12 Exercises for Improving Dialogue

(Handout Courtesy of Kris Baxter)

Dialogue is one of the most difficult aspects of writing to master. There are many pitfalls you must try to avoid, such as:

Stilted language

Dialogue that does not sound like natural speech.

Filler

Dialogue that does not further the scene and does not deepen your understanding of the characters.

Exposition

Dialogue that has the character explain the plot or repeat information for the benefit of the audience.

Naming

Having one character use another character’s name to establish identity. People almost never say other people’s names back to them, and if they do it is a character trait typical of a used car salesman.

Overuse of Modifiers

Too many dialogue modifiers such as shouted, exclaimed, cried, whispered, stammered, opined, insinuated, hedged and a million others. Modifiers such as this can sometimes be useful, but are often annoying and used as a crutch for poorly designed dialogue.

There are many other dialogue pitfalls, but most of them can be solved through patience, editing, and practice. You should also study examples of people who have mastered the art of dialogue. Some examples are given in the sidebar to this article.

Here are a few exercises to help you master dialogue as a tool for writing:

Write down the things you say over the course of the day. Examine your own speech patterns. You don’t have to get every word, but you may find that you say less than you think and that your statements are surprisingly short. You might also find that you rarely speak in complete sentences.
Find a crowded place such as a restaurant, a bar, or a shopping mall and write down snippets of the conversations you hear. Avoid trying to record whole conversations, just follow along for a brief exchange and then listen for your next target.
Test responses to the same question. Think of a question that will require at least a little thought, and ask it of several different people. Compare their responses. Remember that you are focused on their words. Write them down as soon as you can.
Record several different TV shows. Some choices include: sitcom, news, drama, talk show, infomercial, sporting event, etc.). Write down a transcript using just the dialogue and people’s names. If you don’t know the names, just use a description such as announcer or redheaded woman. You can also transcribe two shows of the same genre, using one show you like and one you dislike. Compare dialogue between the fiction and non-fiction programming you recorded. Look for such things as greetings, descriptions of physical actions, complete sentences, slang, verbal ticks (Such as like, you know, uhhhh, well, etc.). Compare how these dialogue crutches change according to the show format and quality.
Rewrite one or more of the shows in exercise 4 as prose, trying to recreate the show as accurately as possible. Note how easy or difficult it is to work in the entire dialogue from the show. Does it seem to flow naturally and read well or does it get in your way. Rewrite again eliminating any dialogue you feel is unnecessary. Try not to change any dialogue though until your final draft. Work with what you have. Remember that you don’t necessarily have to rewrite the whole show. Do enough to be sure you have the feeling for it.
Rewrite one of the the transcripts from exercise 4 using as much of the dialogue as possible, but changing the scene in as many ways as possible. Change the setting, change the people’s intent, and change the tone. See how easy or difficult it is to give the same words a different intent. Again, do enough to be sure you have the feeling for it.
Write the dialogue for a scene without using any modifiers. Just write down a conversation as it goes along naturally. After you have completed the dialogue, add narrative description, but not dialogue tags such as said, shouted or ordered. Instead, try to work the dialogue into the action as a logical progression of the statements. Finally, add any dialogue tags that are absolutely necessary, and keep them simple such as said, told, or asked. Again, only put them in if you can find not other options. Compare this to the previous dialogue you have written and see what you like or dislike about the changes.
Write a scene in which one person tells another person a story. Make sure that you write it as a dialogue and not just a first person narrative, but clearly have one person telling the story and the other person listening and asking questions or making comments. The purpose of this scene will be both to have the story stand alone as a subject, and to have the characters’ reactions to the story be the focal point of the scene.
Write a scene in which one person is listening to two other people have an argument or discussion. For example, a child listening to her parents argue about money. Have the third character narrate the argument and explain what is going on, but have the other two provide the entire dialogue. It is not necessary to have the narrator understand the argument completely. Miscommunication is a major aspect of dialogue.
Write a conversation between two liars. Give everything they say a double or triple meaning. Never state or indicate through outside description that these two people are lying. Let the reader figure it out strictly from the dialogue. Try not to be obvious, such as having one person accuse the other of lying. That is too easy.
Write a conversation in which no character speaks more than three words per line of dialogue. Again, avoid crutches such as explaining everything they say through narration. Use your narration to enhance the scene, not explain the dialogue.
Write a narrative or scripted scene in which several characters are taking an active role in the conversation. This can be a difficult aspect of dialogue to master, because with each additional character, the reader or audience must be able to keep track of the motivations and interests of the individuals involved. This can be especially difficult in prose, where the time between one character speaking and the next can be interrupted by action or description. See how many characters your can sustain within the scene and still have it make sense and be engaging.

Great Dialogue in Books:

Where I'm Calling from : New and Selected Stories (Vintage Contemporaries) by Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver was a master of literary minimalism. No line of dialogue is wasted and every word can be studied for multiple meanings and hidden purposes.

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler

Anne Tyler has a wonderful way of mixing dry humor into otherwise dramatic narratives, and much of this has to do with the way she can have her characters speak circles around their actual problems without ever directly mentioning them. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Accidental Tourist when Macon Leary and his inability to express his emotions meets Muriel Pritchett, who loves to say whatever is on her mind.

Franny & Zooey by J. D. Salinger

While The Catcher in the Rye is his more famous work, if you want to examine J.D. Salinger's mastery of dialogue, this is the book to read. Among his many innovations is the use of italics in dialogue to stress words. Rarely seen before Salinger, it is a common (frequently overused) element of dialogue today. Beyond the tricks though, lies a true grasp of how the way people talk can define and limit them.

Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard

On the strength of his dialogue and grasp of character, Elmore Leonard rose from being considered a pulp genre writer to one of best-selling and most regarded novelists in the past twenty years. He is a master of dialect, especially that of Florida's South Coast, where his novels are frequently set. Rum Punch, unlike Get Shorty, did not fare so well in it's translation to the big screen (as Jackie Brown) so read this book to get a grasp of what makes his dialogue so vivid and lively.

Great Dialogue in Movies

When Harry Met Sally... Written by Nora Ephron

One of the best modern examples of film dialogue. The characters are consistently funny despite their pain and their compelling personal problems. A special point of interest is the documentary footage of couples talking about how they met. Every line in those scenes are scripted, but they come off so naturally the interviews seem genuine.

Blood Simple written by Joel and Ethan Coen

Like their classic movie Fargo, this first movie by the Coen Brothers features rich dialogue. This movie, however, focuses on the drawling cadences of small-town Texans. The effect is less comic than Fargo's Minnesota dialects, and the noir quality of the film exploits the possibilities of miscommunication and deception in conversation.

Slacker written by Richard Linklater

This feature length experimental film is a free-for-all of overheard conversations as the camera moves from person to person without ever stopping to bother with narration or story. While not always successful, the movie is a great example of making scripted dialogue have the quality of real conversation.

Books on Dialogue

Writing Dialogue
by Tom Chiarella

Not only does this book give great practical advice on writing dialogue, but it includes many writing and listening exercises that put Chiarella's advice to the test and will do the same with your writing.