"Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people..."
Crafting dialogue that moves your story forward involves the art of creating purposeful conversations that propel the narrative and reveal key plot points, character development, and thematic elements.
Dialogue basics: Understanding the fundamentals of dialogue, including how it differs from other forms of writing and the purpose it serves in a novel.
Characterization: Learning how to use dialogue to reveal a character's traits, personality, and motivations.
Pacing and timing: Understanding how dialogue can be used to control the tempo and rhythm of a story, and how to use dialogue to build tension or release it.
Dynamic conversations: Learning how to create dialogue that moves a story forward by using active language, emotional subtext, and conflict between characters.
Tone and voice: Understanding how to use dialogue to convey tone and establish the voice of the story, including how to distinguish between different characters' voices.
Setting and context: Learning how to use dialogue to establish the setting and context of a scene, setting the tone for the story.
Dialogue tags and punctuation: Understanding how to use dialogue tags and punctuation effectively to convey subtle nuances of tone and meaning.
Subtext and implication: Learning how to use dialogue to convey subtext and implication, allowing certain aspects of the story to be left unsaid.
Humor and wit: Understanding how to use humorous or witty dialogue to add levity to a story or defuse tension.
Editing and revision: Learning how to revise and edit dialogue to ensure that it is clear, concise, and effective in moving the story forward.
Expository Dialogue: This type of dialogue is used to explain crucial pieces of information to the reader. It reveals important backstory or helps to set the scene of the story.
Character-building Dialogue: Character building dialogue is used to reveal personality, motivations, and psychological traits of the characters. This type of dialogue is particularly important in helping the reader connect emotionally with the characters.
Relationship Dialogue: Relationship dialogue focuses on the relationship between two or more characters in the story. This type of dialogue reveals dynamics such as love, hate, mistrust, or respect, and helps build the reader's understanding of the characters’ emotional bonds.
Conflict Dialogue: Conflict dialogue highlights the tension between two or more characters. It is used to fuel plot development and to reveal the motivations and intentions of the characters.
Foreshadowing Dialogue: Foreshadowing dialogue is used to hint at what might come later in the story. It’s found in cryptic lines such as "I have a bad feeling about this" or "Things are not going to end well".
Plot Advancement Dialogue: This type of dialogue is used to move the story forward, especially to switch from one scene to another.
Expository Dialogue: This style of dialogue is where the characters tell the audience a lot of information in order to help them understand the plot. This is done without the characters talking to each other in a natural way.
Worldbuilding Dialogue: Worldbuilding dialogue is used to introduce the reader to the fictional world and setting of the story. It helps create a vivid sense of the environment in which the story takes place.
Humor Dialogue: This dialogue is meant to be funny to the reader. It uses puns, jokes, or sarcasm to make it an entertaining part of the story.
Miscommunication Dialogue: Miscommunication dialogue occurs when characters misunderstand each other. The misunderstandings create tension and conflict in the story, especially if they lead to further misunderstandings or events.
"...a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange."
"...antecedents are also found in other traditions including Indian literature."
"...chiefly associated in the West with the Socratic dialogue as developed by Plato..."
"...sometimes spelled dialog in American English."
"...between two or more people."
"It is a written or spoken conversational exchange..."
"...a philosophical or didactic device..."
"...developed by Plato..."
"...a literary and theatrical form..."
"...chiefly associated in the West..."
"...written or spoken conversational exchange..."
"...chiefly associated in the West with the Socratic dialogue..."
"...chiefly associated in the West with the Socratic dialogue as developed by Plato, but antecedents are also found in other traditions including Indian literature."
"As a philosophical or didactic device..."
"...a literary and theatrical form that depicts such an exchange."
"...a literary and theatrical form..."
"...antecedents are also found in other traditions including Indian literature."
"...antecedents are also found in other traditions including Indian literature."
"...a written or spoken conversational exchange..."