How to Write a Conversation

Dialogue is an essential part of a story, and writers should try to make it as natural as possible whether in stories, books, plays, or movies. Conversation is how the writer conveys information to the audience in an interesting and emotional way. Write the dialogues once you’ve learned the characters, keep them simple and real, and then read them aloud to make sure they sound like real life.

Table of Contents

Study the dialogue

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Pay attention to the actual conversation. Listen to how people talk and use their conversations as a template for more authentic writing. You’ll notice that everyone’s way of speaking is different, so use that detail when writing conversations.

Skip unnecessary parts of the conversation. For example, you don’t need to clearly write “hello” and “goodbye”. Some conversations can skip the greeting and go straight to the main topic.
Bring a notebook to jot down small conversations you hear in real life.

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Read good conversations. To feel the balance between the actual speed and the speed in the book of dialogue, you need to read the good dialogues in the book and in the movie. Read books and scripts to learn more. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Some authors you might refer to are Douglas Adams, Toni Morrison, and Judy Blume (these are just a few examples; there are many more!). Their conversations tend to be realistic, layered, and lively.
Referencing and practicing scripting TV and radio shows will help in developing dialogue. Douglas Adams, one of the authors mentioned above, started his career as a radio scriptwriter, one of the factors that helped him write such great lines.

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Comprehensive character development. You need to fully understand your character before writing the dialogue. Understand the character’s personality, they are taciturn, quiet or lively like to show, etc… ^{[2] X Research source}

You don’t have to write down the details of each character in your work, but you do have to understand them yourself.
Details such as age, gender, education level, hometown, voice also make a difference in the dialogue of each character. For example, an American girl from a difficult family situation will speak differently to a rich, old British man.
Each character has a unique way of speaking. Each character has a different way of using words, tone of voice or speed of speech. You need to ensure the difference between the characters.

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Avoid using flowery dialogue. Glossy lines don’t spoil the dialogue entirely, but can distract the reader, and as an author you shouldn’t do that at all. An unnatural dialogue in a particular case doesn’t make much of a difference, but it spoils the story if used a lot. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Floral dialogue is only effective if you want to clarify something, but in terms of language, it shouldn’t. For example: “Hi Mai, you look sad,” Binh said. “Yes Binh, I’m sad. Do you want to know why?” “Yes Mai, I want to know what makes you sad.” “I’m sad because my dog is sick, it makes me think of my father’s mysterious death two years ago.”
You should edit the dialogue above like this: “Mai, what’s wrong?” Binh asked. Mai shrugged, her eyes still fixed on something outside the window. “Our dog is sick. They can’t find out what’s wrong with it.” “Too bad, but listen Mai… the dog is old too. Maybe it’s time.” Mai’s hand clutched tightly to the window sill. “It’s just, just, do you think the doctor knows?” “You mean veterinarian?” Binh frowned. “OK whatever”.
The reason the following dialogue is better is that you don’t need to write down exactly Mai’s thoughts about her late father, instead prefer to explain through the word that she uses “doctor” instead of “” vet doctor”. The flow of text will be more fluent.
An example of a case where rhetoric should be used is in The Lord of the Rings . The dialogue is not always rigid, but when hobbits speak, they use very eloquent (unrealistic) language. The only reason it’s appropriate (a lot of people disagree that it really does!) is because the story is written in the same old epic style as Beowulf or The Mabinogion .

Write a conversation

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Writing is simple. Use “he said” or “she answered” instead of complicated words like “he objected” or “she cried out”. You don’t want to distract the reader from the dialogue between the characters with weird words. “Speak” is one of those words that is invisible and doesn’t distract the reader. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Sometimes you may not use “say”, “answer” or “return” when appropriate. For example, you can use “interrupt” or “scream” or “whisper” but only at appropriate and specific parts of the story.

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Develop the story with dialogue. The dialogue provides information about the story or character to the reader. Dialogue is a great way to demonstrate character development or bring out information that readers may not yet grasp.

Don’t write dialogues about the weather or ask how other characters are, even though this happens a lot in real life. Today, even a small conversation can create pressure. For example, if one character needs to gather information from another character, but the second character talks all the time “in the sky”, both the reader and the other character get impatient.
Dialogues need a purpose. When writing dialogue, ask yourself “why do you write this part of the story?” “What am I going to show the reader about the story or the character?” If there is no answer, discard the dialogue.

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Don’t put too much junk information into the conversation. This is something that people often do. Do you think there is no more appropriate way to convey information than for the characters to discuss with each other? Let’s stop here! The background information that needs to be added is scattered throughout the story.

Example of what not to do: Mai turned to Binh and asked, “Binh, do you remember when my father mysteriously passed away and our family was kicked out of the house by an evil aunt?” “I remember, Mai. You were 12 years old then, you had to drop out of school to help support your family.”
Better writing of the above dialogue: Mai pursed her lips and turned to look at Binh “I heard the news about that aunt today”. Binh was shocked. “But that’s the one who kicked your family out of the house. What does she want?” “Who knows, she suggests something about her father’s death.” “What?” Binh raised an eyebrow. “Maybe she thought your father’s death wasn’t simple.”

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Add hidden meanings. Conversation, especially in a story, often has many layers of meaning. They often contain more than one layer of meaning, so you need to catch the hidden meaning in each situation.

There are many ways to say it. Therefore, if the character wants to say “I need you”, try letting them express it instead of saying it directly . Example: Car starter. Mai put her hand on his arm, she bit her lip. “This bottle, I… do you really have to go now?” she withdrew her hand. “We still don’t know what to do.”
Don’t force the character to speak out all of their thoughts or feelings. This is revealing too many details, losing the suspense and nuance of the story.

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Mix. If you want the dialogue to be interesting and draw the reader into the story, sometimes you can add basic dialogue, for example, people discussing the weather at the bus stop, and start mining. important conversations like between Mai and her aunt.

Let the character make arguments or say unexpected things, as long as it suits their personality. The conversation needs to have a focus. If everyone just agreed or asked and answered basic questions, the conversation would become boring.
Alternate dialogue and action. When chatting, people are still working, laughing, washing dishes, walking, etc. Add a few details to bring the dialogue to life.
For example: “I don’t think a healthy person like your father would get sick and die,” the aunt said. Mai calmly replied, “Everybody gets sick sometimes”. “Sometimes they get a little help from friends.” The aunt appeared smug, Mai just wanted to strangle her through the phone. “If someone wants to harm my father, do you know who?” “Oh, I know a little bit, but the decision is up to you.”

Read and check the conversation

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Read the dialogue aloud. This will help you feel the dialogue. You can change based on what you hear or read. Take a break and then read the dialogue, otherwise your mind will still be filled with what you intend to write instead of what is actually on the page.

Ask a friend or family member you trust to read the dialogue. A keen eye can find the unnatural parts, the parts that need to be corrected.

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Punctuate the sentence correctly. Nothing is more frustrating to readers (especially publishers and agencies) than incorrect punctuation, especially in dialogue.

Quotation marks are placed at the end of a sentence followed by a comma. For example, “Hi, I’m Mai,” Mai says.
If you add action in the middle of a conversation, you can write a compound sentence or split it into multiple sentences. For example: “I don’t believe he was the one who killed my father,” Mai said, tears welling in her eyes. “Not like him at all.” or write something like, “I don’t believe he was the one who killed my father,” said Mai, with tears in her eyes, “because that doesn’t look like you at all.”
If there is no dialogue but only action, you can put a comma after the quotation marks. For example: “Bye auntie”, Mai hung up the phone.

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Cut out unnecessary words or phrases. Sometimes short conversations are more common. People don’t usually talk at length. They like to keep it short and simple and you should apply this to your conversations.

For example, instead of writing “I can’t believe that for so many years it was you who poisoned Dad’s evening cocktail and harmed him”, Mai said; you can write “I don’t believe it was you who poisoned my father!”

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Be careful when using dialect. Each character needs to have their own voice and sound, but a long or overly stressed tone will tire the reader. At the same time, using a dialect that you are not fluent in can make the dialogue seem stereotypical and extremely uncomfortable for those who are fluent in that dialect. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Create your own character’s hometown in different ways. For example, use local words like “pineapple” instead of “pineapple” to create geographical differences. Be sure to use slang or dialects that are standard for the region your character lives in.

Advice

Consult resources to help you write better conversations. Take a writing class, consult a book or website dedicated to writers to improve your conversational storytelling skills.
Look for groups or classes for people who enjoy writing, including television scriptwriting. Working with people and getting lots of feedback will help you to progress fast!

Warning

Don’t focus too much on the conversation when writing your first draft. It can’t be perfect, which is perfectly normal because you’ll be reading and correcting in the next draft.

Steps

Study the dialogue

Write a conversation

Read and check the conversation

Advice

Warning

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