To sum up the gist of Week 4's theme: "Dialogue can make or break a story". It is a crucial element in storytelling that brings characters to life and helps readers connect with them. Good dialogue should not only reveal character traits, but also move the plot forward, build tension, and create an emotional connection between the reader and the characters.

10 summed up tips for dialogue writing:

1. Make it sound natural ~ One way to make dialogue sound natural is to read it out loud. This helps you identify awkward phrasing, overly formal language, and stilted conversation. It’s also helpful to listen to how people talk in real life, paying attention to sentence structure, slang, and regional expressions.

2. Show, don’t tell ~ Don’t just tell the reader that a character is angry, let them yell “I can’t believe you did that!” and slam their fist on the table.

3. Use subtext ~ Subtext is the underlying meaning behind what characters say. A character might say “I’m not hungry” when they really mean “I AM hungry, but I’m upset with you and don’t want to eat with you.” The subtext adds depth to the conversation and reveals the character’s true emotions.

4. Use dialogue tags sparingly ~ Dialogue tags are words used to indicate who is speaking. They include “he said,” “she asked,” and “they replied.” While dialogue tags are necessary to avoid confusion, they can become repetitive and distracting if overused.

5. Use dialect and accents carefully ~ If you do use dialect or accents, use them consistently and sparingly. A few well-placed words or phrases can convey a character’s background or regional identity without being overwhelming.

6. Embrace silence ~ Not all dialogue needs to be spoken!

7. Avoid exposition ~ Instead of having a character explain their entire backstory in a conversation, have them look at a photograph or visit a place from their past.

8. Vary sentence structure and length ~ Using a variety of sentence lengths and structures can add rhythm and flow to the conversation. Short sentences can create tension and indicate urgency, while longer sentences can convey a character’s thoughtfulness or uncertainty.

9. Use contractions ~ You should absolutely use “can’t” instead of “cannot” or “it’s” instead of “it is.” Using contractions in dialogue can make it sound more natural and help create a conversational tone. However, it is important to use contractions appropriately. Not all characters would use them, such as those who speak in a more formal or archaic style.

10. Stay true to the character ~ Every character should have a distinct voice and way of speaking. Dialogue should be consistent with a character’s personality, background, and motivation. A character’s dialogue might also change over time as they experience character development.

Examples in fiction:

1. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
In the first piece of dialogue in Pride and Prejudice, we meet Mr and Mrs Bennet, as Mrs Bennet attempts to draw her husband into a conversation about neighborhood gossip.

     “My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”
     Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
     “But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”
     Mr. Bennet made no answer.
     “Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently.
     “You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”
     This was invitation enough.
     “Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

Austen’s dialogue is always witty, subtle, and packed with character. This extract from Pride and Prejudice is a great example of dialogue being used to develop character relationships. We instantly learn everything we need to know about the dynamic between Mr and Mrs Bennet’s from their first interaction: she’s chatty, and he’s the beleaguered listener who has learned to entertain her idle gossip, if only for his own sake (hence “you want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it”).

There is even a clear difference between the two characters visually on the page: Mr Bennet responds in short sentences, in simple indirect speech, or not at all, but this is “invitation enough” for Mrs Bennet to launch into a rambling and extended response, dominating the conversation in text just as she does audibly.

The fact that Austen manages to imbue her dialogue with so much character-building realism means we hardly notice the amount of crucial plot exposition she has packed in here. This heavily expository dialogue could be a drag to get through, but Austen’s colorful characterization means she slips it under the radar with ease, forwarding both our understanding of these people and the world they live in simultaneously.

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2. The Hobbit
The eponymous hobbit Bilbo is engaged in a game of riddles with the strange creature Gollum.

     "What have I got in my pocket?" he said aloud. He was talking to himself, but Gollum thought it was a riddle, and he was frightfully upset.
     "Not fair! not fair!" he hissed. "It isn't fair, my precious, is it, to ask us what it's got in its nassty little pocketses?"
     Bilbo seeing what had happened and having nothing better to ask stuck to his question. "What have I got in my pocket?" he said louder. "S-s-s-s-s," hissed Gollum. "It must give us three guesseses, my precious, three guesseses."
     "Very well! Guess away!" said Bilbo.
     "Handses!" said Gollum.
     "Wrong," said Bilbo, who had luckily just taken his hand out again. "Guess again!"
     "S-s-s-s-s," said Gollum, more upset than ever.

Tolkein’s dialogue for Gollum is a masterclass in creating distinct character voices. By using a repeated catchphrase (“my precious”) and unconventional spelling and grammar to reflect his unusual speech pattern, Tolkien creates an idiosyncratic, unique (and iconic) speech for Gollum. This vivid approach to formatting dialogue, which is almost a transliteration of Gollum's sounds, allows readers to imagine his speech pattern and practically hear it aloud. You can use Tolkien’s approach as inspiration to create (slightly more subtle) quirks of speech for your own characters.

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3. Madeline Miller, Circe
In Madeline Miller’s retelling of Greek myth, we witness a conversation between the mythical enchantress Circe and Telemachus (son of Odysseus).

     “You do not grieve for your father?”
     “I do. I grieve that I never met the father everyone told me I had.”    
     I narrowed my eyes. “Explain.”
     “I am no storyteller.”
     “I am not asking for a story. You have come to my island. You owe me truth.”
    A moment passed, and then he nodded. “You will have it.”

This short and punchy exchange hits on a lot of the stylistic points we’ve covered so far. The conversation is a taut tennis match between the two speakers as they volley back and forth with short but impactful sentences, and unnecessary dialogue tags have been shaved off. It also highlights Circe’s imperious attitude, a result of her divine status. Her use of short, snappy declaratives and imperatives demonstrates that she’s used to getting her own way and feels no need to mince her words.

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4. Bret Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero
The disillusioned main character of Bret Easton Ellis’ debut novel, Clay, here catches up with a college friend, Daniel, whom he hasn’t seen in a while.

     He keeps rubbing his mouth and when I realize that he’s not going to answer me, I ask him what he’s been doing.

     “Been doing?”
     “Yeah.”
     “Hanging out.”
     “Hanging out where?”
     “Where? Around.”

Less Than Zero is an elegy to conversation, and this dialogue is an example of the many vacuous exchanges the protagonist engages in, seemingly just to fill time. The whole book is deliberately unpoetic and flat, and depicts the lives of disaffected youths in 1980s LA. Their misguided attempts to fill the emptiness within them with drink and drugs are ultimately fruitless, and it shows in their conversations: in truth, they have nothing to say to one another at all. This utterly meaningless exchange would elsewhere be considered dead weight to a story. Here, rather than being fat in need of trimming, the empty conversation is instead thematically resonant.