. And boring is death to your novel.

Read Widely in Your Genre

And the best place to read dialogue is Shakespeare. (I know, I know. But consider his audience
and his time.) He spoke to the hoi-poly, to Everyman and used the vernacular of his time. But his
cadence, his terminology, his use of the printed word is
quite effective. Spend some time with the bard and see if
he isn’t helpful.
WRITER’S TIP:
The best way to learn When you read in your genre, pay attention to those times
dialogue is to read you’re drawn into the work, when you reread or skip a
passage, when a character loses his appeal or when he
dialogue.
becomes real to you. Pay attention to when you put the
book down, or when you could not put it down. These
turning points are usually found within the dialogue. And
this is where you’ll find what works in dialogue. Study the
author’s dialogue and mimic it.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Child-Speak

Be cautious of using the language of children and youths. They speak in a manner quite different
from adults. Still, if you populate your manuscript
with the words a contemporary child might use, your 22
novel will sound dated by the time it's published.
WRITER’S TIP:
Dialogue as a Percentage of the Words You Write. It is not true that 50% of
your novel should be
There is an interesting “rule” that surfaces now and dialogue. However, …
again as to the amount of dialogue that should be
contained in a novel. That rule says fifty percent of
your book should be dialogue.

Not true.

As with all such literary rules, they are merely guidelines for consideration. However, it does
indicate the power and necessity of dialogue in your novels. It shows how important your
dialogue is to your manuscript and how much you should have and how much attention it
deserves.
 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Eight: Articles on Dialogue

These links to various articles I've written will give you further insight into how to write
dialogue.

How To Write Dialect 23

How to Punctuate Dialogue

How to Write Internal Monologue

The Keys to Effective Dialogue in Novels

The Hidden Secret to Dialogue

 The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Nine: Conclusion:

Is that all there is to mastering the skill and art of dialogue in fiction?

"Not at all," he emphasized stressed said. 24

If truth be told, it may takes two or even three full length manuscripts to learn how to master the
art of dialogue. However, as I always told my daughters, the secret to success is, "Practice.
Practice. Practice."

If you practice and master the techniques presented in this booklet, you’ll have taken a giant step
toward producing a well-written novel. Use this to jumpstart your novel and begin your writing
career.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at Author@CPatrickSChulze.com

Thanks, and best of luck with your writing.

C. Patrick Schulze
Author of the emerging novel "Born to be Brothers"
http://CPatrickSchulze.com/AuthorsBlog

***

Keep an eye open for my upcoming novel, "Born to be Brothers." It should be out in late 2010 or
early 2011.