7 Insanely Good Dialogue Tips From A Book Editor

For the full article, click the linked title:

• Mastering the fine art of dialogue punctuation 
Many novice writers use punctuation marks haphazardly in their dialogue. The problem is they haven’t yet mastered the fine art of punctuating dialogue.

• Place dialogue attribution in right spots 
When writing fiction, you want to ensure that readers clearly know who is speaking dialogue. If a reader loses track, then the wrong impression about a character’s intentions and motivations may be formed, which makes understanding the rest of the story difficult.

• Delete bookisms in your story’s dialogue 
Ever notice when reading a story that sometimes an odd word appears when “said” would do? For example, “Well, I’ve never!” she blustered. If so, you’ve just come across a bookism. 

• Avoid placing attribution before dialogue 
During my years of editing, I’ve found that dialogue often gives beginning fiction writers trouble. In an effort to make clear who is speaking, the writer often ends up slowing the story’s pace and making for a clunky read.

• Delete laugh track from your story
Another way to tighten your writing is to leave out the laugh track. In your story, a laugh track is present when you also give readers hints about how they should react. 

• Avoid using ALL CAPS in your writing
When trying to show that a character is speaking louder than before or to emphasize a point, writers sometimes capitalize each letter of a word, creating what is typographically known as ALL CAPS. The writer may want to reconsider capitalizing all of those letters, however.

• How to pen engaging dialogue for your story
No doubt your story will include dialogue in which characters speak to one another. Unfortunately, too many beginning writers drag their story into a furrow of tedium by poorly handling dialogue. The problem is that their characters’ dialogue mirrors actual conversations too closely.

______________________

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional book editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of 80 books including the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks: