Marcy Kennedy - How to Write Dialogue

How to Write Dialogue: A Busy Writers Guide

First Edition

Copyright 2013 Marcy Kennedy

All rights reserved.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. This e-book may not be re-sold, as a used file or otherwise, and may not be given away to other people. Purchase and download is a one-time final use of this product. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Editor: Christopher Saylor

Published September 2013 by Tongue Untied Communications

ISBN: 978-0-9920371-3-0

Every how-to-become-a-better-writer list includes studying craft. Years ago, as a new writer, I took that advice to heart but found that many craft books didnt give me the detailed, in-the-trenches coverage of a topic I needed. They included a lot of beautifully written prose and theory without explaining how to practically apply the principles, or they gave numerous examples but didnt explain how to replicate those concepts in my own work.

I ended up buying three or four books on the same topic to understand it fully and get the balance of theory and practice I was looking for. I spent more time studying craft than writing, and all the exercises in the books seemed to take me away from my story rather than helping me work directly on it. For the modern writer who also needs to blog and be on social media, who might be juggling a day job, and who still wants time to see their family or friends, thats a problem. Do you know anyone who doesnt have more commitments then theyre able to handle already without adding study the writing craft on top of it?

Were busy. Were tired. Were overworked. We love writing, but often wonder if its worth the sacrifices were making for it. We know were headed down the fast track to burning out, but dont know what we can do differently.

To quote Allan F . Mogensen, the creator of Work Simplification, its time to work smarter, not harder.

I wrote The Busy Writers Guide series to help you fast-track the learning process. I felt writers needed a fluff-free guide that would give them the detailed coverage of a topic they required while also respecting their time. I want you to be able to spend the majority of your writing time actually writing, so that you can set aside your computer and enjoy the people and experiences that make life worth living.

Each Busy Writers Guide is intended to serve as an accelerated masters class in a topic. Ill give you enough theory so that you can understand why things work and why they dont, and enough examples to see how that theory looks in practice. Ill also provide tips and exercises to help you take it to the pages of your own story with an editors-eye view.

My goal is for you to come away a stronger writer, with a stronger piece of work, than when you came in.

The quickest way to make your work look more professional is to format your dialogue properly. This is the foundation for everything else youll learn. Once you learn these formatting requirements, youll do them naturally as you write and wont have to think about them.

Every time you have a new speaker, you need a new paragraph, even if the dialogue is only one word long.

Whether you personally like the look of it, this is what readers expect. It makes your dialogue easier to understand because theyre able to quickly recognize a change in speaker even before you identify whos talking. It also helps you limit the use of speaker attributions (more on that later).

Wrong:

Ella? Are you here? Sarah asked. Ella popped up from behind the desk, cobwebs in her hair and a dirty cloth dangling from her fingers. I just need another ten minutes to finish.

Right:

Ella? Are you here? Sarah asked.

Ella popped up from behind the desk, cobwebs in her hair and a dirty cloth dangling from her fingers. I just need another ten minutes to finish.

Improper punctuation of dialogue is one of the most common mistakes I see in manuscripts I edit and critique.

Use a comma at the end of a segment of dialogue (even a complete sentence) when followed by a tag. A tag is a word such as said or asked .

I hate cinnamon jelly beans, Marcy said.

Use a question mark without a comma for a question. (This applies to exclamation marks too.)

Do you like cinnamon jelly beans? Marcy asked.

I could have replaced asked with said here and the punctuation would remain the same.

Extra Tip : Although it might look strange at first, you can use the tag said even if your speaker is asking a question. The question mark alone indicates a question, and technically were speaking whether the words come out as a question, an exclamation, or a shout.

Do you like cinnamon jelly beans? Marcy said.

Exchanged asked for said is an option you have, not a requirement.

If a tag is dividing a sentence, use a comma at the end of the first section of dialogue (even if the comma wouldnt normally go there in the same sentence if it wasnt dialogue) and use a comma after the tag.

I hate cinnamon jelly beans, Marcy said, because they burn my tongue.

Use a period after a tag when the first segment of dialogue is a complete sentence.

I hate cinnamon jelly beans, Marcy said. I refuse to eat them.

Use a dash when dialogue is cut off or interrupted. Do not add any other punctuation.

It wasnt my

Enough excuses.

Use an ellipsis for dialogue that fades away.

I just She wrapped her arms around her stomach. I thought he loved me.

Use exclamation marks sparingly! Sometimes you need an exclamation point to add emotional context, but theyre usually a sign that youre trying to bolster weak dialogue. Theyre also distracting!! And if you use them too often, they lose their emphasis!!

Dont use colons or semicolons in your dialogue at all. While this might seem like an arbitrary rule, colons and semicolons just look unnatural in dialogue. For the most part, you should avoid them in your fiction entirely. The old joke is that youre allowed one semi-colon per career, so use it wisely.

Punctuation always goes inside the quotation marks in North America. If youre not in North America, check some of the traditionally published books on your shelf to see where they place punctuation.

Remember, a tag is a word such as said or asked . A beat is a piece of action used in place of a tag.

The point of a tag is to let the reader know whos saying what. If youve shown them, through a beat, whos talking, you dont need to also tell them through a tag. Its awkward and wordy to use both.

Wrong:

Your dog looks like an alien, my brother said, patting Luna on the head.

Right:

My brother patted Luna on the head. Your dog looks like an alien.

Right:

Your dog looks like an alien, my brother said.

Once in a while you can break this rule for effect, but make sure youre doing it purposefully. What benefit does it give you? Youll be giving up tighter writing, so you need to be sure youre getting something more valuable in return in terms of rhythm or pacing.