Hello and welcome back.

Today I would like to share an article that gives five tips on crafting convincing dialogue. It is available at the Writing Cooperative website here.

Some of the tips include the fact that we aren’t talking heads. Have your characters do something while talking. For example, “This is just ridiculous,” Sharon says as she throws her arms up to the sky.

You can also have one character respond with silence. This is great for creating conflict in the characters. Let’s say two characters have a heated argument one day. The next time they meet as one talks the other gives the other one the silent treatment. I use this technique in Burned (currently unpublished) where one character, Ryan is talking to Veronica and she sits at the table giving no response.

For example:

Ryan hands Veronica a cup of coffee, “Here you go.”

Veronica takes a sip and puts the coffee down.

“How are you doing today?” Ryan asks.

Veronica sits there staring at the cup and gives no response.

This continues on in the scene for several line until she finally relents and starts talking.

Another tip in the article is when one character is filling in another character on what happened, this can create a long winded dialogue. So the best way to avoid this is with one or two lines of narrative. In the upcoming sequel to No Remorse No Regret, Melissa is talking to Ahmed. Instead of having the next page or so with her filling him in on all her exploits I have a couple lines where the narrative says she tells him of being kidnapped then accidentally rescued.

I hope this and the other article help you with your own dialogue. Have a great day.