7 Tips for Writing Better Dialogue

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• 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.

• How to make dialogue sound realistic
Since dialogue in fiction is contrived, a challenge facing authors is to find ways to make it sound realistic. Try these techniques.

• 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. 

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 commas inside quotation marks
One punctuation matter that might keep you up at night is where to place a comma when appearing with quotation marks. Well, you can quote me on this: Commas appear inside quotation marks, according to the book “Use the Right Word,” and other sources.

• BONUS: Five Great Quotations about Dialogue

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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.

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