Playwright Tool – Dialogue

Dialogue:  Advice

*Be sure to set the scene, even briefly.  If a reader can’t visualize the physical space, he/she has no context for the conversation. 

*Avoid using dialogue unless how a character says something informs the reader about the character. 

*Don’t try to hide exposition in dialogue, making characters say things just so the reader learns them. 

*Avoid having a character analyze or explain his/her feelings.  Real people are seldom this self-aware and ever more rarely do they articulate it.

*Beware synonyms for “said.” 

*By all means, use stage direction. The he said/she said bit gets really old really fast.  Use action and description merged with dialogue to create a full, rich scene.  Choreograph characters’ movements.  But be warned that they can be distracting if useless.  If the reader gets the sense that stage directions are superfluous, her she will begin skimming them.

*Keep an eye too on where you place stage instructions you do include. 

*Write how people really talk.  Develop your ear for this by eavesdropping whenever you can.

*Be wary of dialect (altered spelling to mimic perceived ethnic or regional accents), unless you really truly deeply need it. 

*Don’t neglect the usefulness of indirect dialogue. 

Dialogue: Conventions

*Learn and adhere to the conventions of dialogue.  The purpose of the quotation marks, the commas, etc is to be invisible.  But the tags can be very useful.

“Because I love you,” Jill said, “I have to leave you.” (Correct)

Jill said, “Because I love you, I have to leave you.” (Correct)

“Because I love you, I have to leave you,” Jill said.  (Correct)

Jill ran into the room and said, “Everybody get out.” (Correct)

Jill ran into the room.  “Everybody get out.”  (Correct)

Jill ran into the room, “Everybody get out.”  (INCORRECT).

Jill ran into the room and said.  “Everybody get out. (INCORECT)

*Lastly, the question of paragraphing and dialogue.  Generally, each new speaker gets a new paragraph.  Note the following passage:

Jevon got out of his car.  “Tell me Tony called.”

“Relax,” Justin said.  He pulled his cell from his back pocket and opened it. “We’ve got time.”

“I’m always relaxed.”

Here, we know Justin is saying “We’ve got time” and Jevon is saying “I’m always relaxed” based solely on where they are—same paragraph or new paragraph. 

If you write this:

Jevon got out of his car.

  “Tell me Tony called.”

it means that someone other than Jevon said, “Tell me Tony called.”  It can’t be Jevon.

Similarly, if we make this change:

Jevon got out of his car.  “Tell me Tony called.”

“Relax,” Justin said.  He pulled his cell from his back pocket and opened it.

“We’ve got time.”

it indicates that Jevon, not Justin, said, “We’ve got time.”

Studying any work of fiction from our text will help you comprehend this basic, but crucial, aspect of convention.  Every time a student loses a letter grade because of the serious distractions caused by misunderstanding of these principles, I cringe and vow that I’ll be sure it never happens again.  That’s why this handout in in front of you.  Please bring me your specific questions.