Dialogue in writing

Dialogue, in literature, is conversation between two or more characters. If there is only one character talking, it is a monologue. Dialogue is usually identified by use of quotation marks and a dialogue tag, such as "she said". According to Burroway et al., It can play an important role in bringing characters to life in literature, by allowing them to voice their internal thoughts.

In their book Writing Fiction, Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French and Ned Stuckey-French say dialogue is a direct basic method of character presentation, which plays an essential role in bringing characters to life by voicing their internal thoughts. When significant or dramatic events are happening, dialogue can be written in direct quotation. Otherwise, speech can either be summarized as part of the narrative or written as indirect speech which is useful to get to the core of a scene.

In The Craft of Writing (1979), American writer of fantasy and science fiction William Sloane wrote:

In The Craft of Fiction (1921), British essayist Percy Lubbock (1879–1965) wrote:

Dialogue is usually identified by the use of quotation marks and a dialogue tag, such as 'she said'.

'George said' is the dialogue tag, which is also known as an identifier, an attributive, a speaker attribution, a speech attribution, a dialogue tag, and a tag line. Stephen King, in his book On Writing, asserted that said is the best dialogue tag to use. King recommended reading a novel by Larry McMurtry, who he said had mastered the art of well-written dialogue.

Dialogue tags other than said, such as murmured, whimpered or thundered, are known as 'said-bookisms', and are considered to detract from the narrative if over-used. Journalist Cory Doctorow says said-bookisms lead to "writerly laziness" because it is easier to use dialogue tags to tell the reader how the character is speaking than have the dialogue itself convey this, and it thus weakens the story.

The following excerpt from chapter two of the novel Bleak House by Charles Dickens shows dialogue between three characters.

• Exposition
• Fiction writing
• Pace
• Show, Don't Tell

• Browne, Renni; King, Dave (1993), Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, New York: Harper Perennial, ISBN 0-06-272046-5

• The Chicago Manual of Style (13th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1982. ISBN 0-226-10390-0.

• Crews, Frederick (1977), The Random House Handbook (2nd ed.), New York: Random House, ISBN 0-394-31211-2

• Gerke, Jeff (2010), Plot versus Character: A Balanced Approach to Writing Great Fiction, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, ISBN 978-1-58297-992-2

• Hacker, Diana (1991), The Bedford Handbook for Writers (3rd ed.), Boston: Bedford Books, ISBN 0-312-05599-4

• Kempton, Gloria (2004), Write Great Fiction: Dialogue, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, ISBN 1-58297-289-3

• King, Stephen (2000), On Writing, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, ISBN 0-684-85352-3

• Lamb, Nancy (2008), The Art and Craft of Storytelling: A Comprehensive Guide to Classic Writing Techniques, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, ISBN 978-1-58297-559-7

• "Proper Manuscript Format". Proper Manuscript Format / Shunn. July 12, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2024.

• Sebranek, Patrick; Kemper, Dave; Meyer, Verne (2006), Writers Inc.: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning, Wilmington: Houghton Mifflin Company, ISBN 978-0-669-52994-4

• Steele, Alexander, ed. (2003). Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide From New York's Acclaimed Creative Writing School. New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 1-58234-330-6.

• Strunk, William, Jr.; White, E. B. (1979), The Elements of Style (3rd ed.), New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., ISBN 0-02-418220-6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Turco, Lewis (1989), Dialogue, Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, ISBN 0-89879-349-1

• Wiehardt, Ginny (November 20, 2019). "Top 12 Tips for Writing Dialogue". liveaboutdotcom. Archived from the original on December 18, 2005. Retrieved December 17, 2005.
• "Dialogue". Debbie Lee Wesselmann. 2007. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.
• Marble, Anne M. (2001). ""Stop Using Those Said Bookisms," the Editor Shrieked: The Use and Abuse of Dialogue Tags". Vision. Forward Motion for Writers.