The Fundamentals Of Dialogue In Fiction

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

The Fundamentals of Dialogue in Fiction 2

by C. Patrick Schulze

WRITER’S TIP: Effective dialogue is of utmost importance to your novel and second only to the story.

This is an introductory level booklet designed for the novice fiction writer. It offers basic instruction for writing character dialogue. While you peruse this book, look for writer’s tips like the one to the left. They will help condense this lesson into digestible sound bites, if you will.

The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Table of Contents General Information ............................................................................... 4 Part One: Dialogue Between Characters .............................................. 5 Part Two: Conversation verses Dialogue .............................................. 8 Part Three: Dialogue Tags ................................................................... 11 Part Four: Break Up Dialogue with Action ........................................ 13 Part Five: Dialect versus Dialogue....................................................... 15 Part Six: Punctuation in Dialogue ....................................................... 17 Part Seven: General Dialogue Tips ..................................................... 21 Part Eight: Articles on Dialogue .......................................................... 23 Part Nine: Conclusion:.......................................................................... 24

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

The Fundamentals of Dialogue in Fiction 4

General Information Dialogue is a critical component of your novel and without an effective mastery over this literary device, your novel has little chance of publication or acceptance. The purpose of dialogue is multi-faceted and its major goals are as follows:          

WRITER’S TIP: Provide character backstory Reveal a character’s personality, internal conflicts Each word of dialogue in or mental state your story should have a Establish the tone or mood of a particular point in specific purpose. your story Provide character motivation Build reader empathy / Immerse them in the novel Build or expand conflict Move the plot forward Increase / decrease the pace of your novel Tweak the reader’s memory of past events within the novel Foreshadow coming events

If your dialogue does not perform one or more of the above functions, it should probably be deleted from your manuscript. A good test as to the viability of your dialogue is to read the scene without any questionable dialogue to see if any critical plot points are affected. If the plot or storyline is not affected, the dialogue is most likely unnecessary.

The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part One: Dialogue Between Characters When two characters speak to each other in a novel, their words should encompass a few basic characteristics. 5

Their words should:    

Give the reader the impression they are reading conversation Insure the characters are talking to each other and not at each other The spoken words come together in the correct order Be held to a minimum  Amplify one or more of the purposes to dialogue

WRITER’S TIP: Envision your scene without dialogue first. If it "works," then add your character's words.

The best way to accomplish these goals is to write your scene at first without any dialogue. Outline the scene with only your characters’ physical actions. If the scene doesn't make sense without dialogue, it most likely won't work with dialogue either.

Imagine a cowboy as he bellies up to a bar in the late nineteenth century America. If he orders a drink, what might you see happen? Do not think of his words, but imagine instead his “conversation” with the barkeep as if wordless. Can you picture his actions, his facial expressions, his mannerisms? The wordless scene may take place in this fashion. A dusty cowboy saunters in, looks around the salon and hocks a chew of tobacco in the general direction of the spittoon. He bellies up to the bar, then parks one boot on the brass railing near the floor. He leans over the counter and places one elbow on the oak top. He raises his other hand and summons the barkeep. The disinterested barkeep saunters up to the cowboy. He holds a shot glass which he wipes with a soiled cloth. He nods to his customer. The cowboy points to a bottle of whiskey that sits in front of the room-wide mirror and orders a drink. The bartender again nods, tosses the cloth over his shoulder and grabs the bottle. He sets the shot glass on the bar and pours the cowboy a healthy portion of booze.

The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction The cowboy downs the drink in a single gulp. With a finger, he motions for another. Can you envision this scene? What might these characters say to each other? What is the minimal number of words necessary to make this scene work? What purpose might their words serve? Review the purposes of dialogue on page three. Then read this scene I've rewritten with minimal dialogue. You'll see it fulfills purpose number two, to highlight the cowboy's personality. Here's the abbreviated scene with dialogue. Bart bellied up to the bar and hung an elbow over the countertop. He called out to the aproned man behind the bar. "Barkeep!" The proprietor sauntered up to the cowboy. "What'll it be?" The cowboy pointed to a bottle in front of the roomwide mirror. "Whiskey. None of that cheap crap you serve them Indians neither." "Uh-huh." He pours a shot glass full of the elixir and slides it across the bar. Bart drinks it in a long gulp then motions for another. What did this dialogue indicate as to the personalities of the cowpoke? Can you tell the cowboy is uneducated by his manner of speaking? Can you tell he's frequented saloons before? He speaks only a few words, yet you've already begun to see his personality, haven't you?

WRITER’S TIP: The better you know your character, the more authentic your dialogue.

Let's take a quick look at the barkeeper? He only spoke four words but can't you see he's not interested in his customer at all? This exercise exhibits the basic use of dialogue. It meets the guidelines for its use and utilizes a minimal number of words to accomplish the task.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction Now, here's a secret to dialogue. The better you know your character, the more convincing his dialogue. With that said, how might you get to know your characters? Regardless the era in which you novel takes place or the types of characters you create, one tips is to model them after people you know. If you use people you know as your models, your characters will tend to have a more complete and interesting personality. A standard use of people you know is to lift one or two of their personal traits and infuse them into your characters. (I don’t recommend you model your characters after a single person.) Mix up the various aspects of people with whom you are familiar and your characters will come more to life. For example, you may use the temper of person A, the humility of person B and the humor of C and implant these traits into character X. Your character will have more appeal than any of the individuals you used as your model. If you combine personality traits in this manner, you will have a better understanding of your characters. In turn, this will assist you to get to know your characters and develop more convincing dialogue. Now, you try it. A writing prompt follows and I'd like you to write a scene from this prompt. We'll have you begin to flesh this scene out as we go along. John and Mary meet after work. Earlier in the day their boss was fired but they have no idea as to why. Write a scene, without dialogue, as to what they do when at the bar.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Two: Conversation verses Dialogue Dialogue between people is the most natural of methods to convey information. You might assume because you speak every day, dialogue would seem nothing more than putting conversations to paper. You'll find that assumption incorrect. Dialogue is quite different from normal conversation. If truth be told, most authors find dialogue as one of the more difficult aspects to penning a novel. It’s difficult even for experienced writers. Effective dialogue is an illusion in so far as the reader “forgets” the characters are not speaking as normal people might. To them, it’s real conversation when, in fact, it is nothing of the sort.

WRITER’S TIP: Dialogue is, as much as anything, a writer's trick.

To best see the difference between verbal conversation and written dialogue, record a conversation then transcribe it word for word. When you then read what you wrote, you’ll find it stilted, confusing, fragmentary and often meaningless.

WRITER’S TIP: When writing dialogue, characters say more with fewer words.

The trick to writing successful dialogue is to make the words spoken by your characters sound like formal conversation between people, despite the fact the two are dramatically different in nature. This makes the skill of self-censoring paramount in writing. When two people carry on a conversation in real life, their exchange is peppered with incomplete sentences, “um’s” and “ah’s”, visual clues and more. If you write dialogue in that sense, your reader will find this stilted and difficult to

read. Here’s an example of ordinary speech patterns from one end of a phone conversation. “Uh-huh.” Pause. “Sure.” Pause. “Yep. Okay.”

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction Pause. “Sure, I’ll go. Uh, where is it and when, is it?” Pause “Let me write that down.”

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I’m certain you found that painful to read, yet, had you been the person on the far end of that line, it would've made perfect sense. It's different when you read conversation, isn't it? Now let’s look at that same conversation in written dialogue. “Sure.” Pause. “Yeah. I’ll go with you. Tell me where it is again while I write it down.” In the second example, all unnecessary words and pauses are eliminated, yet the full meaning of the dialogue is still intact. It is more compact, easy to understand, has lost none of the primary meaning of the conversation. It's also much less troublesome to read. Further, characters get straight to the point. There is no need for idle chitchat or wasted words that do not add to the story. Failure to take this to heart will lose your readers almost at once. Another secret to effective dialogue is to read it aloud. If the dialogue you created doesn’t flow or sound natural to you, it won’t to those who read your book, either. If you hear an awkward phrase within the conversation, so too will your readers.

WRITER’S TIP: The trick is to make your dialogue sound like spoken conversation, despite the fact the two are different in nature.

One way that dialogue and conversations are alike is they both come in short bursts of words. You'll see what I mean in the following examples. This is too long, and therefore, not typical conversation. We first went to the beach but most of us got sunburned. While there we went for a walk and ogled the girls in their bikinis, had some lunch then after a nap in the sun, then went bodysurfing. Later, we slathered ourselves in Aloe, then hit the sub shop for a quick bite before making the rounds at the local bars.

The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction In both a novel and real life, most conversations come in short bursts. It might sound something like this: “We went to the beach.” “Sounds like you had fun. What did you guys do while you were there?” “We went for a walk, ogled the girls in their bikinis, had lunch and then took a nap in the sun.” “Get sunburned?” “Yep, everyone did.”

WRITER’S TIP: A trick to creating effective dialogue is to read it aloud, then trust your intuition.

I’ll not continue, but you get the idea. Though there are exceptions, use shorter sentences when writing dialogue. The important thing to remember is not to get too carried away with the length of their responses. Most people speak in shorter spurts back and forth. Now you try it. Create a verbal exchange between the characters in the scene you created after the first lesson. Your opening line

is: “What happened in there today?”

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Three: Dialogue Tags Dialogue tags are those words that relate to the speaker and precede or follow quoted remarks. With two exceptions, dialogue tags are considered inappropriate in novel writing. At best, the tag interrupts the flow of the spoken words. At worst, it may even eliminate the writer’s credibility. Perhaps worst of all, some find tags annoying. Dialogue tags accomplish two major goals:  

They break up long-winded dialogue. They make it easier for readers to follow who is speaking.

The novice author has a tendency to fill their dialogue with "action tags." Action tags are those dialogue tags that emphasizes an act the speaking character performs. They include such words as "sneered" or "scoffed" or "surmised" or "chuckled" and the like.

WRITER’S TIP: The secret is to eliminate all action tags, save for, “said” and “asked.”

Too many action tags often create what those in the industry call, “Dialogue Tag-Overkill.” That is, they attempt to punch up their written conversations with indications of thoughts, feelings, actions and the like. In general, the only acceptable tags are, “said” or “asked.” Review the sentence that follow “No, I won’t go!” he yelled. The action tag in the preceding sentence is "yelled." If you notice, the exclamation point gives the necessary emphasis the sentence attempted to convey by the tag, "yelled." Would you have known the character yelled had you written only: "No, I won't go!"

WRITER’S TIP: If your writing and punctuation is efficient, a tag is redundant.

This shows how tags are often unnecessary. It also teaches us a secret to acceptable tags usage is found in correct punctuation. As you never know how a reader will interpret what you’ve written, insure your tags are limited and your punctuation is correct.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction If you feel it necessary to have some sort of action accompany what is being said, place that action into a sentence of its own. An example follows. “No, I won’t go!” His voice rose to a roar as he yelled at her. As you see in this example, his actions and emotions are incorporated by way of a complete sentences that stands on its own. You try it. Rewrite your conversation between John and Mary with effective dialogue tags. Include at least one sentence to show action in lieu of a tag.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Four: Break Up Dialogue with Action As with verbal conversation, a great deal of information lies within the nonverbal aspects of dialogue. Often when people or characters speak to each other, much of their conversation is physical in nature. The talk is punctuated with nods, smiles, frowns, chuckles and all sorts of other physical actions. The same is true with dialogue. A general rule is that written dialogue should follow the “Index Finger Rule.” This principle says a block of uninterrupted dialogue should be no longer than the average index finger, or about three inches. Unless necessary, break up any lengthy dialogue with WRITER’S TIP: character actions or some other technique. Long, unbroken blocks of dialogue are difficult to read and A general rule is that corrupt the flow of your novel. written dialogue should follow the “Index Finger You can break up protracted dialogue by a number of Rule.” methods. You may toss in another character's reaction or even their retort. You might also add some sort of setting description, such as a noise that draws the speaker’s attention or a phone ringing when not expected. Whatever method you choose, a natural transition is essential. Though it can be difficult to create an effective break, an ineffective one can disrupt the reader’s concentration and the flow of your writing. As an example, consider the following: “I called you all together for this meeting to put an end to the scuttlebutt racing around the company as to the reasons we will be downsizing our staff. In fact, some of you now in this room will receive your pink slips before you leave today. As you know, we are undergoing serious financial setbacks due to lagging sales. We place the blame for our faltering income on the recent marketing program that inadvertently offended our primary target market, the young homemaker. It seems nobody in the marketing department noticed one of the actors was drunk during the filming, and our adult female audience reacted in a negative fashion, causing the entire campaign, and our sales, to tank.” I’ll now write that same dialogue with a couple of breaks inserted. “I called you all together for this meeting to put an end to the scuttlebutt racing around the company as to the reasons we will be downsizing our staff. In fact, some of you now in this room will receive your pink slips before you leave today.”

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction A rustle of discontent rose among the audience. “As you know, we are undergoing serious financial setbacks due to lagging sales. We place the blame for our faltering income on the recent marketing program that inadvertently offended our primary target market, the young homemaker.” He cleared his throat before he continued. “It seems nobody in the marketing department noticed the actor we hired as the pregnant woman was drunk during the filming.” A nervous chuckle rolled across the audience. “As you might imagine, our adult female audience reacted in a negative fashion, causing the entire campaign, and our sales, to tank.”

WRITER’S TIP: A character’s physical actions give your reader the visual clues as to the character’s true inner thoughts.

The insertions used to break up the lengthy dialogue are in italics. By reading these two dialogue examples aloud, one after the other, you will how the breaks tend to make for easier reading. If you pay attention to these dialogue breaks, you'll notice fit the storyline as well as make sense relative to the spoken words and the situation. You’ll also notice I’ve incorporated actions by those listening, thus inserting sound into the story. That is another effective technique you can use to break up long-

winded dialogue. You try it. Take the scene you’ve created in these exercises and break up your dialogue with character actions.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Five: Dialect versus Dialogue Aspiring authors struggle with many issues and one of the most onerous is dialect. How does a writer present the correct vernacular in his story and meet contemporary readers’ expectations? One sees the challenge when considering dialects within regions, WRITER’S TIP: within nations, from around the world and through time. Remember, I’m not talking about languages among The best way to learn to peoples of the world, but the way the same language is write dialogue is to spoken by various individuals. As I’m from the United eavesdrop on States, I’ll use my own home as an example. Let’s conversations. consider three people who say the same statement in the vernacular of their unique location within the country. First, let’s consider a construction worker from New York City inviting someone to fight. “Yo! Ya wanna piece o’me? I’ll give ya a piece of dis right 'tween ya eyes!” Next, listen to a shipyard worker from Newport News, Virginia asking the same question. “Ya want I should kick yer butt?” Now consider how a Midwesterner might ask the same thing. “Why, I outta whip yer butt. Think you might enjoy that?” Notice all the misspellings, colloquialisms, and odd punctuation. It all makes for a difficult read to those not accustomed to these speech patterns. The challenge for the writers is to present these varied dialects into a readable, enjoyable style for the modern reader regardless his personal dialect. There is a secret I learned from the best-selling author, Susann Cokal. Her genre is historical fiction within the medieval era. If she were to ask the same question in her medieval era novels as the American counterparts above, she might write something to this effect; “Forsooth, faire sir, for must I smite thee?” You can imagine if she wrote in this fashion today, it would be difficult for modern readers to appreciate her work. Her advice, and what I recommend, is to look past the words, past the intonations, past all those oppressive commas and contractions. Look instead to the cadence, the music within the

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction vernacular and mimic that. Listen for how the words flow within the dialect and use contemporary wording within that flow. Good advice! Perhaps you’ll want to include a limited number of colloquiums or abbreviations for authenticity, but keep those to a minimum. For those of you who write historical fiction, as do I, I’ll give you a specific example. My writing takes place in a time when human bondage was prevalent in the United States. Let’s listen to what I envision as a typical slave speaking to his master. “Yeah, sah. I’s done puttin’ suppah on da plate fo’ ya an’ ya’ chil'in.” In this sentence there are fourteen words, ten of which are misspelled, not to mention the six apostrophes. It’s almost unreadable. At best, it will cause the reader to slow their reading pace or read it a second or even third time. Slowing your readers’ pace is not a good thing, by the way. Now I’ll try to write the same sentence, match the music within the dialect and, at the same time, make it palatable for today's reader.

WRITER’S TIP: Look past the words, past the intonations, past all those oppressive commas and contractions. Look instead to the cadence, the music, within the vernacular for your dialogue.

“Yes, sah. I’s putting supper on a plate for you and your children.” Though I retained a couple idioms to enhance the authenticity, it now has only one less word, but seven fewer misspellings and just one apostrophe. If you read both sentences with the mannerism you might expect a slave to exhibit, you’ll see in the second example, the dialect is left intact yet the readability is enhanced. Yes, it takes practice. It takes a lot of practice. But as with any craft, work at it and the technique will soon become a natural part of the dialogue you write. Now you try it. Revise your earlier exercise to exhibit John’s dialect if her were from deep in the heart of the southern US.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Six: Punctuation in Dialogue For many authors punctuation is difficult even without ellipses, colons and semicolons. Why, even the simple apostrophe is peculiar all by itself. And when you start to toss dialogue in the mix, well, punctuation can get well into scary. Punctuation has specific purposes and among them are: 1. 2. 3. 4.

To improve the rhythm of the written word To define the structure of writing To clarify the meaning of the written word Identify what is being said by whom

Without correct punctuation, readers may have a difficult time determining what you intended with your writing. They’ll lose control over who is speaking, or even what you meant to say.

WRITER’S TIP: All those interesting symbols of punctuation are the traffic signs of the writer’s world.

To be honest, it is difficult to tell you how to punctuate dialogue, so we’ll work with a series of examples. Let’s first examine a typical spoken comment. A.

“Do you see Mary running?”

The punctuation of this is simple enough. Quotation marks belong at each end of the spoken words. Other punctuation, in this case the question mark, is enclosed by the quote marks. Our second example is the classic “said” sentence. B.

John said, “See Mary run.”

If a tagline begins the sentence, separate the tag from the dialogue with a comma, then insert a space and the open quotes immediately after the tag. The quotation marks are placed around the spoken words. The first letter of the spoken words is always capitalized and the trailing punctuation, in this case a period, is placed inside the quotes. Enter a space for the next sentence as usual. (See how simple this is?) The next example shows the same sentence with the tag at the end. C.

“See Mary run,” said John.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction The quotation ends with a comma, which is bracketed within the quotes. (As the quote is not the end of the sentence, a comma replaces the period found in the prior illustration.) This is followed by a space and then the speech tagline and your period. As always, the first letter in the spoken words is capitalized. Let’s now use punctuation in a more complex dialogue environment. D.

John said, “See Mary run,” then he walked to the door.

You can see the same rules incorporated in the first two examples are in play here. The sentence starts with a tagline, which is followed by a comma and a space. Next, open quotes and a capital letter begin the verbalization. A comma is inserted at the end of the spoken words, which is then followed by the close quotes, a space and the rest of the sentence. Note: if the first word after a quote is a proper noun, it is capitalized as with normal punctuation. We’ll now look at the same type of sentence, but with the tagline in the center. E.

“Hello, everyone,” John said, “we hope you’re having a good morning.”

Getting trickier now, isn’t it? Here we have a situation where quotes begin and end a sentence. Not to worry, the same rules already discussed will apply. You start the sentence with your opening quotation marks and a capital letter. You end the first quote with a comma and your close quotes, then a space. Next, you add your tagline, which is followed by a comma and another space. (This tagline is capitalized only because it begins with a proper noun.) Your second quote begins with another opening quote and a lowercase letter. (Unless, of course, the second quote begins with a proper noun.) At the end of the sentence, you close with the appropriate punctuation mark, in this case a period, and your close quote. Add one last space and you’re ready for the next sentence. Whew… Now let’s evaluate a quote that requires something other than a period or a comma. F. G.

“I feel so excited!” said Mary. “Are you enjoying yourself?” asked John.

In these cases, where a comma or period does not adequately punctuate the quoted words, you might wish to finish your quotation with a question mark or exclamation point. The secret, as noted above, is to enclose this punctuation within the closing quotation mark. In effect, it replaces the comma we’ve already seen. These spoken words are followed by the close quote, a space and the tag. Don’t forget the entire sentence still ends with a period and your tagline begins with a lowercase letter, assuming it is not a proper noun. We’ve discussed the spoken word, but how does one handle thought in lieu of the spoken word?

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction H. I. J.

John wondered. Is she enjoying herself? Is she enjoying herself? John wondered. John thought, She is enjoying herself!

In the case where someone is thinking instead of speaking, all the same punctuation rules apply, except you omit the formal quotation marks. Today, some writers italicize the thought, whereas other writers do not. I prefer the italics as it makes things more clear for me. You’ll see examples of both options listed. In examples “H” and “J”, you’ll note John’s actual thought begins with a capital letter, as it would if they were spoken words inside quotation marks. *Take deep breath here.* Now, let’s look at a few other quick tips on how to punctuate the spoken word. Every time the speaker changes, the paragraph changes. “Are you having fun?” John asked. “Oh, yes. A great deal,” Mary said. “I’m so glad.” Insure the speaker is obvious to the reader. Taglines are one way to identify your speaker, though they are not necessary with every line of dialogue. In the following paragraphs, the reader has no idea if it is John or Mary speaking. “Are you having fun?” “Oh, yes. A great deal.” “I’m so glad.” Taglines after every quote will have a dulling effect on your writing, so you may identify speakers in other ways, too. Here is an elementary example. “Are you having fun?” John turned toward her to ask the question. “Oh, yes. A great deal.” “I’m so glad.” This dialogue is stilted, I know, but it shows taglines are not always necessary to identify who is speaking. Use them if you need them for clarification.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction One last thought as to punctuation in dialogue. The ellipses, those three dots in sequence (…), are overused by aspiring authors. Its purpose is to indicate a trailing or incomplete thought but if rarely, if ever, used in dialogue. If you see more than a couple of them in your novel, review your dialogue for more appropriate punctuation or even tags. You try it. Take your earlier scene with John and Mary, and review your punctuation to see if you can't eliminate any taglines. Also check each time someone speaks. Is it obvious who is talking? If not, add the appropriate tags.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Seven: General Dialogue Tips Slang and Profanity: The problem rests in their diminishing effect with use. Besides, Dude, if you want to have another Dude understand what the first Dude said, the second Dude has to listen to the first Dude. Ya dig, Dude? As this example typifies, slang gets real old real fast when written. Besides, in the case of profanity, it may exasperate your readers should your words belie their personal feelings. You do that, and you’ve killed an entire potential market for your book. Consider this, how many fundamental Christians will read your story if it’s replete with expletives? Use profanity and slang with caution and most often only for emphasis. Anything that is overused becomes ordinary and loses its effect. If you must have vulgarity to make the scene work, then by all means use it. However, if you interject the profanity for shock value, it will most often come off as anything but shocking. Judicious use of that sort of verbalization will offer maximum effect when it does come into play. The same goes for stereotypes, gore, sex, depravity and the like. What gets used gets old. What’s old gets boring. And boring is death to your novel. Read Widely in Your Genre And the best place to read dialogue is Shakespeare. (I know, I know. But consider his audience and his time.) He spoke to the hoi-poly, to Everyman and used the vernacular of his time. But his cadence, his terminology, his use of the printed word is quite effective. Spend some time with the bard and see if he isn’t helpful.

WRITER’S TIP:

The best way to learn dialogue is to read dialogue.

author’s dialogue and mimic it.

When you read in your genre, pay attention to those times you’re drawn into the work, when you reread or skip a passage, when a character loses his appeal or when he becomes real to you. Pay attention to when you put the book down, or when you could not put it down. These turning points are usually found within the dialogue. And this is where you’ll find what works in dialogue. Study the

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Child-Speak Be cautious of using the language of children and youths. They speak in a manner quite different from adults. Still, if you populate your manuscript with the words a contemporary child might use, your novel will sound dated by the time it's published.

WRITER’S TIP:

Dialogue as a Percentage of the Words You Write. There is an interesting “rule” that surfaces now and again as to the amount of dialogue that should be contained in a novel. That rule says fifty percent of your book should be dialogue.

It is not true that 50% of your novel should be dialogue. However, …

Not true. As with all such literary rules, they are merely guidelines for consideration. However, it does indicate the power and necessity of dialogue in your novels. It shows how important your dialogue is to your manuscript and how much you should have and how much attention it deserves.

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Eight: Articles on Dialogue These links to various articles I've written will give you further insight into how to write dialogue. How To Write Dialect How to Punctuate Dialogue How to Write Internal Monologue The Keys to Effective Dialogue in Novels The Hidden Secret to Dialogue

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The Craft of Writing – Dialogue in Fiction

Part Nine: Conclusion: Is that all there is to mastering the skill and art of dialogue in fiction? "Not at all," he emphasized stressed said. If truth be told, it may takes two or even three full length manuscripts to learn how to master the art of dialogue. However, as I always told my daughters, the secret to success is, "Practice. Practice. Practice." If you practice and master the techniques presented in this booklet, you’ll have taken a giant step toward producing a well-written novel. Use this to jumpstart your novel and begin your writing career. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at [email protected] Thanks, and best of luck with your writing. C. Patrick Schulze Author of the emerging novel "Born to be Brothers" http://CPatrickSchulze.com/AuthorsBlog

*** Keep an eye open for my upcoming novel, "Born to be Brothers." It should be out in late 2010 or early 2011.

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