7 Things Dialogue Can Do In Your Story

Discover 7 ways to use dialogue in your story and learn how to make every conversation work harder for your characters and readers.

7 Things Dialogue Can Do In Your Story

Dialogue is a powerful but often underutilised tool in writing. Dialogue lets you move away from narration and it allows you to bring your story to life. In this post, we look at seven things dialogue can do in a story.

Good dialogue does the following:

1. Dialogue Advances The Story

Dialogue forces the writer to make the characters interact. When characters interact, you create events and scenarios that bring them closer or further away from achieving their story goal. Get your character off the couch by making them do stuff.

Example:
‘We’re out of milk.’

A simple trip to the store can become an opportunity for something to happen:

Do they run into an old acquaintance?
Is their card declined?
Do they get caught up in a robbery?

2. Dialogue Makes You Show

When we use only narrative to tell our story we give our readers a secondary version of the events. When we use dialogue the story comes to life and the readers experience the events for themselves. Dialogue is one of the easiest ways to move your story from telling to showing.

Example:
Telling:
Jonathan didn’t want to enrol for a business degree.
Showing:
Alison upended the third and final drawer. ‘You have to know where it is. It’s your college acceptance letter. It’s your entire future.’ She rifled through the papers on the desk.
‘I really don’t know, Mom. I haven’t seen it.’ Jonathan didn’t look up. He was putting the finishing touches on his newest drawing. He held the paper up to the light. You could still see the faint outline of the logo that read Harvard Business School, but he darkened the shadow and it disappeared completely. ‘I haven’t seen the letter anywhere. Maybe Dad threw it out when he threw out my sketches.’

3. Dialogue Introduces Conflict

Conflict, whether subtle or overt, is a vital part of fiction, but it doesn’t always have to be physical. Dialogue is a great source of conflict.

Example:
‘You never told me about the invitation.’ He stomped to the fridge. The bottles rattled as he yanked open the door.
Beryl took a deep breath and smoothed her skirt. ‘Yes, I did. I said that we were invited and that I accepted.’
‘Well, this is the first I’m hearing of it.’ The bottles rattled again and he slammed it once more. ‘And we’re not going.’
Beryl gathered her clutch and courage. ‘Well, then I guess this is the last you’ll hear from me.’ And walked out the door.

4. Dialogue Reveals Character

How we speak reveals so much about who we are. Use your characters’ words to show who they are.

Example:
He adjusted his name tag and moved towards the customer. He needed to close at least one deal today. Aron stuck out his hand, hoping the nearest guy wouldn’t crush it. The man was built like a hulk.
‘Aron Bronson, pleased to meet you.’
‘Impossible.’ The man loomed overhead. ‘The Aron Bronson I knew was a snivelling little brat who tattled to the teacher.’
Aron tried not to flinch as the bones in his hand cracked and groaned under the increasing pressure. ‘Jonty?’ he squeaked.

5. Dialogue Reveals The Setting

When you use dialogue to convey setting it will help you to avoid writing long blocks of description.

Example:
Ally followed the dim pool of light as it bounced down the passage. ‘What is this place?’ She shone the torch into a room crowded with old metal beds.
‘It used to be a psych ward. They closed it down in the sixties.’
Candice sounded so nonchalant, but Ally wasn’t fooled.
‘Why are there handcuffs attached to the beds?’
‘It was a ward for the criminally insane.’

6. Dialogue Gives Information

We need to share a lot of information with our readers. We also should vary how we present our information. Dialogue is a good tool to do that.

Without dialogue:
He heard them coming down the passage and prayed they weren’t singing for him, but the dreary rendition of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ limped closer and closer to his desk.

With dialogue:
‘Come on,’ someone hissed, ‘light it.’
Jeff cringed. Please don’t. Please don’t let them be coming here.
‘One, two, three.’ A staged whisper. A whiff of sulphur from the matches and then it began.
‘Haaaaa-ppppp-yyyy Birthdaaaaaaaay, dear Je-ffffffff.’
They sang. He shrunk, but they kept limping closer and closer with that off-key twang.

7. Dialogue Increases The Pace

Sometimes we need to speed up our stories and sometimes we need to slow down. Dialogue speeds up the story. Use it when you need to add a bit of a punch to your scene.

Slower:
The crime scene tape fluttered in the breeze. The detectives approached the crime scene with caution and dodged the press by crossing to the other side of the street. They needed to be careful and could not afford another blunder. They were on thin ice with the captain already.

Faster:
Brett glared at the journalists.
‘Vultures,’ he hissed as he crossed the street.
Don held up the crime scene tape and he ducked under it. The wind tugged at his notebook.
‘Can’t fuck this one up. Not again.’ Brett muttered as he knelt next to the body.
‘Captain will kill us, that’s for sure.’

The Last Word

Dialogue is an amazing tool to enhance your writing. It can move your story forward, reveal character, create conflict, and change the pace of a scene. When you are stuck, or when your scenes seem a little flat, make your characters talk. TOP TIP: Learn to write better dialogue with The Dialogue Workbook.

Image by Agata from Pixabay

by Mia Botha

1 thought on “7 Things Dialogue Can Do In Your Story”

Tina
9th March 2021 at 12:00 am

It’s always easy to get on a run of just narration or just dialogue. Nice to see these examples balance both and remind us of how it can be done well. Thank you for this piece.

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7 Things Dialogue Can Do In Your Story