Making Dialogue Flow

Dialogue is an important tool for characterisation, subtle exposition and developing relationships. We will focus on how to keep dialogue flowing in your story naturally by framing it properly in your narration using dialogue tags.

• Dialogue tags should be invisible

The dialogue itself is what is important; the tag is just functional. Try to delete dialogue tags whenever they are not needed (to know who is speaking or to understand the context), and focus completely on the dialogue.

• ‘Said’ is not dead!

In most cases the word ‘said’ will do just fine — no need to come up with lots of fancy synonyms. This is one case where repetition really does not matter (much). ‘Said’ is efficient, it does not distract from the actual dialogue, and it saves you the cognitive capacity to find a better dialogue tag, allowing you to focus on what your characters are saying instead. Don’t feel pressured to find a more creative dialogue tag when ‘said’ can do the job.

• Avoid using adverbs too frequently in dialogue tags.

Sometimes, an adverb might suit your meaning better than changing the verb (e.g. ‘he said darkly’ rather than ‘he muttered’)… but don’t overdo it as it adds a repetitive rhythm.

• Vary where you position your dialogue tags.

They can go before, during or after dialogue; changing them around can create a more varied and interesting rhythm in your writing.

• Punctuation in place of dialogue tags.

A question mark can come a long way, as does an exclamation point. But there are other ways to end a sentence. Maybe let it fade out… Give it an abrupt ending when your character is interrup—

You get the gist.

• Trade tags with action beats.

Actions are a better route of conveying emotions than using any type of adverbs. People move around a lot while talking; they gesture, they mimic, they change poses. Those cues are really important and can add a lot to your dialogue. They also work as a great way to pace.

An action beat can often convey the way in which a line of dialogue is spoken, or add to the emotion of the words that are being said.

Example:

If a character slams his fists on a desk before saying, ‘Get out of my office,’ you won’t need to tell the reader that he is angry! That way you avoid too much telling.

• Pace the reader

Dialogue sometimes reads really fast in the reader’s mind while the act of speaking takes more time than your narration. To slow the reader down, add information about body language, setting, thoughts etc. The rule of thumb here is to slow reading speed to approximately the same speed as the dialogue plays out.

A nice trick for pacing the reader is to include the dialogue tag or action beat between spoken words when a natural pause is in the dialogue — changing the rhythm of it subtly.

Example:

‘It’s not that I don’t like Ginny,’ Harry said, nervously scratching behind his ear, ‘but I don’t want her to get hurt.’

Avoid doing this whenever there is no natural pause in the dialogue as it interrupts the flow. Try avoiding long stretches between lines said within the same scene that could come across as unnatural pauses.

And remember that you are not writing a screenplay with instructions for the actors how to stand and move. Balance is key.