Creative Writing For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5

Giving Characters a Voice with Dialogue

IN THIS CHAPTER

Developing an ear for dialogue

Creating tension and conflict

Revealing hidden messages

Displaying dialogue on the page

Dialogue is the conversational element of literary or dramatic writing. Strictly speaking, dialogue involves two people. Although a two-way conversation is the most common form of dialogue, you can of course write one involving more people.

Dialogue is one of the most important elements in all creative writing. Realistic conversation is the essence of a good play, screenplay, or radio script. Dialogue brings characters to life in novels, autobiography, biography, and narrative nonfiction. It can also be important in poetry, which is often written to be spoken aloud.

Writing dialogue sounds easy, but is actually extremely difficult. How do you convey the impression of real-life speech, yet make every word count? How do you capture the way that individual characters speak, and yet still make it intelligible? How do you create the sparkle and tension that makes good dialogue compelling? In this chapter, ...