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30 Dialogue Exercises to Light Up Your Fiction

If you want practice writing some dialogue, these exercises will stretch your creative writing muscles.

More importantly, you’ll learn techniques that you can apply to all your future dialogue writing.

If you want to see examples of dialogue, please visit my post on 50 Examples of Dialogue Writing .

Otherwise, please read on and make sure to try out at least one of these exercises (seriously: don’t read these all and then avoid trying a single one).

Write a scene of dialogue between teenagers arguing about whether to shoplift a designer jacket. One has done it before, while the other one has never stolen anything. Halfway through the conversation, reverse their positions, and have them start arguing for the opposite course of action. This is what’s known as a dialogue twist, and it will help you create surprising reversals in your dialogue.

Write an argument between a mother and a daughter where every single line of dialogue is accompanied by an action, a thought, or a description. You should have zero standalone lines of dialogue, until the very last line. For the very last line, which should involve a big decision or statement by one of the characters, have that line be dialogue alone.

This is a great way to learn how to use structure for emphasis – the standalone dialogue is more important, so you’re using formatting to set it apart.

Write a sex scene where one partner becomes frustrated and it turns into a conversation between the two instead. Use the physical body language to accentuate the dialogue (one tries to touch the other, and is rebuffed both physically and verbally). By the end, resolve the disagreement and have them start romantic intimacy once more.

Amy comes home and notices that John has spent a lot of money on several items, even though they’re on a strict budget and he recently lost his job. But she doesn’t say anything directly to John about what he bought. The dialogue should be critical of John, but not for anything to do with the budget, money, or what he bought. Give the reader access to Amy’s head – her thoughts should stand in strong contrast with what she actually says out loud.

This is a contrast exercise where you learn how to oppose thoughts and dialogue in a way that gives maximum pleasure to the reader.

It’s important to write one-sided dialogue, in order to get the feeling of extended speaking. For this exercise, you’ll write what a mother or father would say to their infant. The adult is going to work on an oil rig and won’t see them for a year or more. What do they want to tell their child?

Write an argument between two people as a third person yells from off-stage: “C’mon, we gotta go!” This is yelled with increasing urgency each time, until the fourth time when the speakers finally stop the conversation and leave. This is an excellent way to give dialogue a sense of escalation and climax. It comes from an external force, not from the conversation itself.

Take dialogue that you’ve already written in a short story and novel, and do a word count. Now try to compress it by cutting at least 50% of the words. Focus on cutting the dialogue itself rather than the thoughts/actions surrounding the dialogue. When you’re doing, read both the uncompressed version and compressed version out loud – which one sounds better? Which one sounds more natural? Which one sounds punchier?

This dialogue exercise is one in artificial limitation: You’re only allowed to write five words per line of dialogue. That’s right – each character only gets to speak five words max before the other character speaks. The result should be sharp and staccato sounding, and rip off the tongue quickly.

Create a conversation between two classes of people: one rich, highbrow and well educated, and the other poor, lowbrow, and working class. They are arguing over the how to save a dog that’s fallen in a deep pit. Use slang and formality to help the reader distinguish between the two.

Print out this comic page and write your own dialogue for what the characters could be saying. Bonus points for creating sharp contrasts in how each character speaks.

It’s very important to have your characters talking TOWARD something. Here is the last line of a dialogue between two people: “Fine, I’ll do it.” Now write a page of dialogue between these people ending in that line.

What inspired this exercise was a quote from William Sloane, who said, “Know what the scene is supposed to accomplish and have your characters write toward it, not in circles.”

When our audience is different, we change how we speak. Have a character explain why she left her parents and sought emancipation from the court when she was only sixteen (she’s older now). Have her explain this to four different types of people:

• Her five-year-old child
• A police officer
• A friend from high school
• An older woman in a bar

For this exercise, you’re going to practice making different characters sound different. This is your standard line: “I’d like you to stop doing that.” Now write that line the way a vast array of characters might say it:  

• Harvard Graduate
• Valley girl
• European snob
• Computer Geek

Take 3 lines of dialogue from each of your two main characters and put the lines in a separate file. Does the dialogue look different? Sound different? Could someone who hasn’t read the book tell these characters apart?

Write dialogue between two characters who are about to be executed. Don’t let them talk about their impending death at all, but only about their favorite foods. Make sure their discussion of their favorite food has an underlying meaning of their last hours.

Write a one page scene where each of the characters refuse to respond to what the other one is saying. Give them both separate agendas that they want to discuss, and neither gives in to the other person’s topic.

For this dialogue exercise, a husband comes home from work and his wife has just learned that he cheated on her. What would she say to him without revealing that she knows about his infidelity?

Exercise: Try writing dialogue where one character keeps repeating the exact same phrase throughout the whole conversation. Try one of these three phrases, no matter what the other person says.

• Are you sure about that?
• I don’t believe you.
• But I’m the greatest.

Kibitizing is a chess term for when people are watching a chess game and talking about it. It’s very annoying for the people who are playing the game – it’s like real-time gossip, or a backseat driver.

For this writing exercise, you’ll have two characters who are talking about a third character who is playing a tabletop boardgame. The third is not in the conversation, but he/she can hear everything the two characters say. How does their conversation change if they realize halfway through that the third person can hear them?

Try to write a conversation between five separate characters, and figure out how to make the reader remember who is who. Use all the techniques in How to Write Dialogue to make each character seem distinct and unique.

A mother and father are driving somewhere and their five-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son are in the back seat. Make the parents discuss a very sensitive topic (divorce, miscarriage, drug use, etc) by speaking elliptically, hinting at the topic so the children won’t understand what they’re saying. This is a great way to learn how to write dialogue that isn’t so direct and punches the reader in the face with its obviousness.

In the Psalms of the Bible, there are some Psalms that call down fire and brimstone upon the enemies of the Israelites. These are called Imprecatory Psalms.

You’re going to write some Imprecatory dialogue. Although most of the time, characters hold back from saying what they think, you’re going to have a character break and pour out a diatribe against someone or something they despise.

Build the scene with very polite dialogue, and then a tipping point followed by the angry rant.

Write a scene of dialogue a father and his teenage son. The son has gotten in trouble in school, and his father is reprimanding him. In the first half, make the dialogue extremely quick (reference the “Pacing” section of How to Write Dialogue if you want more instruction on how to do this). In the second half, slow down the dialogue between both characters.

Watch two television shows and pick out a random line of dialogue from each. Then put the dialogue back to back and make a conversation out of it between two characters. It will appear as a non-sequitur (obviously) and that’s excellent – people often talk in non-sequiturs. You want to have them talk at cross-purposes, each refusing to each with what the other one is saying and asking, almost as if they are each having their own little separate conversation.

In J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zoey, there is a character who prays “the Jesus Prayer” as a kind of mantra. Give your character a mantra that they repeat again and again as another character is interrogating them.

The Ouroboros Exercise: Go to a public place and eavesdrop on a conversation. Pick out a single line of dialogue (a short one) that strikes you as memorable and contains a hint of conflict. Start a dialogue between two fictional characters beginning with that line of dialogue, and by the end, have one of the characters repeat that exact same first line.

Start with two characters having a conversation: one is talkative and the other one says very little. The one who says very little should communicate mostly through:

• Body language
• Actions (holding up a knife? Or report card?)
• Facial expressions
• Non-verbal noises (snorts).

This exercise will strengthen your ability to add physicality to your dialogue, and prevent you from relying too heavily on dialogue alone in a scene.

Two characters are angry about something, but they refuse to argue directly about it. Instead, make them argue about an ancillary topic.

Write an argument between two characters. One character will have to use the words:

The other character must use these words:

Pick a dialect (southern, Australian, etc.). Now put this character in a scene where they are misunderstood because of their dialect. What do they say in response?

Try to write a dialogue with five or more characters, and try to make it easy for the reader to keep them all separate by these methods:

• Make them speak differently
• Give them mantras or frequent phrases
• Give them personality and attitude

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5 Essential Exercises For Writing Dialogue

We are posting a series of Essential Writing Exercises to help you tell your stories. This post includes five essential exercises for writing dialogue .

We’re living in interesting times and many of us have more time on our hands. To help us get through it, I am posting  a series of Essential Writing Exercises to help you tell your stories.

We’ve included exercises about creating characters , dialogue , viewpoint , plotting , setting , beginnings , and pacing . (If you want a downloadable, advert-free workbook that includes all these exercises, please buy The Novel Writing Exercises Workbook .)

On our course, Writers Write ONLINE , we spend time creating characters, plotting, learning to write dialogue, learning how to pace, and learning how to show and not tell. We teach you about viewpoint, setting, description, and scenes, and much, much more. In my series, I am going to concentrate on a few of these areas.

My first post will be for writers who are trying to write better dialogue. I have included five essential exercises for writing dialogue.

TOP TIP: Learn to write better dialogue with The Dialogue Workbook

When we teach Writers Write ONLINE , we find that dialogue intimidates beginner writers.

Remember that great dialogue in fiction does the following four things:

• Dialogue allows us to show conflict .
• Dialogue creates tension.
• Dialogue advances the story.
• Dialogue reveals character. ( indirect characterisation )

Try to make every piece of dialogue achieve one or more of these requirements.

Exercise 1: Just For Fun

Write a dialogue-only scene between two inanimate objects that are normally used or found together. Examples : pen and paper; laptop and desktop; TV show and Reality TV show; bacteria and antibiotic.

This exercise will reveal tension and conflict between the two. It will also show you how to create a dialogue-only sequence in your story. It will show you that you need to choose characters that have something to talk about.

Laptop vs Desktop Example:

Laptop : You don’t know how lucky you are to just sit there all day, updating and scanning. Desktop : Easy for you to say. I never get to go anywhere and I have to do the bulk of the work in this household. He keeps on adding memory as if I don’t have enough to think about. Laptop : You won’t believe the disgusting places he put me down today. On a coffee shop floor. It was gross. And on his colleague’s lap – you know Dave? The one I always tell you about. OMG. It was so uncomfortable. Desktop : Stop complaining, LT. At least you get to see things. I wonder if Dave will ever come visit? Laptop : Believe me, you don’t want Dave here with his sticky hands and his icky breath. And he always leans in too close to the screen. It’s obscene. Desktop : I hope he disinfected you before he put you down next to me.

Exercise 2: A Tense Situation

Write a scene between a protagonist and their love interest. Show how the love interest complicates the protagonist’s story goal in some way. Examples : a detective who needs to get to a murder scene and his wife who wants to talk to him; a princess who needs to save her kingdom and her love interest who wants to go on a quest; a journalist wants to get to an important interview and their love interest goes into labour.

• Name the people.
• Use dialogue, body language , and the internal thoughts of the viewpoint character.
• Show the setting through their interaction with it.

This exercise will reveal your characters’ personalities and show them as three-dimensional people. It will also allow for conflict and tension. Love interests are perfect for sub-plots in stories.

Must-read: 10 Ways To Introduce Conflict In Dialogue

Exercise 3: Three Of Us

Write a one-page scene with three characters in it. Show how the three people all speak differently – the words they use and their speech patterns should not be the same. Examples : The banker, the politician, and the mistress; The robot, the robot’s creator, and the creator’s mother; The personal trainer, the actor, and the actor’s agent.

This exercise will show the characters: how old they are, how they see the world, and how they treat other people. It will also show the relationship dynamics.

Exercise 4: Eavesdrop

‘I was kind of excited about going to jail the first time and I learnt some great dialogue.’ ~ Quentin Tarantino

You don’t have to go to jail, but you need to listen in on a conversation for this exercise. Tape it if you can. Then write down exactly what the people said.

This exercise will show you that dialogue in fiction cannot be like dialogue in real life. Real life conversations are often vague and of no consequence. People often don’t even listen to one another.

Rewrite the dialogue as if it were a novel. Introduce a conflict and show the characters.

Must-read: 10 Dialogue Errors Writers Should Avoid At All Costs

Exercise 5: An important Conversation

Write a pivotal scene in a story, one where an important decision is made. This scene will propel your protagonist to their story goal. Examples : a woman tells her husband that she is leaving him; a detective interviews a suspect and discovers something odd; a knight captures an enemy and discovers that all is not what it might seem.

This exercise will show you how to use dialogue to move a story forward. It will show you how the things you conceal and reveal in conversations change stories.

The Last Word

Use these five essential exercises for writing dialogue.to practise incorporating dialogue into all of your scenes. The more you write conversations, the better your dialogue will become.

Look out for our next post: 5 Essential Exercises For Creating Characters

(If you want a downloadable, advert-free workbook that includes all the ‘essential exercises series’, please buy The Novel Writing Exercises Workbook .)

© Amanda Patterson

If you enjoyed this blogger’s writing, read:

• How To Finish Writing Your Book
• Thriller Book Title Generator
• The Almost Moment Is The Secret To Successful Romance Writing
• What Is Direct And Indirect Characterisation? And Which One Should I Use?
• 5 Steps To Creativity In Writing
• How To Write Your Novel From The Middle Like James Scott Bell
• 5 Ways To Choose A Pseudonym

• Dialogue , Exercises , Featured Post , Writing Tips from Amanda Patterson

1 thought on “5 Essential Exercises For Writing Dialogue”

Thank-you so much for the clear, concise, explanation!

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20 Dialogue Writing Prompts to Level Up Your Story

by Sue Weems | 0 comments

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Dialogue is an essential component for most stories, whether it's for a narrative essay, memoir, or fiction. Even if you're writing nonfiction, you'll likely use stories to illustrate your point, and those stories will include dialogue. Today we have some dialogue writing prompts to help you write better dialogue while you develop some story ideas.  

We've explored why you need dialogue and how to use dialogue tags correctly in your work. But today, let's get down to how to actually write it with some dialogue prompts to get you started. 

When I work with writers, they usually fall into two camps when it comes to dialogue. Some think they are terrific at capturing everyday conversations and have no problem adding them to their stories, but the problem with everyday conversations? They are mostly boring and full of repetition.

“How was your day?” “Uh, fine.”

(Nothing is happening here, yet. I'd strike this from a story unless something in the rest of the scene makes these two lines essential.)

Other writers understand why they need dialogue, but they feel uncomfortable putting together engaging conversations that move their stories forward, especially when writing memoir. 

Both types of writers often misunderstand the purpose of dialogue for a specific purpose in a story. It's so much more than capturing a casual conversation between two people in a Taco Bell. Those conversations can certainly be terrific IF they are essential and move the story forward. But how do you know?

The 1 question that will improve your dialogue

I use several questions to help me evaluate my dialogue, but one is indispensable. Try it in your dialogue exercises and see if it doesn't tighten your story and character development .

Here's the question: 

1. Why does this dialogue exchange matter?

This question helps me decide which lines of dialogue are necessary. 

The answer needs to be directly related to either character or advancing the plot . 

Let's say that I'm working on a dialogue exercise for a story where a new detective is questioning a suspect with a long list of prior offenses. The scenes leading up to this dialogue exchange have probably already revealed that the detective is a novice and the suspect is a walking crime wave. So what purpose can the conversation serve?

If I'm trying to highlight the detective's inexperience, I'll focus on questions that are ineffective that the suspect easily evades. The suspect's dialogue lines will be smug while the detective's lines will be rattled and ineffective. 

If I'm trying to show that the detective is new, but sharp in unexpected ways, the dialogue exchange will include his confidence and technique throwing the suspect off, maybe even revealing things they never meant to say.

As you write dialogue and later revise dialogue, make sure each exchange is necessary for the story and does not repeat information included elsewhere. That will keep you from having characters stand around talking about the weather when it doesn't matter for the story, relationship, or character arc. 

And if that doesn't come naturally, don't worry! You just need practice. Here are a bunch of dialogue prompts to help you build those dialogue writing skills. 

Creative Dialogue Writing Prompts

I've organized these prompts according to a few of our reasons to use dialogue, from our article on Why Dialogue is Importan t. Choose the one that gets your pen moving!

1. Write a short scene where a character asks the other, “Why are you always so secretive?”

2. Create a conversation about finding a stray dog where it reveals something unexpected about one or both characters.

3. Start a story with the line, “But mother, I've only gotten rid of the last five.”

4. Write a dialogue exchange where someone is confronted after they lost a family member's most prized possession.

5. Create a conversation where one character leans heavily on sarcasm and the other doesn't.

6. Write a scene where a character is caught somewhere they don't want to be in an evening news segment.

7. Create a conversation between an assassin and their would-be target that complicates the mission. 

8. Start a conversation with “I'm not sure this is what I want.”

9. Write a conversation before, during, or after a catastrophic act of nature like a landslide or hurricane.

10. Create a dialogue exchange that includes the phrase, “Except it didn't happen.”

11. Begin a conversation with, “Did you hear that?”

12. Write a conversation that takes place in a small enclosed space.

13. Create an exchange where someone says, “That wasn't me.”

14. Write a character's thoughts as they wait for a big moment that's minutes from happening.

15. Begin a scene with, “Hurry! We don't have much time.”

16. Write a scene where someone delivers bad news that changes the course of the story.

17. Start a conversation between characters with, “But you used to want to…”

18. Create a conversation that changes one character's decision or direction in the story. 

19. Begin a dialogue scene with, “So what's holding you back?”

20. Write a conversation that heightens the stakes in an argument.

Dialogue is essential for your story, so take the time to make it strong. Hopefully one of these prompts has given you ideas for writing today! 

What questions do you ask yourself as you evaluate dialogue? Share with us in the comments .

Choose one of the dialogue prompts above and set your timer for 15 minutes . For the first 8 minutes, write the dialogue exchange, and don't worry about formatting or punctuation for now. Let the words flow.

Then for the last 7 minutes, read back through the dialogue and cut anything that doesn't reveal character or advance the plot, conflict, or suspense.  

When you're finished, share your practice in the Pro Practice Workshop , and leave feedback for a few other writers too.

Not a member? Join us !  

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

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Dialogue Exercises : 40 Writing Prompts To Get You Going

Dialogue exercises are a great way to strengthen your ability to listen to your characters. When you’re working on dialogue exercises, you’re not worrying about plot or where the scene’s headed. You’re not distracted by furniture or waiters or sunsets. In essence, you’re closing your eyes and giving your complete attention to the subtext of the conversation.

Sometimes, looking at a photo or an art object can help you get started with a story. In Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” a man and girl are waiting in Ebro for the train. Here are the hills above the Ebro River. What do you think? Do they look like white elephants? Image from Pixabay via ProyectoINDI

In my post on “Dialogue and Tension: Bringing Scenes to Life,” I introduced a man and a girl waiting for a train.  In this post I’m bringing them onstage again, but stripping out the “he saids” and “she saids.”

“They look like white elephants.” “I’ve never seen one.” “No, you wouldn’t have.” “I might have. Just because you say I wouldn’t have doesn’t prove anything.”

As you read this excerpt from Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” does the dialogue pull you along? Are you reading to find out what’s up? Of course, you are!

Now, here’s your chance to try your hand.

Forty Dialogue Exercises

Below are forty dialogue exercises. Pick one and start writing. You don’t have to know who the characters are, where they are, or why they’re at odds. Dialogue is one of the best ways to learn more about your characters. Maybe one of these exercises will even lead to a new story.

• “I thought you were supposed to call me.”
• “I never, ever want to hear you say that again.”
• “Don’t just stand there looking at me.”
• “Do you like my country?”
• “My back’s killing me.”
• “How much longer till we’re there?”
• “You have to tell her. It wouldn’t be right not to.”
• “It doesn’t do any good to get worked up.”
• “How much does he want?”
• “I know it’s a little expensive.”
• “Home is where they have to take you in. Am I right?”
• “Your mother wants us to come down for Christmas.”
• “I caught your cold.”
• “Finish what you’re doing. We have to talk.”
• “Could you not walk ten steps in front of me for a change?”
• “How much longer is lobster season going to last?”
• “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the thought.”
• “Give me the remote.”
• “Could you please not use that tone of voice?”
• “Little pitchers have big ears.”
• “Hey, there. Are you in the witness protection program, or what?”
• “Set me up.”
• “When was the last time we had a real conversation.”
• “You’re big and strong.”
• “I’m so sick of all this gloom and doom. Why can’t people just be happy?”
• “Look. There’s a place to park.”
• “In my next life, I want to come back as a butterfly.”
• “Do you know what today is?”
• “I been thinking we should move to Alaska.”
• “Ten bucks for this piece of crap!”
• “You first.”
• “I’m not cold in the least.”
• “What’s your problem?”
• “You’d be late for your own funeral.”
• “You’re not my mother.”
• “You know you’re wrong.”
• “He’s a moocher, all right.”
• “Why do you have that look on your face?”
• “You should have seen it coming.”
• “You’re going in there right now and apologize.

I picked one of these dialogue exercises, and I discovered a new story that’s waiting to be fleshed out. Good luck with the exercise you choose.

Please share this!

One response to “dialogue exercises : 40 writing prompts to get you going”.

Thanks dear it’s a perfect idea, am going to try it.

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Writing Dialogue: A Storytelling Exercise

by Melissa Donovan | Apr 18, 2023 | Fiction Writing Exercises | 4 comments

A storytelling exercise in writing dialogue.

Today’s fiction writing exercise is excerpted from Story Drills: Fiction Writing Exercises , which includes lessons and exercises that help beginning to intermediate storytellers study and practice the craft of storytelling. This exercise, which is from a chapter on narrative, focuses on dialogue. Enjoy!

Dialogue is one of the most compelling elements of any narrative. It can be used to advance the plot, establish relationships between the characters, reveal key information about the characters, describe the setting, and set the theme.

“Hey, Joe.” “Hi, Sue.” “How are you?” “Not bad. How are you?” “Pretty good. Just waiting for summer so I can take my kids camping.” “I hear you. As soon as the sun comes out, I’m heading to the beach.” “Sounds awesome. Say, I wanted to talk to you about a murder case we worked on a few years ago.”

The characters speak over six lines of dialogue before they get to the good stuff. It feels like a long slog. But this is what a real conversation would look like, transcribed to the page. We writers use our storytelling magic to tighten it up into a more riveting conversation:

“Joe, I need to talk to you about the Watershed case.” Joe almost lurched out of his chair. He hadn’t heard Sue approaching his desk from behind.

Record a real conversation, and then transcribe one to three pages of it. Approach this exercise ethically—you are not advised to tape people without their knowledge or consent. As an alternative, simply listen carefully during a conversation—notice the ums and ahs , the small talk, the filler that we stuff into our real-life dialogue. You can also search online for conversations that have been recorded or transcribed.

Write a scene that is composed mostly (if not entirely) of dialogue between two or three characters. The conversation should reveal the following: what a character wants (goals), an inner struggle, a character’s strengths, a character’s weaknesses, and at least one clue about each character’s personality.

Why does real human conversation translate poorly to the page? How can dialogue be used to help readers gain deeper understanding of the characters? Why is dialogue one of the most important elements of storytelling?

This article has helped expanciate further since the intermediate writing class I attended sometime ago,and will go a long in the drive towards creative writing basics understanding for prospective writers, thanks melissa!

You’re welcome!

Hello Melissa,

Great article, thank you!

I have some thoughts on why human conversations translate so poorly into dialogue. When we speak to each other face to face there are certain pleasantries or other cultural “requirements”, if you will, that we engage in. Most of these are filtered out or at least passed over in our consciousness. Yes, we hear them and respond, but almost automatically. It is the meat – the heart – of what we came to talk about that gets and holds our attention. Those things are the real subject of our conversation. Thus, when we read dialogue in a story we also filter out most of the pleasantries and the cultural expectations. Only if these things go to further character development or help set the scene are we really interested in them. Perhaps that is why written dialogue needs to “cut to the chase” so to speak.

Dialogue helps us gain a deeper understanding of characters by letting us hear their voices. Idioms, expressions, pronunciations, emotional responses to situations, all of these can be heard in their voices which can tell us many things about the person speaking. We might hear them use idioms that help us figure out their background: Jake pushed the weathered straw hat back on his head, squinting into the sun, “We’ve had to ride herd on ’em pretty hard.” Jake’s got to be some sort of cowpoke, right? Seems that way from how he talks.

Dialogue is one of the most important elements in storytelling because it’s the characters directly telling us what we really want to know. Yes, the author can fill us in with information. But we want to know what Jake thinks, what he feels, what he has to say about those people he’s had to watch so closely. We can learn this information by just having the author relate it to us. But isn’t it better to get it directly from Jake?

Hi Michael. I agree with everything you’ve said about dialogue. Very astute observations!

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Dialogue Writing Exercises – Master the Art of Compelling Conversations

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

Introduction to Dialogue Writing Exercises

Key elements of compelling⁤ conversations, understanding characterization through dialogue, creating realistic dialogue: tips ⁢and techniques, exploring subtext: adding depth to conversations, mastering⁤ dialogue tags and punctuation, tips for dialogue ⁤tags:, punctuation guidelines:, enhance your dialogue​ skills with natural conversational exercises, conclusion: enhancing your writing with engaging conversations, frequently asked ‍questions, the way forward.

Welcome to the world ⁤of dialogue writing exercises! Dialogue writing is a crucial skill for any aspiring⁢ writer or storyteller. It⁤ allows you to bring characters to life, create engaging conversations, ‍and add depth to your narratives. Whether you ⁤are interested ⁢in writing fiction, ⁢plays, screenplays, or ‍even improving your​ everyday conversation skills, these exercises will provide you with a solid foundation. ⁢

⁣ ​ In this section, we will explore various ⁢dialogue writing exercises that will help you understand the‌ intricacies of effective communication through ⁤written ⁣conversations. You will learn how to develop ‍distinct character voices, create natural and engaging dialogues, and master the⁣ art of subtext. These exercises will also enhance ​your understanding of pacing, tone, and the use ‍of gestures and⁣ facial expressions to convey emotions. ⁢

​ ⁢ ‍So, if you are ​ready to embark on this exciting journey, grab‌ your pen and ⁢notebook, and let’s dive into the world‌ of dialogue writing​ exercises! Each exercise will provide you with a prompt ‍or scenario to stimulate your creativity. Feel free to⁢ take your time, experiment, and have fun along the‍ way. Let’s‌ unlock the power of words and bring your characters​ to life like never before!

1. Active Listening: One of the is active listening. This⁤ involves not​ just hearing the words being spoken, but truly understanding and empathizing with the speaker. Active listening requires giving your full attention to the ​person speaking, maintaining eye contact , and providing verbal and non-verbal cues such as nodding and⁢ acknowledging their points.⁤ By actively listening, you demonstrate​ respect and create a ⁢safe space for‍ open and meaningful discussions.

2. Asking Thought-Provoking Questions: ⁤Another important element is the ability​ to ask thought-provoking questions . Instead of simply asking generic questions, try to ‌dive ‌deeper and explore various perspectives. Open-ended questions encourage others to share their‍ thoughts and feelings, leading to more‍ engaging conversations. By asking thought-provoking questions, you can encourage critical ⁢thinking , challenge ⁣assumptions, and stimulate intellectual discussions that leave a lasting impact.

Dialogue is a powerful tool⁤ in literature that allows⁢ readers​ to gain insight into a character’s personality, beliefs,⁣ and values. Through the conversations between characters, ⁤authors can ‌paint a vivid picture of who these⁣ individuals are, creating a deeper understanding of their motivations and actions. By analyzing the use of dialogue ​in ‍a story, readers can uncover important details that shape a character’s identity ‍and contribute to the overall development of the narrative.

The Importance of Verbal Expression:

• Dialogue​ provides direct access to a character’s thoughts ‍and⁣ emotions. It allows readers to hear their authentic voice, whether it is revealing their insecurities or expressing their desires.
• Speech patterns and word choices in⁤ dialogue can reveal a character’s education,‍ social background, ‍or cultural heritage. For instance, a character who uses‌ formal language and sophisticated ​vocabulary might be seen as more educated and upper-class compared to someone ​who speaks in slang or⁣ colloquial terms.
• The tone and mood of a character’s speech can provide valuable information about their state of mind. Whether they speak with enthusiasm,⁤ sarcasm, or sadness, these linguistic cues can help readers understand ‍their emotional journey.

The ⁤Function of Subtext:

• Dialogue often includes subtext, ​which ‌refers‌ to​ the‌ underlying ​meaning beneath the words spoken. Subtext allows authors to incorporate subtle clues and suggestions about a character’s true intentions, feelings, or hidden agendas.
• Nonverbal cues within dialogue, such as pauses, ⁤gestures or facial expressions, can convey important information. These actions can hint⁤ at a character’s true emotions, even when⁢ their ​words might say otherwise.
• Conflicts or disagreements between characters can be revealed through‌ dialogue, ‌showcasing their contrasting viewpoints and creating tension within the story. These ‌interactions can shed light on a character’s beliefs and values.

By paying close‌ attention to ⁤the dialogue in a ‌story, readers‍ can unlock the complexities of a character’s personality, gain insight into⁢ their relationships with others, and better understand their role in the broader narrative.

Developing believable dialogue is an essential skill ​for any writer. It allows readers to connect with characters and adds⁤ depth to the narrative. To create realistic dialogue, here are some valuable tips⁤ and techniques:

• Eavesdrop on conversations: Listening to real-life conversations can⁤ provide valuable insights into ‌how people⁣ speak and interact. Pay ‍attention to the flow, expressions, ⁢and natural pauses⁤ in dialogue. This will​ help‌ you capture the authenticity of conversation in your writing.
• Show, don’t tell: Instead of explicitly stating emotions or background information, let your characters’ dialogue reveal⁢ it naturally. Subtle phrases, pauses,⁤ and unspoken words can convey a wealth ‍of meaning and make your dialogue⁢ more lifelike.
• Add interruptions⁤ and hesitations: In ⁣real conversations, interruptions, hesitations, and even errors occur frequently. Incorporate these elements in your dialogue to make it feel genuine and dynamic. It will also add a layer of realism to your characters and their interactions.
• Vary speech patterns and vocabulary: Each ​character should have a distinct voice, with unique word choices, sentence structures, and vocabulary. Consider factors⁣ such as age, education level,⁤ and background‍ to give ​your characters realistic speech patterns. This diversity will enhance the credibility of your dialogue.
• Avoid excessive exposition: Dialogue should feel natural and not solely exist to⁢ relay information to the reader. Balancing exposition with the ebb and flow of ⁣conversation is crucial. Inserting exposition subtly and organically within the dialogue helps maintain authenticity and prevents it from feeling ‍forced.
• Revise and refine: Dialogue, like ‍any​ other aspect of writing, requires revision. Read your dialogue⁣ out ⁣loud, paying attention to its ⁣rhythm and believability. Eliminate unnecessary phrases,‌ adjust pacing, and refine the tone until ⁢it feels authentic and engaging.

Mastering the ‍art of creating realistic dialogue takes time and practice. By incorporating these tips and‍ techniques, you’ll⁤ be well on⁣ your way to crafting compelling conversations that resonate with your readers.

When engaging ⁣in conversations, understanding the subtext can ‌often lead to a richer and more meaningful interaction. Subtext refers to the underlying message or implied ​meaning that ‍is not explicitly stated in a conversation. By recognizing and exploring subtext, we can uncover hidden emotions, motivations,⁢ and intentions, ​allowing ‌for ‌a⁣ deeper⁢ understanding of each other.

One effective way to delve into subtext⁤ is through active listening. Pay close attention not only ​to the words being⁤ spoken but ‌also⁢ to‍ the tone, ⁤body language, and facial expressions of the person you’re conversing⁣ with. These non-verbal cues often convey emotions and thoughts that might ⁢contradict or enhance the explicit message. By interpreting these cues, you can gain insights into the subtext and respond more empathetically and appropriately.

Here‍ are some techniques to‍ help you explore subtext and add depth to your⁤ conversations:

• Reflective Listening: Encourage the speaker to elaborate by paraphrasing their words and reflecting their emotions. This shows that you are actively engaged and interested in understanding their underlying message.
• Ask Open-Ended Questions: Move beyond simple yes-or-no inquiries and encourage thoughtful responses. Open-ended questions invite the speaker to expand on their thoughts, allowing you⁤ to uncover⁢ deeper meanings.
• Observe Non-Verbal Cues: Focus ‌on body language, gestures, and facial expressions.‍ These indications ‌can reveal unspoken emotions,⁢ hesitations, or conflicting thoughts that shed light on the subtext.

By adopting these ‌strategies,​ you’ll create an environment that nurtures genuine connections and promotes more authentic communication. Exploring subtext adds layers of understanding to conversations, fostering empathy and cultivating stronger relationships.

Understanding Dialogue Tags and Punctuation

When‌ it comes⁣ to writing dialogue, mastering the usage of dialogue tags and punctuation is crucial​ for creating engaging​ and realistic conversations between your characters. Dialogue⁢ tags help attribute spoken words to specific characters,‍ providing clarity⁣ and allowing readers to​ follow the flow of the conversation. Additionally, proper punctuation ensures⁤ that the dialogue is correctly formatted and enhances the overall⁢ readability of‍ your writing.‍ Below, we’ll delve ⁣into some essential tips and guidelines to help you navigate the world⁤ of dialogue tags ⁤and punctuation seamlessly.

• Keep⁣ it simple: Use common tags like “said” or‍ “asked” instead of extravagant ⁣alternatives. This allows ⁢the dialogue to⁢ take center stage without distracting the reader.
• Be mindful of overuse: While dialogue tags⁤ are important ⁣for clarity, avoid using them​ excessively. Instead, opt for action beats or descriptive narrative to ⁢attribute dialogue when possible.
• Vary your tags: To avoid monotony, consider swapping out common tags with alternatives like “whispered,” “muttered,”⁤ or “exclaimed” to inject variation and add depth to your character’s voice.
• Quotation marks: Always enclose spoken words within double quotation marks (” “) to distinguish dialogue from narrative text.
• New‍ lines for new speakers: Start a new paragraph and indent whenever a different character speaks, aiding in clarity ⁣and ensuring⁣ smooth transitions between speakers.
• Commas and periods: Place commas and⁢ periods inside the quotation marks, even if they are not part ​of the spoken words, to maintain proper punctuation structure.
• Punctuation in action tags: Ensure the⁤ proper placement of punctuation when an action tag follows dialogue. ⁢If‍ the tag is connected to the spoken‌ words, use a comma. Otherwise, use a period or question mark,‌ and start the action tag with a lowercase letter, unless it’s a proper noun.

Exercises to ⁤Improve Dialogue Skills

Engaging in effective dialogue is essential for building strong relationships and improving communication. ⁢To help you become ⁢a conversation maestro, here are ⁢some engaging exercises that will polish your dialogue skills and make your interactions more meaningful:

• Reflective Listening: Practicing reflective ​listening helps ⁣you stay fully present in a conversation and shows respect for the speaker. Try paraphrasing what the other person has said,‌ ensuring you understand their perspective. ⁣This‌ exercise strengthens your ⁤ability to truly listen, fostering empathy and understanding.
• Role Reversal: This‍ exercise is fantastic ⁣for developing empathy and seeing conversations from different perspectives. Choose a controversial topic and assign the roles of two individuals ⁤with opposite viewpoints. Each person should hold a conversation defending the side they disagree with, allowing them to gain insight into the other person’s mindset.

Remember, dialogue ⁢skills are like any other skill – they require practice to improve. Embrace these exercises and use them regularly to unlock⁢ the power⁢ of effective communication. As you continue honing your skills, you’ll become a master of engaging conversations!

In conclusion, incorporating engaging conversations into your writing can take ‌your ⁤content to the next level. By utilizing this technique, you can captivate your readers, spark their interest, and establish a strong connection with them. Here are some key takeaways​ to enhance your writing:

• Expressive ⁤dialogue: ‌Injecting conversations into your writing allows your characters or subject⁤ to come alive. It adds depth and authenticity, helping your readers immerse themselves in your content.
• Show, don’t tell: Engaging conversations provide an excellent opportunity to ⁢show rather than tell your story. Through dialogue, you​ can reveal emotions, intentions, and conflicts in a powerful and relatable way.
• Interactive storytelling: Incorporating conversations can turn your writing into an interactive experience. Engage‍ your readers by allowing‌ them to participate in the narrative, by sharing their thoughts or ⁤responding to prompts within your content.

Remember, the key to successful engagement is to ensure your conversations flow naturally,⁤ avoiding forced or ‌contrived dialogue. It’s also important⁢ to strike a balance, incorporating conversations seamlessly‍ without overwhelming your writing. So, go ahead, experiment with engaging conversations, and watch your writing flourish!

Q: What are‌ dialogue writing exercises? A: Dialogue writing exercises‌ are activities or prompts designed to help writers practice and enhance their skills in ⁣the art of writing compelling conversations.

Q: ⁢Why are dialogue writing exercises important ‌for‍ writers? ⁢ A: Dialogue ⁤is a fundamental element in storytelling, and writers who can ​effectively ⁤produce realistic and engaging ⁤conversations can bring ⁤their characters to life and keep readers invested in their ​narratives. Dialogue exercises allow writers to develop‌ and ⁢refine their abilities in​ this crucial aspect of writing.

Q: What are some examples of dialogue writing exercises? A: Dialogue writing exercises can take various forms, such as writing a conversation between two fictional​ characters, ‌recreating a⁤ real-life‌ conversation with added elements, or even transcribing and​ analyzing dialogues from movies or books. These exercises encourage writers to experiment with different styles,⁢ tones, and character dynamics.

Q: How can dialogue writing⁣ exercises improve writing skills? A: By engaging in dialogue exercises, ⁣writers can practice crafting authentic dialogue that reflects each character’s⁣ unique voice and personality. These exercises also help enhance skills in pacing, subtext, and⁤ creating tension or conflict within conversations. Through repetition and experimentation, writers can become more adept at writing compelling and believable dialogue.

Q: How⁣ can writers make the most of dialogue writing exercises? A: To maximize the benefits of dialogue writing exercises, it’s essential to approach them with an open mind and willingness to experiment. Writers ⁤can pay ‌attention to the rhythms and flow of natural conversations, observe how real people speak, and incorporate these observations into their fictional dialogues. Feedback ‌from trusted peers or mentors can also provide valuable insights‍ for improvement.

Q: What are the potential challenges in dialogue writing exercises? A: ⁣One of the common challenges ⁣in dialogue writing exercises is ensuring that each character’s dialogue is distinct and consistent throughout the story. Writers must also avoid excessive use of dialogue tags and exposition to ​maintain a natural and engaging conversation. Balancing dialogue with action and description is another‍ aspect that writers may need to‍ focus on during these exercises.

Q: Can dialogue writing exercises ⁣be beneficial for writers ​of different genres? A:⁢ Absolutely! Whether ​you ⁣are writing a romance, a mystery, or even a sci-fi novel,⁤ compelling dialogue is⁣ essential. Engaging in dialogue ‌writing exercises allows writers to hone their skills regardless of the ​genre they ​specialize in, as it contributes to ‌creating relatable characters ‌and advancing the plot effectively through conversations.

Q: Are there any resources‍ available to​ assist writers with dialogue​ writing exercises? A: ⁤Yes, there ‌are numerous​ resources​ available to writers seeking ‍assistance with ​dialogue writing exercises. Writing workshops, online⁣ forums, books ‌on⁣ the craft of writing, and even⁢ dedicated writing software often provide guidance, prompts, and examples to help ‍writers master the art of compelling conversations.

Q: How often should writers engage‌ in dialogue‌ writing exercises? A: The frequency of dialogue writing exercises may vary for each writer, depending on their goals and availability. However, incorporating regular practice ​sessions into one’s ⁢writing routine is advisable. By dedicating specific time to work on dialogue, writers ‍can refine their skills, eventually ⁤making it a‌ natural ⁣and seamless part of their storytelling process.

Q: Any final tips for writers looking to improve their dialogue writing skills through exercises? A: Remember to⁢ observe real-life conversations and pay ​attention‌ to how⁣ people naturally speak. Practice⁤ writing dialogue that reveals⁣ character traits, advances the plot, and⁤ builds ‌conflict or tension. Be open to ⁢constructive feedback, and ⁤don’t⁢ be afraid to rewrite and⁣ revise your dialogue. With consistent practice and a⁢ willingness to learn, writers can ​master the art of compelling‌ conversations and enrich their storytelling abilities.

In conclusion, dialogue writing exercises are a valuable tool for improving your storytelling skills ⁤and ⁤creating engaging conversations. Practice, explore ‌different characters, and‌ master the art of⁣ compelling dialogue to bring your stories to life.

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How to Write Dialogue Like a Pro

by N. Strauss

How to Write Dialogue - Skip to Topic -  Intro -  Getting great at dialogue -  Conversation versus written dialogue -  Dialogue and summary  - Dialogue format -  Tags -  Descriptive beats -  Adding layers -  Tips on how to write dialogue

Let's say you ask four different people how to make a cheese sandwich...

Person One responds: "You just take a piece of cheese and put it between two slices of bread."

Person Two: "Seriously? You don't know how to make a cheese sandwich?"

Person Three: "Personally, I would recommend goat cheese or perhaps a ripe Camembert, on a fresh baguette or perhaps brioche, lightly toasted, with caramelized onions or perhaps candied figs."

Person Four: "Sorry, I don't do dairy."

Different people speak differently. The differences are not only in what they say, but in the way they say it.

That's one reason why dialogue—presenting your characters' speech in their exact words—is such a powerful tool for your fiction.

Dialogue helps you show what your characters are like instead of just describing them to your reader.

It also draws readers into a scene and makes your writing a lot more fun to read!

Getting Great at Dialogue

To get great at writing dialogue, listen to how different kinds of people talk. Pay attention to...

• What they say (of course).
• What they DON'T say. Are they beating around the bush? Are they intentionally avoiding something?
• The kinds of words they use. Do they use simple or sophisticated vocabulary? Do they use slang? Jargon? Profanity? Do they have a favorite word or expression?
• Their tone. Polite? Rude? Bossy? Self-effacing? Flirtatious? Blunt? Chatty?
• The rhythms of their speech. Do they use short choppy sentences, or long ones that wind on and on?
• What does the way these people speak express about who they are?

You can borrow their voices for your characters.

If you're struggling with dialogue, here's a shortcut. Just think of someone who speaks the way your character might. Then, whenever your character is speaking, try to hear that person's voice in your head.

When you're writing or revising dialogue, you might also find it helpful to say the lines out loud or even act them out.

During your first draft, you'll listen to your characters speaking in your imagination and write down what they say.

Later, during the revision, you'll probably end up trimming some of those conversations down...

Conversation Versus Written Dialogue

Dialogue on the page is not the same as the way people really talk.

You want to give the flavor of reality, but you're not imitating it exactly.

In real-life conversations, there's a lot of fluff and filler and repetition. If you included all that in a story, it would get boring fast.

You want to include just enough of that to make the conversation feel real. And cut the rest.

Let's say two people, Joan and Edgar, meet in a restaurant. The real conversation might begin like this...

ORIGINAL VERSION: "Hi," Joan said. "Hi." "Sorry I'm late." "Don't worry, I just got here too," Edgar said. "I couldn't find parking." "I couldn't either. I finally wound up parking behind that church." "Which church?" "The one on—what's that street called?" "Barry Street?" "No, further down." "I don't know..." "The one with that store—what's that store called?" "I don't know." "Like, the store that sells everything. You know?" "I'm not sure..." The waitress came over to their table. "Hi, I'm Kelsey! I'm going to be your server! How are we doing today?" "Fine, thanks," Joan said. "Not bad," Edgar said. "Can I get you folks something to drink?" the waitress asked. "I could really use a glass of wine," Joan said. "But I probably shouldn't." The waitress waited. "I'll have a diet Coke," Edgar said. "Great!" said the waitress. "And what can I get for you?" she asked, turning back to Joan. "I'd kill for a glass of wine." "We have a nice house red," the waitress offered. "But I shouldn't drink. I have to go back to work," Joan explained. The waitress waited. "Can I see a wine list?" Joan asked. "It's right here," Edgar said, handing it to her. "Okay, I'll be right back," the waitress said. "In the meantime, I'll bring some ice water for you." "And a diet Coke," Edgar reminded her. "Absolutely," the waitress said, walking off. "So," Joan said when she was gone, "I heard the police are looking at Duffy now." "Where'd you hear that?" Edgar asked. "McConnell. He says Duffy's their top suspect." "That's good," Edgar said. "Yeah." "Tell me everything." "Wait, I'm just going to look at the wine list real quick. I know I shouldn't be drinking wine, but..."

If you wanted to use this conversation in a story, you might write it like this...

REVISED VERSION: "Sorry I'm late," Joan said. "That's all right," Edgar said. The waitress came over, and Joan ordered a glass of wine. "So," she said when the waitress left again, "I heard the police suspect Duffy now." "Where'd you hear that?" Edgar asked. "McConnell. He says Duffy's their number one suspect." "That's good," Edgar said. "Yeah." "Tell me everything."

If you want to show more about what Joan is like, you might keep some of her dithering over the wine, but cut the small talk at the very beginning. But you won't transcribe every word that Joan and Edgar utter during their lunch together.

Every piece of dialogue should be serving a purpose in your story. Often, it will be accomplishing more than one task at a time (e.g., showing something about the character at the same time that it's moving the plot forward).

Keep in mind the purpose of the dialogue when you decide which parts to cut and which parts to leave in.

Dialogue and Summary

Here's an example of summary dialogue:

Myrna complained about the hotel her son had chosen.

Here's an example of direct dialogue:

"The hotel's a real dump," Myrna said. "The room's tiny, and there's hardly any closet space. And the soap dish in the shower? It has a hole in it, so the soap falls right through! Who designed that soap dish, and what in the world were they thinking? And there's no place to put your towels..."

In summary dialogue, the author TELLS the reader what Myrna said. In direct dialogue, the author SHOWS Myrna saying it by quoting her exact words.

Some advantages of direct dialogue:

• It's more specific (we find out exactly what Myrna didn't like about the hotel—and can form our own opinion about how serious her complaints are).
• It conveys character (we learn something about Myrna from the way she describes the hotel).
• It's more vivid (the reader feels like they're hearing the conversation firsthand).

A big advantage of summary...

• It's brief.

Imagine that Myrna continues complaining for several hours. The reader isn't going to want to hear all that.

So you can summarize:

Myrna spent the whole morning complaining about the hotel.

Or, you can mix dialogue with summary:

"I hardly slept last night," Myrna said. "That hotel room was so noisy. And the pillows were too fat." She continued complaining about the hotel all through breakfast and the long drive to David's house.

Mixing dialogue with summary allows you to give the flavor of the dialogue without taking up more space than you want to.

You decide how much direct dialogue to include, depending on your goals for the scene.

How to Write Dialogue: Format

Standard dialogue format varies a bit from country to country .

You can look at some published novels from your own country to see how the dialogue's formatted.

In the U.S., dialogue generally looks like this...

"I love you so much," Yolanda said. "Then why did you try to poison me?" Julian asked her.

Note that the punctuation of the speakers' words is inside the punctuation marks. And in Yolanda's sentence, the period (full stop) is changed into a comma.

RIGHT: "I love you so much," Yolanda said. WRONG: "I love you so much." Yolanda said.

When writing dialogue, it's common practice to start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes. This makes it easier for the reader to keep track of who says what.

How to Write Dialogue: Tags

You use dialogue tags to let the reader know who's speaking. Here are some examples of dialogue tags:

• Edgar asked
• the waitress told them

You don't necessarily have to use a dialogue tag in every line of dialogue. Sometimes it's perfectly clear without them who the speaker is. For example, take the following conversation between two characters.

"Will you marry me?" Yolanda asked. "Absolutely not," said Julian. "Why not? Why won't you marry me?" "Because you tried to poison me, Yolanda." "That was an accident!" Yolanda said. "How do you accidentally slip arsenic into somebody's drink?"

In this example, it's clear that Yolanda's the one who asks "Why won't you marry me?" so it's not necessary to use a dialogue tag there.

You're likely to need dialogue tags...

• at the beginning of a conversation, to establish who the participants are.
•  if there are more than two speakers.
• when you haven't used dialogue tags in a while (to remind readers who's saying what)

There are several uses for dialogue tags. The obvious one, the main use, is to prevent confusion about the speaker's identity. A second use is to create a little break or pause in the conversation. Compare two versions of another exchange between Yolanda and Julian.

VERSION 1: "Why did you try to poison me?" Julian asked. "Because I was jealous," Yolanda said.

VERSION 2: "Why did you try to poison me?" Julian asked. "Because," Yolanda said, "I was jealous."

Do you hear the difference? In the second version, the dialogue tag creates a little pause after the word "Because." Yolanda might be thinking about her answer, or she might be pausing for emphasis. But the placement of the dialogue tag subtly changes the rhythm of Yolanda's line.

The standard dialogue tags "said," "told," and "asked" are almost invisible to readers. In general, readers won't even notice they're there. They'll focus instead on the characters' words.

On the other hand, flashier dialogue tags like "wheedled", "sneered", "commanded," "whined," etc., can get distracting if they're overused...

"Please, please marry me," Yolanda wheedled. "You've got to be kidding," Julian sneered. "No one ever wants to marry me," Yolanda whined.

Generally, readers should be able to tell from the character's words if the character is wheedling or sneering.

It's okay to throw in a colorful dialogue tag here once in a while if it adds to the reader's experience. But don't go overboard with them.

And don't worry that you're "repeating yourself" because you're using the words "said" and "told" a lot in your dialogue tags. If the dialogue's interesting enough, the reader won't even notice those words.

How to Write Dialogue: Descriptive Beats

A descriptive beat is a small piece of action or description inserted into the dialogue. Here's an example of dialogue containing descriptive beats...

"I don't want it," Eva said, pushing the file back across the table. James raised his eyebrows. "Do you know what I went through to get that for you?" he said.

In this example, the descriptive beats are:

• pushing the file across the table
• He raised his eyebrows.

Here are some ways to use descriptive beats in your dialogue.

1) To create a pause.

We talked about using a dialogue tag to change the rhythm of a line of dialogue.

A descriptive beat is another way to insert a pause—and the longer the line of description, the longer the pause.

VERSION 1 "I don't want it," Eva said, pushing the file back across the table. James raised his eyebrows. "Do you know what I went through to get that for you?" he said.

VERSION 2 "I don't want it," Eva said. "Do you know what I went through to get that for you?" James said.

Do you feel the difference in the rhythm? In the version with descriptive beats, there's a pause between Eva's statement and James's answer. In the version without them, James seems to respond immediately.

If there's a long pause in the middle of a conversation, you can tell the reader that; e.g., "Neither of them spoke for several minutes." But if you want to make the reader *feel* the pause, the silence stretching on, you can spend a bit of time describing what else is going on with your main character and their surroundings: Eva's pounding headache, a fly buzzing around the table and briefly landing on Eva's sleeve, a car horn honking outside...

2) You can use descriptive beats instead of dialogue tags. Instead of 'Eva said' or 'James said', you can show who's talking with the descriptive beats. For example, here's Eva and James's conversation with only the descriptive beats to identify the speakers:

"I don't want it." Eva pushed the file back across the table. James raised his eyebrows. "Do you know what I went through to get that for you?"

3) You can use descriptive beats to help readers visualize the scene.

Particularly in long passages of dialogue, you want to avoid "Talking Head Syndrome", where the voices seem to be floating in space. Descriptive beats allow you to provide some visual details to keep readers grounded.

4) You can use descriptive beats to add emotional layers to the dialogue.

Your characters' body language hint at what the characters are feeling—which might not always match up with their words!

• "I love you too," she said, her face radiant.
• "I love you too," she said, but avoided his eyes.
• "I love you too," she said between clenched teeth.

How to Write Dialogue with Layers

In some cases, it makes sense to keep the dialogue very straightforward and to-the-point. But in other cases, this can feel a bit flat.

If your detective asks the suspect where she was during the time of the murder, the suspect might simply answer the question. "Eight o'clock this morning? I was at home." A simple exchange of information.

But dialogue is often more interesting if there's something else going on at the same time.

Going back to the example of the detective interviewing the suspect, here are some ways you might liven up their exchange:

• The suspect might be distracted by something else. Maybe her toddler is throwing a tantrum during the conversation.
• The suspect might attempt to flirt with the detective, or to intimidate him. Maybe she has a grudge against policemen and becomes very hostile.
• The suspect might be hiding something (relevant or irrelevant to the conversation).
• The suspect might have her own agenda. Maybe she's just interested in showing off how rich and important she is.
• The suspect might be trying to steer the conversation in another direction. Maybe she's a political activist, and she's trying to convince the detective to vote for her candidate.
• The suspect might be doing something else at the same time. Maybe she's making an ice sculpture for a wedding while they talk.

By adding another layer to the conversation, you can develop character or setting at the same time, and you can add dimension to the scene.

Tips on How to Write Dialogue

To recap some of what we've discussed, here are seven tips on how to write dialogue like a pro.

1) Give each of your characters a different voice. Try to hear their voices in your head as you're writing what they say. Your characters' unique ways of talking will depend on personality, age, cultural and educational background, as well as their relationships with the people they're talking to.

2) Know when to summarize . If a character talks for an hour about his golf technique, you can't include the whole speech in your story. Instead, you can summarize: "John went on for an hour about his golf technique."

3) Mix dialogue and summary. You can mix a few lines of dialogue into a dialogue summary to give readers the flavor of your character's voice. "'Been working on my swing,' John said, launching into an hour-long discourse on his golf technique."

4) Use indirection. Often, people don't express what's on their mind directly. Instead, they hint at it in other ways. If John is attracted to Marsha, he might not come out and say to her, "I'm attracted to you." Instead, he might become boastful around her, or steer the conversation around to whether she's married. The best dialogue often has two levels, what characters are saying on the surface, and what they really mean.

5) Use silences. Pauses in a conversation can be as expressive as what is said out loud. During a pause, you can describe the characters' body language, what they're doing (e.g., taking a sip of coffee), or what's happening around them.

6) Trim the fat. Real-life conversation contains a lot of filler, false starts, repetition, polite blah-blah-blah. If you include all of this in your written dialogue, it can get boring. Instead, you can include just enough to give the flavor of real life, then cut the rest.

7) Don't pile on distracting dialogue tags. Fancy dialogue tags such as "he whined," "she commanded," or "he queried" draw attention to themselves. The old standbys, "said," "told," and "asked" are less noticeable, letting readers focus on your characters' words.

About the author

N. Strauss taught creative and expository writing at the University of Michigan before moving to the Czech Republic and then Spain. She has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in English from Oberlin College. In 2009, she founded Creative Writing Now in collaboration with the author Linda Leopold Strauss, who has taught writing courses for the Institute of Children's Literature and published children's books with Scholastic, Holiday House, Houghton Mifflin, and others.

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Check Out Our Creative Screenwriting Exercises, Character, and Dialogue Prompts

Writing exercises for screenwriters can kickstart your creativity..

Sometimes sitting in front of your computer is not enough to make writing happen. We've talked about writer's block in the past, and my summation of how to beat it was just to write on or write something different. 

But how do you do that?

The short answer is: try some creative writing practice exercises. These are tools that you can use to really jumpstart your brain's battery. They can be worksheets or prompts or just exercises that get you thinking outside of the box. 

The "science" behind them is simple. When you shake your mind out of the mundane and the ordinary, you can find solutions to your problems. The best writing exercises are not procrastination but ways to get you back to doing your best work. 

These aren't just writing exercises for aspiring writers, but things season professionals use to unlock their best ideas. 

So today, I want to go over some of these strategies and how they can apply to you. 

Let's get started. 

Table of Contents

Screenplay writing worksheets.

• Treatments 

Creative writing prompts

Character prompts, character archetypes.

• Character development 
• Character arcs 

Screenplay ideas and screenwriting prompts

Scene prompts, dialogue writing prompts, drama writing exercises.

• Comedy writing exercises 

Creative Screenwriting Exercises, Character, and Dialogue Prompts

There's going to be a lot of information dumped into this post—feel free to scroll to what is relevant to you. We hope this helps you get your story back on track and leads to your most productive days working ever. 

One of the things I've tried to do here at No Film School is democratize screenwriting for the masses. That meant building a ton of worksheets to help guide people through the process of writing a script. We have the book, which you should download ( free screenwriting eBook ), but we have a lot of screenplay writing worksheets, too. 

Check out some of the ones below. 

Treatments  

A treatment is  a multi-page document written in prose that tells the story that happens in your screenplay. It is a synopsis, with action and sparse dialogue, and works as a roadmap for the reader, producer, and writer.

A screenplay outline helps you organize your thoughts and the  beats of the story.  It's a way to also entice yourself and the reader of the outline. 

A beat sheet is a list of emotional moments in a feature film screenplay that helps a writer outline their story. 

In general, screenwriting and creative writing share a lot of the same theories behind them. All writing is about communicating to an audience.

Most of the ones I find to be most effective come from a place of emotional vulnerability. If you begin writing from a place where you are vulnerable, you might share things with an audience that make them connect to your story and characters. 

Some examples of creative writing prompts are: 

• What does it feel like not to be loved back? 
• Have you ever been alone in the wilderness? 
• What's it like to make eye contact with someone special for the first time? 
• Describe a near-death experience.
• Have you ever been lost on backroads? 
• What form would your personal demons take? 
• Write a passionate letter to your nemesis. 
• Have you ever lost a fight?

Check out 700+ creative writing prompts here . 

Crafting interesting and unique characters takes a lot of effort. You need to think about people you know, people you'd like to meet, and get inside actors' minds to make sure someone wants to play these creations. 

None of this is easy to do, but hopefully, our character prompts help guide the way. 

What are character archetypes ? T hey're broad-stroke headings that refer to the kinds of characters in stories or screenplays.

I love using these molds to help me learn about expected outcomes or tropes. But also, I like to lean into certain qualities presented to format parts of the story I'm working on telling. I think they are useful tools to help inspire and breathe life into the people on your pages. 

Character development  

Character development comes in two parts: internal and external.

You can think of internal character development as your character's fundamental goals and motivations for their actions. And external development as the struggles and scarring or transformative experiences that make them who they are on the outside. 

Character arcs  

A character arc is an emotional and physical transformation that a character undergoes throughout a film, TV episode, TV season, or TV series. The character arc depends on the person's physical and emotional response to events in the story.

Now that you have the basic worksheets on how to write a screenplay, let's look at some prompts to get you out of the tough binds you'll get into on the page. 

One of the hardest things to do when you're writing is just to get through a hard scene. One of the things I like to do is to insert a new genre into the movie or TV show. Like, when I am writing horror, I try to write a romcom scene into it. Does it fit, will it advance a storyline? 

Another tip I would push is to make it rain. 

Changing the weather in a scene can add drama or comedy. It can also spark more nuance and add tension. 

So what are some generic scene prompts to get you started beyond that? 

• A stalk and kill murder 
• A hunting trip 
• Losing your pill case
• Someone is poisoned 
• A character with allergies visits a buffet
• A chase on bikes 
• You're out at dinner, and your ex arrives 
• Your best friend is the villain 
• A text break up 
• A 911 call 
• Your grandparent makes a confession
• A door-to-door salesman offers something unusual 
• Astronauts locked out of their shuttle 
• A domestic dispute between a cat and a dog 
• Coal miners find a nugget of gold 

We have 75 more writing prompts that will supercharge your scenes, and if that's not enough, you can check out  100 Scene-Writing Prompts  here. 

When your scene is going well, bad dialogue can derail it.

We have some tips for writing dialogue, but you should think about the prompts. What do your characters believe in, where have they been in their lives? Is this a conversation where they are giving or getting advice? Are they talking about one thing but mean another? Maybe they see something in the street or hear a song come on the radio.

When it comes to writing dialogue, try to make it feel like a natural conversation.

As we know from our drama genre article , t hese film and TV series  portray realistic  characters in conflict  with either themselves, others, or forces of nature.  They usually focus on character and how these people  arc  over time. 

When it comes to the exercises at the center of this genre, you have to think about the root of every scene... conflict! 

Some drama writing exercises can be: 

• Siblings fighting over their mother's vase
• A couple trying to convince each other to rent a different movie
• Two people trying to get in the same cab
•  Someone is not being allowed into a party because they aren't on the list
• There's one bullet left, and each hitman needs it for their job
• Someone refuses to put their hands up during a robbery
• You stop for directions, and the person at the gas station doesn't want you to get where you are going

As you can see, any of these situations involve squaring two or more people off against each other. The center of the drama is conflict. Let this stuff get weird and wild, and see where these stories can take you. 

Check out 100+ more here .

Comedy writing exercises

The comedy genre covers any work in film or television whose general purpose is to create humor and intentional laughs for the audience. It has its origins in ancient Greek plays and oral tradition. People love engaging in comedy. It puts them in a good mood and can be incredibly good at keeping their mind off bad things. 

To make your comedy writing pop, you need to workshop different punchlines, setups, and situations. 

Some comedy writing exercises can be: 

• A traveler comes to the future and is confused
• What goes on inside your pet's mind 
• A billionaire becomes poor overnight
• An alternate universe where no one can lie
• Ghosts who like to tease people
• Escalating pranks lead to a school assembly
• A beekeeper loses its but needs honey right away
• A marble factory explodes and sends the balls all over town
• A queen from a foreign country comes to find romance in America

Most comedy prompts are just experiences that would be a drama in any other light. They should be difficult for people, and we should see them go through hell. This will make sure the jokes all land, because we like to laugh at other people's misery. 

Summing up creative screenwriting exercises, character, and dialogue prompts

Now that you've mastered all these scenes and prompts, you can get back into your own work and put them to good use. So much of writing is just about jarring you from the place of stasis and challenging you to be vulnerable with the audience. 

The goal of all the exercises here is to make you better at understanding yourself, your characters, and the progression of your story. 

Got more tips for us? Put them in the comments. 

I can't wait to read what you write next. 

Now get back to work. 

• Action Movie Prompt ›
• Comedy Writing ›
• Dual Protagonist ›
• Drama Writing Prompts ›
• The Gauntlet Script Coverage ›

Buckle Up For the Future of The No Film School Podcast

We're coming at you with new and improved updates for your filmmaking ears to hear and love..

Howdy, fellow No Film School Podcast fans.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled web surfing for a quick little update on what's in store for the future of the pod. Check out the video explainer below where our beloved host GG Hawkins breaks down what is in store, and stay tuned for our next episode featuring the screenwriter of Challengers Justin Kritzkes.

Eu phoria season three news? Beats me, but he probably met Zendaya at least once proabably.

No Film School Podcast Update 

What are the best fantasy movies of all time, what are the best adventure movies of all time, what is a the thematic echo in screenwriting, get your horror feature funded with unknown nightmare, blackmagic camera app set to finally come to android, missing curb read this unreleased 'seinfeld' script, here’s everything you may have missed at nab 2024, do you know all these film and tv lighting terms, what are logical fallacies, packaging and the death of naked specs.

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5 Easy Exercises To Help You Write Believable Dialogue | Writer’s Relief

by Writer's Relief Staff | Writing Tips | 0 comments

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When written effectively, dialogue is a powerful tool that can advance your story’s plot, create tension, establish conflict, and develop character. Good dialogue also eliminates unnecessary exposition— too much “tell” and not enough “show” —that will drag a story down and lose readers. At Writer’s Relief, we know a few tricks and exercises that will help you write engaging, believable dialogue.

How To Write Believable Dialogue For Your Story

Here’s a simple way to improve your dialogue skills: Be nosy. The term “eavesdropping” is derived from standing under the eaves of a house and listening to a conversation going on inside. And though we are definitely not recommending you lurk outside your neighbors’ homes to pick up dialogue, you can overhear some great conversations while sitting in a park or coffee shop or even on a bus ride. Listening in on conversations and writing down what you hear will help you write more natural-sounding dialogue—a real-life conversation is quite different from a written, imagined version. By taking snippets of real conversations and using a few basic do’s and don’ts, you’ll soon be writing better dialogue .

Watch A Silent Film And Add Dialogue

While silent films have title cards summarizing what you’re seeing onscreen, they don’t capture every word the actors are saying. What kind of verbal exchange were Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin having as they skated around The Rink ? Were they planning a bank robbery or planning to elope? Translate their actions and facial expressions into conversation. This is a great exercise to help you eliminate unnecessary emotional tags that often weigh dialogue down. Here’s where you can find silent films to use in this writing exercise . You can also simply turn off the sound on any movie and write your own dialogue for the scenes.

Rewrite A Narrative Scene Using Only Dialogue

Take a scene in your story that’s currently narrative and recreate it with dialogue only. Screenwriters excel at this practice and understand the importance of using dialogue to reveal the essence of a character. A college professor speaks differently than a hipster coffee shop barista. And a New England fishing boat captain might have the same fishy things to talk about as a Louisiana shrimp boat captain, but if the dialogue is well done, you should be able to tell who is who just by what is said and how.

Learning how to write like a screenwriter will improve your dialogue skills and make it easier for you to edit out needless adjectives and adverbs. For screenwriting tips you can incorporate into your dialogue writing, check out Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.

Create Dialogue For Photographs

Many writers use photographs to inspire their stories, but you can also use them in an exercise to enhance your dialogue techniques. Write the dialogue you imagine is happening in the photo. You can use family photos or pictures you find in a magazine, book, or at an antique shop. It’s easier if there are two or more subjects in the photograph, but if you have an image with only one person, get creative! That one person could be talking to someone outside of the photo’s frame—or to someone otherworldly and invisible. You’ll not only develop better dialogue skills, but you may also come up with new story ideas!

Practice With Writing Prompts

With writing prompts, you can focus solely on writing dialogue and not worry about plot, setting, or any other story elements. You can concentrate on the exchange between characters (or the toaster and the television if that’s your thing). Here are 70 dialogue writing prompts you can try!

Stories that feature well-written, interesting dialogue will keep your readers turning pages until the very end. And when a literary editor finds a short story submission that effectively engages readers with a great plot and dialogue—that writing is destined for publication!

Question: What do you find most difficult about writing dialogue?

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Samantha in Secondary

6 Dialogue Writing Activities for the Secondary ELA Classroom

April 18, 2022 by Samantha H.

Dialogue writing activities are always a mainstay in any of my narrative writing units. I love seeing the creative writing my students turn in, but I often see it lacks dialogue or uses it incorrectly. It’s a skill that needs to be refined, but is sometimes overlooked in the grand scheme of things. I like to set aside time for activities that help review the mechanics of proper dialogue writing, as well as unique dialogue writing activities that let students practice the skill themselves. Read on for creative dialogue writing activities for your secondary students.  

1. Create a Scene

There are a lot of fun ways you can have students create scenes to practice writing dialogue. You can start with some premade options that you assign or students randomly select. You can also create Roll-a-Scene scenarios for your students (here’s my bundle of Roll a Story activities for inspo). In these activities, students use a dice and roll to receive story elements. In their story creation, have them create dialogue. This will allow your students to review the basic rules of dialogue and also let students practice creatively.

2. Write the Photo

Print a variety of photos for students to create the dialogue. You can go about this in a variety of ways. Print several options and use them as station activities or have everyone can write from the same photo as a bellringer. Find photos that have great facial expressions to help lead students who may struggle with writing, and use more ambiguous photos for more creative options where students must make inferences. 

3. Use Mentor Texts

Pick from a lineup of strong mentor texts to use as examples. You can use from your current class readings, or select from top YA novels that your students already love. You can also have students select from their personal readings. Keep a variety of genres on hand so there’s always an example ready for students to use as a reference. You can use these for writing activities like having students continue a section, rewrite with different characters, update the language to something more contemporary or to fit in a new genre. If you need some ideas to add to your own classroom library, sign up for my email list to get a free list of 100 YA Novels to get you started.

[SPACE FOR OPT-IN]

4. Correct the Sample

Take either some mentor text examples or write your own for students to correct. This makes a great bellringer activity for quick reviews to keep it fresh in your students’ minds. Seeing how common mistakes can be corrected can help students visualize what needs done when they attempt their own writing. Consider working on some correction samples before students begin their own creative assignments. NoRedInk is another great option to allow students to practice correcting dialogue. Create a class, assign their pre-made dialogue writing activities, and you’re ready to go. 

5. Turn Narrative into Dialogue

You can pull from mentor tasks again for this activity. Pull from your class reading, personal reading, popular novels, or just well-known scenes and have students write dialogue for sections of narrative. It can be an interesting take to see students write the same scene and compare their dialogue interpretations. 

6. Learn from the Masters

If you’re looking for some more ideas there are a few more activity ideas here from Edutopia. The suggestions in the article are spot on and have great suggestions for dialogue activities to use with students.

If you’re looking for a great resource that combines many of the above activities already done for you, click here to grab the mini-lesson I use with my own students. The resource includes both print-and-go and digital versions, so you can use it however you may be teaching. My students love the creative dialogue writing activities included.

If you’re looking at your students’ writing and thinking it could use some more dialogue, or you know working with dialogue is a bit rusty – consider working in some daily practice or mini-lessons and activities to help solidify the skill.  

Do you include dialogue writing activities in your own classroom? I’d love to hear about your favorites! Sound off in the comments below or follow me on IG or Facebook to join the discussion.

Happy teaching!

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• Brainstorming
• Scriptwriting

82 Creative Writing Prompts and Writing Exercises for Screenwriters

C reative writing prompts are powerful tools that aid you to become a consistent writer. It’s easy to get inspired once, maybe twice about a project or story that means something to you. But if and when that light dims, or you finally finish that project, what’s next? Writer’s block isn’t much of an avenue. Excuses are for amateurs because professional writers write. Writing prompts and writing exercises, give you the momentum to keep going when the mind slows down, or if you’re anything like me, when doubt sets in.

Creative Writing Prompts

Character prompts work for every genre.

I’m going to start with some creative writing prompts that are universal across all writing mediums and all genres. These will be character driven exercises. 

Why start with character? 

Genre isn’t the seed of a good story, nor are high concepts. 

High concept stories can be insightful, mind-bending, and just straight up entertaining, but they are not what makes a compelling narrative. 

If you’re not sure who your characters are, or what it is they want, your story may fall apart some time in Act 2, halfway through the novel, or during the first 5 pages of your short.  The point is, you may lose the point if your characters are unclear, because in any great story, character suggests plot.  

Have you ever tried to write a screenplay, only to find your having a hard time “fitting in” certain details you wanted to have or saying to yourself that you just haven’t “figured it out” yet. When character intention is clear, the story unfolds. 

And these upcoming character prompts can be applied to any genre you feel most comfortable writing, which is the best part about them. 

But don’t worry, in later sections, I’ll make sure to separate fantasy writing prompts from horror or romance writing prompts for those that just need an extra boost for the genre specific piece they’re writing. 

Character Driven Exercises and Prompts 

Character writing exercises.

For all of these, try not to think too much. You can edit later. These responses should be purely intuitive. Give perfectionism a rest, and allow yourself to enter the world of your story, even if you’re not sure exactly what is looks like. 

So let’s start with some direct questions to ask your character. Try these with every character, antagonists too. But let’s start answering as your protagonist: 

• What food would you take to a deserted island, and why?
• Your house is burning. What three things do you save? Why?
• If you could have had a different job, what would you have picked? Why?
• What are you scared of losing?
• First vivid memory of childhood?
• When was the first time you were embarrassed? What happened?
• Is there something you’re hiding from the world? What is it?
• What do you like about yourself? What do you hate about yourself?
• What do you want out of life?

Creating something from nothing isn’t easy. But there’s help!  

Embrace your new world, and finish the next set of sentences as your protagonist: 

• My last thought before I fall asleep is…
• I believe the reason I was put on this planet is to…
• What breaks my heart is…
• What makes me happy is…
• Worst thing anyone has ever said to me was…
• Nicest thing someone has ever said to me was…
• Most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me, or I, them was…
• My attitude toward god is…
• The person who understands me no matter what is…
• My greatest achievement has been...

Knowing the flavor jam your character prefers, what kinds of flowers they like, or who their favorite band is, may or may not yield any helpful information. But fine, I get it.  

Here are some prompts to get the useless information people love to write about. Maybe they actually are relevant and will help your story:

• Zip up or pull over hoodies
• Flannels or silk pajamas...birthday suit?
• Chocolate cake, ice cream, or salty chips
• Hair color, eye color, your other physical attributes?
• What book are you reading?

Now for you as the writer. Answer as yourself: 

• Why this story? What is it about this story that makes you want to write it?
• Are you scared to write about something? Why?
• What do you want to express through your story?
• Why should this be a screenplay and not a novel, short story, or take some other form?
• Did you pick the right protagonist to properly express what it is what you want to show?
• Mess around with loglines to distill what your character really wants. Learn to write loglines if you’re unfamiliar.
• What do you think your characters might need?

**Take your characters to a party**

This is one of my favorite exercises because it can lead anywhere. Now that you have some more info about who these people are, throw them in the same room. See what happens. 

Who gets along? Who doesn’t? 

There can be dialogue, but there doesn’t have to be. 

What kind of party is it? Why are they there? 

Try these out with no intentions that it will lead to a finished product. Just have fun with it to see what else you can discover.

Related Posts

• The Essentials to Writing a Great Screenplay →
• 12 Secrets to Great Exposition in Screenwriting →
• Free Form: StudioBinder's Free Word Processor →

Dialogue Writing Prompts

Try just dialogue prompts .

Dialogue exercises are great because they help you understand your characters more. But they also provide a kind of creative spark for story ideas. Now while you’re actually writing them, it’s not good to let your story idea control the conversation. In fact, I wouldn’t think about story at all while you’re writing them. But later, when you go back to take a look at them, you might find some hidden gems that spark more ideas.

Here are a list of dialogue prompts. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know who the characters are yet, or which character a certain line would be good for. Try not to think about how this could fit into your already existing story, or what scene this should belong in, just write:

• “Why didn’t you answer before? I called you three times. Now you’re pretending like nothing happened.”
• “I just have a lot of friends so…”
• “You hate coffee?”
• “It just doesn’t seem normal.”
• “I’ve developed a kind of aversion to it. I don’t know, it made sense at the time.”
• “Have you ever seen it in person?”
• “It’s not that I love her…”
• “How much do you need?”
• “I don’t know! Don’t yell at me. I just found it on the street.”
• “How do I know if you’re lying?”
• “It would be easier if you’d just apologize.”
• “It’s not much of a cause, really. Just a bunch of grown children who weren’t accepted anywhere else.”
• “Why won’t this thing work?”
• “I’m trying, I’m really actually trying.”
• “It’s been weird without him.”
• “It’s not that I’m against it…”
• “I hear something, can you come over?”
• “I guess it’s...art?
• “Where did you go for 3 hours?”
• “What’s wrong with your face?”

You can use these at the party, brainstorming a fantasy novel, rom-com script, or even just to work out that writing muscle. 

Though actions sometimes speak a little louder than words...

**Now try writing a scene with NO dialogue. Only action.**

This is helpful if you already know a bit about your characters.

What do they want, what’s stopping them from getting it? 

Writing Exercises 

Fantasy writing prompts.

Fantasy prompts are weird. Not because they’re other worldly and actually strange, but because these prompts are usually plot ideas, which shifts us away from character a bit. But of course these can be equally as interesting. 

So feel free to write your heart out and go off into some weird dimension with space warlocks, or flying dogs, but just remember to come back to character eventually. In fact, everything above, could of course be used in a fantasy script, novel, or short story. But again, plot ideas and premises, can really get the mind moving. 

Let’s jump in:

• In this town, if enough people start to believe something, it quickly becomes true. Except to you. 
• An animal has turned into a person. 
• An archaeologist is led to a dig in a major city. And what she finds changes the course of her life. 
• An archaeologist finds a fossil of something that couldn’t have ever existed.
• A land has been praised with only sunlight. Nighttime no longer exists.
• It’s the 1980s. You’re driving from St. Louis to California. You pull off the road to purchase a map. But the map you bought is a bit misleading. You end up in a city that doesn’t exist. 
• You sit down at a coffee shop at the window. Across the street you see a claymation couple walking down the street. No one else seems to notice, except for one man waiting for the bus. You both make eye contact. 
• You wake up in a world where you can purchase emotions. 
• You’re a child with no fear. You meet a dragon in the woods.
•  Every single leader, politician, or otherwise “high-up” government official dies.

More Creative Writing Exercises

Romance writing prompts.

Of course, the character writing prompts and dialogue prompts can work especially well for romance stories. But I want to give a few more options for what to consider when writing a love story. 

And these prompts in of themselves, have been used forever. But the way to avoid cliches is in your specificity of character and uniqueness in story. The more specific you get, the more unique, and yet, universal your story will be. 

• A couple is vying for the same job opening. 
• Two people in an arranged marriage eventually fall in love. 
• A student graduates and he and his former teacher run into each other at a bar. It goes a little too well. 
• A doctor is falling in love with her recent fling. They decide to get serious and shortly after he is accused of murder. 
• A tourist travels to another country and falls in love with a local.
• A toxic relationship kills a romance and pushes the protagonist away. The main character leaves and gets involved with someone new. But now she can’t stop treating them as her ex treated her. 
• Two friends who know everything about each other start dating. Was this a bad idea?
• Two people in love can never make it work. 
• Opposing politicians hide their romance. 
•  A psychic and a scientist meet on a blind date.

Prompts to Die For

Horror writing prompts.

Okay, now for the creepy stuff. 

• You wake up in a world where you’re a serial killer
• Freelancers accept job offers online. They begin to disappear. One woman survives, but ends up somewhere she can’t seem to come back from. 
• A grown man discovers he wasn’t adopted, he was kidnapped. He goes abroad to find his real family but his trip turns into a horror show.
• Mass shooters take over a city. 
• A doll equipped with artificial intelligence takes over one family’s home.
• A group of senior citizens at a nursing home get bored and try to  connect to their loved ones through a Ouiji board. Unfortunately, they connect to something else. 
• A group of friends go to an Escape Room party but only a few make it out. 
• A restaurateur slowly poisons his customers over several years, maintaining a seemingly normal life. 
• A medium begins to get attacked by those she’s connecting to. Can she escape?
• A couple begins to have the same nightmares that escalate quickly.

Can you blend any of these with the fantasy prompts?

Be as creative with the prompts as you are in your writing.

Give yourself all the freedom you want, because once you start writing, you’ll have to make decisions. 

“The real importance of reading is that it creates an ease and intimacy with the process of writing… Constant reading will pull you into a place where you can write eagerly and without self-consciousness. It also offers you a constantly growing knowledge of what has been done and what hasn’t, what is trite and what is fresh, what works and what just lies there dying (or dead) on the page. The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of yourself with your pen or word processor.” — Stephen King

Daily Writing Practice

Wrapping up.

A good prompt can be anything. A line of dialogue, a character’s strongest desire, an object, a new kind of world, a seemingly stupid question. It doesn’t matter. Something will bode well with your imagination and it’ll just click. And depending on your story, characters, or even time in your life, different exercises may feel more natural. 

Allow yourself the time and space for this brainstorm work.  

Inspiration can come from anywhere, and it often comes fast. So even if you aren’t stuck on the treacherous writer’s block, train yourself to catch it when it comes, so stagnancy and complacency don’t become habitual. You may reap some pretty incredible short-term rewards, but you’ll also be laying a foundation for a potentially, fruitful and consistent career. 

Brainstorm Short Film Ideas

So after you’ve worked with some of the above prompts, you may have that hunger. It’s time to start writing! What will you write? Maybe you already know. But considering writing a short film might be a good next step.  Short films are great mediums because the turnaround time is much shorter than a feature. And finishing projects, especially early on, creates momentum. So let’s brainstorm some short film ideas!

Up Next: Get Short Film Ideas! →

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Last updated on Jul 24, 2023

15 Examples of Great Dialogue (And Why They Work So Well)

Great dialogue is hard to pin down, but you know it when you hear or see it. In the earlier parts of this guide, we showed you some well-known tips and rules for writing dialogue. In this section, we'll show you those rules in action with 15 examples of great dialogue, breaking down exactly why they work so well.

1. Barbara Kingsolver, Unsheltered 

In the opening of Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered, we meet Willa Knox, a middle-aged and newly unemployed writer who has just inherited a ramshackle house. 

     “The simplest thing would be to tear it down,” the man said. “The house is a shambles.”      She took this news as a blood-rush to the ears: a roar of peasant ancestors with rocks in their fists, facing the evictor. But this man was a contractor. Willa had called him here and she could send him away. She waited out her panic while he stood looking at her shambles, appearing to nurse some satisfaction from his diagnosis. She picked out words.      “It’s not a living thing. You can’t just pronounce it dead. Anything that goes wrong with a structure can be replaced with another structure. Am I right?”      “Correct. What I am saying is that the structure needing to be replaced is all of it. I’m sorry. Your foundation is nonexistent.”

Alfred Hitchcock once described drama as "life with the boring bits cut out." In this passage, Kingsolver cuts out the boring parts of Willa's conversation with her contractor and brings us right to the tensest, most interesting part of the conversation.

By entering their conversation late , the reader is spared every tedious detail of their interaction.

Instead of a blow-by-blow account of their negotiations (what she needs done, when he’s free, how she’ll be paying), we’re dropped right into the emotional heart of the discussion. The novel opens with the narrator learning that the home she cherishes can’t be salvaged. 

By starting off in the middle of (relatively obscure) dialogue, it takes a moment for the reader to orient themselves in the story and figure out who is speaking, and what they’re speaking about. This disorientation almost mirrors Willa’s own reaction to the bad news, as her expectations for a new life in her new home are swiftly undermined.

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2. 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.

3. Naomi Alderman, The Power

In The Power , young women around the world suddenly find themselves capable of generating and controlling electricity. In this passage, between two boys and a girl who just used those powers to light her cigarette.

     Kyle gestures with his chin and says, “Heard a bunch of guys killed a girl in Nebraska last week for doing that.”      “For smoking? Harsh.”      Hunter says, “Half the kids in school know you can do it.”      “So what?”      Hunter says, “Your dad could use you in his factory. Save money on electricity.”      “He’s not my dad.”      She makes the silver flicker at the ends of her fingers again. The boys watch.

Alderman here uses a show, don’t tell approach to expositional dialogue. Within this short exchange, we discover a lot about Allie, her personal circumstances, and the developing situation elsewhere. We learn that women are being punished harshly for their powers; that Allie is expected to be ashamed of those powers and keep them a secret, but doesn’t seem to care to do so; that her father is successful in industry; and that she has a difficult relationship with him. Using dialogue in this way prevents info-dumping backstory all at once, and instead helps us learn about the novel’s world in a natural way.

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4. Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go

Here, friends Tommy and Kathy have a conversation after Tommy has had a meltdown. After being bullied by a group of boys, he has been stomping around in the mud, the precise reaction they were hoping to evoke from him.

     “Tommy,” I said, quite sternly. “There’s mud all over your shirt.”      “So what?” he mumbled. But even as he said this, he looked down and noticed the brown specks, and only just stopped himself crying out in alarm. Then I saw the surprise register on his face that I should know about his feelings for the polo shirt.      “It’s nothing to worry about.” I said, before the silence got humiliating for him. “It’ll come off. If you can’t get it off yourself, just take it to Miss Jody.”      He went on examining his shirt, then said grumpily, “It’s nothing to do with you anyway.”

This episode from Never Let Me Go highlights the power of interspersing action beats within dialogue. These action beats work in several ways to add depth to what would otherwise be a very simple and fairly nondescript exchange.  Firstly, they draw attention to the polo shirt, and highlight its potential significance in the plot. Secondly, they help to further define Kathy’s relationship with Tommy. 

We learn through Tommy’s surprised reaction that he didn’t think Kathy knew how much he loved his seemingly generic polo shirt. This moment of recognition allows us to see that she cares for him and understands him more deeply than even he realized. Kathy breaking the silence before it can “humiliate” Tommy further emphasizes her consideration for him. While the dialogue alone might make us think Kathy is downplaying his concerns with pragmatic advice, it is the action beats that tell the true story here.

5. J R R Tolkien, 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.

We wouldn’t recommend using this extreme level of idiosyncrasy too often in your writing — it can get wearing for readers after a while, and Tolkien deploys it sparingly, as Gollum’s appearances are limited to a handful of scenes. However, you can use Tolkien’s approach as inspiration to create (slightly more subtle) quirks of speech for your own characters.

6. F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

The narrator, Nick has just done his new neighbour Gatsby a favor by inviting his beloved Daisy over to tea. Perhaps in return, Gatsby then attempts to make a shady business proposition.

     “There’s another little thing,” he said uncertainly, and hesitated.      “Would you rather put it off for a few days?” I asked.      “Oh, it isn’t about that. At least —” He fumbled with a series of beginnings. “Why, I thought — why, look here, old sport, you don’t make much money, do you?”      “Not very much.”      This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.       “I thought you didn’t, if you’ll pardon my — you see, I carry on a little business on the side, a little side line, if you understand. And I thought that if you don’t make very much — You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?”      “Trying to.” 

This dialogue from The Great Gatsby is a great example of how to make dialogue sound natural. Gatsby tripping over his own words (even interrupting himself , as marked by the em-dashes) not only makes his nerves and awkwardness palpable but also mimics real speech. Just as real people often falter and make false starts when they’re speaking off the cuff, Gatsby too flounders, giving us insight into his self-doubt; his speech isn’t polished and perfect, and neither is he despite all his efforts to appear so.

Fitzgerald also creates a distinctive voice for Gatsby by littering his speech with the character's signature term of endearment, “old sport”. We don’t even really need dialogue markers to know who’s speaking here — a sign of very strong characterization through dialogue.

7. Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet  

In this first meeting between the two heroes of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, John is introduced to Sherlock while the latter is hard at work in the lab.

      “How are you?” he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.”      “How on earth did you know that?” I asked in astonishment.      “Never mind,” said he, chuckling to himself. “The question now is about hemoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?”     “It is interesting, chemically, no doubt,” I answered, “but practically— ”      “Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don’t you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!” He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been working. “Let us have some fresh blood,” he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. “Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction.” As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.      “Ha! ha!” he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a child with a new toy. “What do you think of that?”

This passage uses a number of the key techniques for writing naturalistic and exciting dialogue, including characters speaking over one another and the interspersal of action beats. 

Sherlock cutting off Watson to launch into a monologue about his blood experiment shows immediately where Sherlock’s interest lies — not in small talk, or the person he is speaking to, but in his own pursuits, just like earlier in the conversation when he refuses to explain anything to John and is instead self-absorbedly “chuckling to himself”. This helps establish their initial rapport (or lack thereof) very quickly.

Breaking up that monologue with snippets of him undertaking the forensic tests allows us to experience the full force of his enthusiasm over it without having to read an uninterrupted speech about the ins and outs of a science experiment.

Starting to think you might like to read some Sherlock? Check out our guide to the Sherlock Holmes canon !

8. Brandon Taylor, Real Life

Here, our protagonist Wallace is questioned by Ramon, a friend-of-a-friend, over the fact that he is considering leaving his PhD program.

     Wallace hums. “I mean, I wouldn’t say that I want to leave, but I’ve thought about it, sure.”     “Why would you do that? I mean, the prospects for… black people, you know?”        “What are the prospects for black people?” Wallace asks, though he knows he will be considered the aggressor for this question.

Brandon Taylor’s Real Life is drawn from the author’s own experiences as a queer Black man, attempting to navigate the unwelcoming world of academia, navigating the world of academia, and so it’s no surprise that his dialogue rings so true to life — it’s one of the reasons the novel is one of our picks for must-read books by Black authors . 

This episode is part of a pattern where Wallace is casually cornered and questioned by people who never question for a moment whether they have the right to ambush him or criticize his choices. The use of indirect dialogue at the end shows us this is a well-trodden path for Wallace: he has had this same conversation several times, and can pre-empt the exact outcome.

This scene is also a great example of the dramatic significance of people choosing not to speak. The exchange happens in front of a big group, but — despite their apparent discomfort —  nobody speaks up to defend Wallace, or to criticize Ramon’s patronizing microaggressions. Their silence is deafening, and we get a glimpse of Ramon’s isolation due to the complacency of others, all due to what is not said in this dialogue example.

9. Ernest Hemingway, Hills Like White Elephants

In this short story, an unnamed man and a young woman discuss whether or not they should terminate a pregnancy while sitting on a train platform.

     “Well,” the man said, “if you don’t want to you don’t have to. I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.”      “And you really want to?”      “I think it’s the best thing to do. But I don’t want you to do it if you really don’t want to.”      “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?”      “I love you now. You know I love you.”      “I know. But if I do it, then it will be nice again if I say things are like white elephants, and you’ll like it?”      “I’ll love it. I love it now but I just can’t think about it. You know how I get when I worry.”      “If I do it you won’t ever worry?”      “I won’t worry about that because it’s perfectly simple.”

This example of dialogue from Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants moves at quite a clip. The conversation quickly bounces back and forth between the speakers, and the call-and-response format of the woman asking and the man answering is effective because it establishes a clear dynamic between the two speakers: the woman is the one seeking reassurance and trying to understand the man’s feelings, while he is the one who is ultimately in control of the situation.

Note the sparing use of dialogue markers: this minimalist approach keeps the dialogue brisk, and we can still easily understand who is who due to the use of a new paragraph when the speaker changes .

Like this classic author’s style? Head over to our selection of the 11 best Ernest Hemingway books .

10. 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.

11. Andre Aciman, Call Me By Your Name

This is an early conversation between seventeen-year-old Elio and his family’s handsome new student lodger, Oliver.

     What did one do around here? Nothing. Wait for summer to end. What did one do in the winter, then?      I smiled at the answer I was about to give. He got the gist and said, “Don’t tell me: wait for summer to come, right?”      I liked having my mind read. He’d pick up on dinner drudgery sooner than those before him.      “Actually, in the winter the place gets very gray and dark. We come for Christmas. Otherwise it’s a ghost town.”      “And what else do you do here at Christmas besides roast chestnuts and drink eggnog?”      He was teasing. I offered the same smile as before. He understood, said nothing, we laughed.      He asked what I did. I played tennis. Swam. Went out at night. Jogged. Transcribed music. Read.      He said he jogged too. Early in the morning. Where did one jog around here? Along the promenade, mostly. I could show him if he wanted.      It hit me in the face just when I was starting to like him again: “Later, maybe.”

Dialogue is one of the most crucial aspects of writing romance — what’s a literary relationship without some flirty lines? Here, however, Aciman gives us a great example of efficient dialogue. By removing unnecessary dialogue and instead summarizing with narration, he’s able to confer the gist of the conversation without slowing down the pace unnecessarily. Instead, the emphasis is left on what’s unsaid, the developing romantic subtext. 

Furthermore, the fact that we receive this scene in half-reported snippets rather than as an uninterrupted transcript emphasizes the fact that this is Elio’s own recollection of the story, as the manipulation of the dialogue in this way serves to mimic the nostalgic haziness of memory.

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12. George Eliot, Middlemarch

Two of Eliot’s characters, Mary and Rosamond, are out shopping,

     When she and Rosamond happened both to be reflected in the glass, she said laughingly —      “What a brown patch I am by the side of you, Rosy! You are the most unbecoming companion.”      “Oh no! No one thinks of your appearance, you are so sensible and useful, Mary. Beauty is of very little consequence in reality,” said Rosamond, turning her head towards Mary, but with eyes swerving towards the new view of her neck in the glass.      “You mean my beauty,” said Mary, rather sardonically.       Rosamond thought, “Poor Mary, she takes the kindest things ill.” Aloud she said, “What have you been doing lately?”      “I? Oh, minding the house — pouring out syrup — pretending to be amiable and contented — learning to have a bad opinion of everybody.”

This excerpt, a conversation between the level-headed Mary and vain Rosamond, is an example of dialogue that develops character relationships naturally. Action descriptors allow us to understand what is really happening in the conversation. 

Whilst the speech alone might lead us to believe Rosamond is honestly (if clumsily) engaging with her friend, the description of her simultaneously gazing at herself in a mirror gives us insight not only into her vanity, but also into the fact that she is not really engaged in her conversation with Mary at all.

The use of internal dialogue cut into the conversation (here formatted with quotation marks rather than the usual italics ) lets us know what Rosamond is actually thinking, and the contrast between this and what she says aloud is telling. The fact that we know she privately realizes she has offended Mary, but quickly continues the conversation rather than apologizing, is emphatic of her character. We get to know Rosamond very well within this short passage, which is a hallmark of effective character-driven dialogue.

13. John Steinbeck, The Winter of our Discontent

Here, Mary (speaking first) reacts to her husband Ethan’s attempts to discuss his previous experiences as a disciplined soldier, his struggles in subsequent life, and his feeling of impending change.

     “You’re trying to tell me something.”      “Sadly enough, I am. And it sounds in my ears like an apology. I hope it is not.”      “I’m going to set out lunch.”

Steinbeck’s Winter of our Discontent is an acute study of alienation and miscommunication, and this exchange exemplifies the ways in which characters can fail to communicate, even when they’re speaking. The pair speaking here are trapped in a dysfunctional marriage which leaves Ethan feeling isolated, and part of his loneliness comes from the accumulation of exchanges such as this one. Whenever he tries to communicate meaningfully with his wife, she shuts the conversation down with a complete non sequitur. 

We expect Mary’s “you’re trying to tell me something” to be followed by a revelation, but Ethan is not forthcoming in his response, and Mary then exits the conversation entirely. Nothing is communicated, and the jarring and frustrating effect of having our expectations subverted goes a long way in mirroring Ethan’s own frustration.

Just like Ethan and Mary, we receive no emotional pay-off, and this passage of characters talking past one another doesn’t further the plot as we hope it might, but instead gives us insight into the extent of these characters’ estrangement.

14. 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.

15. Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca

The young narrator of du Maurier’s classic gothic novel here has a strained conversation with Robert, one of the young staff members at her new husband’s home, the unwelcoming Manderley.

     “Has Mr. de Winter been in?” I said.      “Yes, Madam,” said Robert; “he came in just after two, and had a quick lunch, and then went out again. He asked for you and Frith said he thought you must have gone down to see the ship.”      “Did he say when he would be back again?” I asked.      “No, Madam.”      “Perhaps he went to the beach another way,” I said; “I may have missed him.”      “Yes, Madam,” said Robert.      I looked at the cold meat and the salad. I felt empty but not hungry. I did not want cold meat now. “Will you be taking lunch?” said Robert.      “No,” I said, “No, you might bring me some tea, Robert, in the library. Nothing like cakes or scones. Just tea and bread and butter.”      “Yes, Madam.”

We’re including this one in our dialogue examples list to show you the power of everything Du Maurier doesn’t do: rather than cycling through a ton of fancy synonyms for “said”, she opts for spare dialogue and tags. 

This interaction's cold, sparse tone complements the lack of warmth the protagonist feels in the moment depicted here. By keeping the dialogue tags simple , the author ratchets up the tension —  without any distracting flourishes taking the reader out of the scene. The subtext of the conversation is able to simmer under the surface, and we aren’t beaten over the head with any stage direction extras.

The inclusion of three sentences of internal dialogue in the middle of the dialogue (“I looked at the cold meat and the salad. I felt empty but not hungry. I did not want cold meat now.”) is also a masterful touch. What could have been a single sentence is stretched into three, creating a massive pregnant pause before Robert continues speaking, without having to explicitly signpost one. Manipulating the pace of dialogue in this way and manufacturing meaningful silence is a great way of adding depth to a scene.

Phew! We've been through a lot of dialogue, from first meetings to idle chit-chat to confrontations, and we hope these dialogue examples have been helpful in illustrating some of the most common techniques.

If you’re looking for more pointers on creating believable and effective dialogue, be sure to check out our course on writing dialogue. Or, if you find you learn better through examples, you can look at our list of 100 books to read before you die — it’s packed full of expert storytellers who’ve honed the art of dialogue.

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• Writing Activities

105 Creative Writing Exercises To Get You Writing Again

You know that feeling when you just don’t feel like writing? Sometimes you can’t even get a word down on paper. It’s the most frustrating thing ever to a writer, especially when you’re working towards a deadline. The good news is that we have a list of 105 creative writing exercises to help you get motivated and start writing again!

What are creative writing exercises?

Creative writing exercises are short writing activities (normally around 10 minutes) designed to get you writing. The goal of these exercises is to give you the motivation to put words onto a blank paper. These words don’t need to be logical or meaningful, neither do they need to be grammatically correct or spelt correctly. The whole idea is to just get you writing something, anything. The end result of these quick creative writing exercises is normally a series of notes, bullet points or ramblings that you can, later on, use as inspiration for a bigger piece of writing such as a story or a poem. 

Good creative writing exercises are short, quick and easy to complete. You shouldn’t need to think too much about your style of writing or how imaginative your notes are. Just write anything that comes to mind, and you’ll be on the road to improving your creative writing skills and beating writer’s block . 

Use the generator below to get a random creative writing exercise idea:

List of 105+ Creative Writing Exercises

Here are over 105 creative writing exercises to give your brain a workout and help those creative juices flow again:

• Set a timer for 60 seconds. Now write down as many words or phrases that come to mind at that moment.
• Pick any colour you like. Now start your sentence with this colour. For example, Orange, the colour of my favourite top. 
• Open a book or dictionary on a random page. Pick a random word. You can close your eyes and slowly move your finger across the page. Now, write a paragraph with this random word in it. You can even use an online dictionary to get random words:

• Create your own alphabet picture book or list. It can be A to Z of animals, food, monsters or anything else you like!
• Using only the sense of smell, describe where you are right now.
• Take a snack break. While eating your snack write down the exact taste of that food. The goal of this creative writing exercise is to make your readers savour this food as well.
• Pick a random object in your room and write a short paragraph from its point of view. For example, how does your pencil feel? What if your lamp had feelings?
• Describe your dream house. Where would you live one day? Is it huge or tiny? 
• Pick two different TV shows, movies or books that you like. Now swap the main character. What if Supergirl was in Twilight? What if SpongeBob SquarePants was in The Flash? Write a short scene using this character swap as inspiration.
• What’s your favourite video game? Write at least 10 tips for playing this game.
• Pick your favourite hobby or sport. Now pretend an alien has just landed on Earth and you need to teach it this hobby or sport. Write at least ten tips on how you would teach this alien.
• Use a random image generator and write a paragraph about the first picture you see.

• Write a letter to your favourite celebrity or character. What inspires you most about them? Can you think of a memorable moment where this person’s life affected yours? We have this helpful guide on writing a letter to your best friend for extra inspiration.
• Write down at least 10 benefits of writing. This can help motivate you and beat writer’s block.
• Complete this sentence in 10 different ways: Patrick waited for the school bus and…
• Pick up a random book from your bookshelf and go to page 9. Find the ninth sentence on that page. Use this sentence as a story starter.
• Create a character profile based on all the traits that you hate. It might help to list down all the traits first and then work on describing the character.
• What is the scariest or most dangerous situation you have ever been in? Why was this situation scary? How did you cope at that moment?
• Pretend that you’re a chat show host and you’re interviewing your favourite celebrity. Write down the script for this conversation.
• Using extreme detail, write down what you have been doing for the past one hour today. Think about your thoughts, feelings and actions during this time.
• Make a list of potential character names for your next story. You can use a fantasy name generator to help you.
• Describe a futuristic setting. What do you think the world would look like in 100 years time?
• Think about a recent argument you had with someone. Would you change anything about it? How would you resolve an argument in the future?
• Describe a fantasy world. What kind of creatures live in this world? What is the climate like? What everyday challenges would a typical citizen of this world face? You can use this fantasy world name generator for inspiration.
• At the flip of a switch, you turn into a dragon. What kind of dragon would you be? Describe your appearance, special abilities, likes and dislikes. You can use a dragon name generator to give yourself a cool dragon name.
• Pick your favourite book or a famous story. Now change the point of view. For example, you could rewrite the fairytale , Cinderella. This time around, Prince Charming could be the main character. What do you think Prince Charming was doing, while Cinderella was cleaning the floors and getting ready for the ball?
• Pick a random writing prompt and use it to write a short story. Check out this collection of over 300 writing prompts for kids to inspire you. 
• Write a shopping list for a famous character in history. Imagine if you were Albert Einstein’s assistant, what kind of things would he shop for on a weekly basis?
• Create a fake advertisement poster for a random object that is near you right now. Your goal is to convince the reader to buy this object from you.
• What is the worst (or most annoying) sound that you can imagine? Describe this sound in great detail, so your reader can understand the pain you feel when hearing this sound.
• What is your favourite song at the moment? Pick one line from this song and describe a moment in your life that relates to this line.
•  You’re hosting an imaginary dinner party at your house. Create a list of people you would invite, and some party invites. Think about the theme of the dinner party, the food you will serve and entertainment for the evening. 
• You are waiting to see your dentist in the waiting room. Write down every thought you are having at this moment in time. 
• Make a list of your greatest fears. Try to think of at least three fears. Now write a short story about a character who is forced to confront one of these fears. 
• Create a ‘Wanted’ poster for a famous villain of your choice. Think about the crimes they have committed, and the reward you will give for having them caught. 
• Imagine you are a journalist for the ‘Imagine Forest Times’ newspaper. Your task is to get an exclusive interview with the most famous villain of all time. Pick a villain of your choice and interview them for your newspaper article. What questions would you ask them, and what would their responses be?
•  In a school playground, you see the school bully hurting a new kid. Write three short stories, one from each perspective in this scenario (The bully, the witness and the kid getting bullied).
• You just won $10 million dollars. What would you spend this money on?
• Pick a random animal, and research at least five interesting facts about this animal. Write a short story centred around one of these interesting facts. 
• Pick a global issue that you are passionate about. This could be climate change, black lives matters, women’s rights etc. Now create a campaign poster for this global issue. 
• Write an acrostic poem about an object near you right now (or even your own name). You could use a poetry idea generator to inspire you.
• Imagine you are the head chef of a 5-star restaurant. Recently the business has slowed down. Your task is to come up with a brand-new menu to excite customers. Watch this video prompt on YouTube to inspire you.
• What is your favourite food of all time? Imagine if this piece of food was alive, what would it say to you?
• If life was one big musical, what would you be singing about right now? Write the lyrics of your song. 
• Create and describe the most ultimate villain of all time. What would their traits be? What would their past look like? Will they have any positive traits?
• Complete this sentence in at least 10 different ways: Every time I look out of the window, I…
• You have just made it into the local newspaper, but what for? Write down at least five potential newspaper headlines . Here’s an example, Local Boy Survives a Deadly Illness.
• If you were a witch or a wizard, what would your specialist area be and why? You might want to use a Harry Potter name generator or a witch name generator for inspiration.
• What is your favourite thing to do on a Saturday night? Write a short story centred around this activity. 
• Your main character has just received the following items: A highlighter, a red cap, a teddy bear and a fork. What would your character do with these items? Can you write a story using these items? 
• Create a timeline of your own life, from birth to this current moment. Think about the key events in your life, such as birthdays, graduations, weddings and so on. After you have done this, you can pick one key event from your life to write a story about. 
• Think of a famous book or movie you like. Rewrite a scene from this book or movie, where the main character is an outsider. They watch the key events play out, but have no role in the story. What would their actions be? How would they react?
• Three very different characters have just won the lottery. Write a script for each character, as they reveal the big news to their best friend.  
• Write a day in the life story of three different characters. How does each character start their day? What do they do throughout the day? And how does their day end?
•  Write about the worst experience in your life so far. Think about a time when you were most upset or angry and describe it. 
• Imagine you’ve found a time machine in your house. What year would you travel to and why?
• Describe your own superhero. Think about their appearance, special abilities and their superhero name. Will they have a secret identity? Who is their number one enemy?
• What is your favourite country in the world? Research five fun facts about this country and use one to write a short story. 
• Set yourself at least three writing goals. This could be a good way to motivate yourself to write every day. For example, one goal might be to write at least 150 words a day. 
• Create a character description based on the one fact, three fiction rule. Think about one fact or truth about yourself. And then add in three fictional or fantasy elements. For example, your character could be the same age as you in real life, this is your one fact. And the three fictional elements could be they have the ability to fly, talk in over 100 different languages and have green skin. 
• Describe the perfect person. What traits would they have? Think about their appearance, their interests and their dislikes. 
• Keep a daily journal or diary. This is a great way to keep writing every day. There are lots of things you can write about in your journal, such as you can write about the ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ of your day. Think about anything that inspired you or anything that upset you, or just write anything that comes to mind at the moment. 
• Write a book review or a movie review. If you’re lost for inspiration, just watch a random movie or read any book that you can find. Then write a critical review on it. Think about the best parts of the book/movie and the worst parts. How would you improve the book or movie?
• Write down a conversation between yourself. You can imagine talking to your younger self or future self (i.e. in 10 years’ time). What would you tell them? Are there any lessons you learned or warnings you need to give? Maybe you could talk about what your life is like now and compare it to their life?
• Try writing some quick flash fiction stories . Flash fiction is normally around 500 words long, so try to stay within this limit.
• Write a six-word story about something that happened to you today or yesterday. A six-word story is basically an entire story told in just six words. Take for example: “Another football game ruined by me.” or “A dog’s painting sold for millions.” – Six-word stories are similar to writing newspaper headlines. The goal is to summarise your story in just six words. 
• The most common monsters or creatures used in stories include vampires, werewolves , dragons, the bigfoot, sirens and the loch-ness monster. In a battle of intelligence, who do you think will win and why?
• Think about an important event in your life that has happened so far, such as a birthday or the birth of a new sibling. Now using the 5 W’s and 1 H technique describe this event in great detail. The 5 W’s include: What, Who, Where, Why, When and the 1 H is: How. Ask yourself questions about the event, such as what exactly happened on that day? Who was there? Why was this event important? When and where did it happen? And finally, how did it make you feel?
• Pretend to be someone else. Think about someone important in your life. Now put yourself into their shoes, and write a day in the life story about being them. What do you think they do on a daily basis? What situations would they encounter? How would they feel?
• Complete this sentence in at least 10 different ways: I remember…
• Write about your dream holiday. Where would you go? Who would you go with? And what kind of activities would you do?
• Which one item in your house do you use the most? Is it the television, computer, mobile phone, the sofa or the microwave? Now write a story of how this item was invented. You might want to do some research online and use these ideas to build up your story. 
• In exactly 100 words, describe your bedroom. Try not to go over or under this word limit.
• Make a top ten list of your favourite animals. Based on this list create your own animal fact file, where you provide fun facts about each animal in your list.
• What is your favourite scene from a book or a movie? Write down this scene. Now rewrite the scene in a different genre, such as horror, comedy, drama etc.
•  Change the main character of a story you recently read into a villain. For example, you could take a popular fairytale such as Jack and the Beanstalk, but this time re-write the story to make Jack the villain of the tale.
• Complete the following sentence in at least 10 different ways: Do you ever wonder…
• What does your name mean? Research the meaning of your own name, or a name that interests you. Then use this as inspiration for your next story. For example, the name ‘Marty’ means “Servant Of Mars, God Of War”. This could make a good concept for a sci-fi story.
• Make a list of three different types of heroes (or main characters) for potential future stories.
• If someone gave you $10 dollars, what would you spend it on and why?
• Describe the world’s most boring character in at least 100 words. 
• What is the biggest problem in the world today, and how can you help fix this issue?
• Create your own travel brochure for your hometown. Think about why tourists might want to visit your hometown. What is your town’s history? What kind of activities can you do? You could even research some interesting facts. 
• Make a list of all your favourite moments or memories in your life. Now pick one to write a short story about.
• Describe the scariest and ugliest monster you can imagine. You could even draw a picture of this monster with your description.
• Write seven haikus, one for each colour of the rainbow. That’s red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. 
• Imagine you are at the supermarket. Write down at least three funny scenarios that could happen to you at the supermarket. Use one for your next short story. 
• Imagine your main character is at home staring at a photograph. Write the saddest scene possible. Your goal is to make your reader cry when reading this scene. 
• What is happiness? In at least 150 words describe the feeling of happiness. You could use examples from your own life of when you felt happy.
• Think of a recent nightmare you had and write down everything you can remember. Use this nightmare as inspiration for your next story.
• Keep a dream journal. Every time you wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning you can quickly jot down things that you remember from your dreams. These notes can then be used as inspiration for a short story. 
• Your main character is having a really bad day. Describe this bad day and the series of events they experience. What’s the worst thing that could happen to your character?
• You find a box on your doorstep. You open this box and see the most amazing thing ever. Describe this amazing thing to your readers.
• Make a list of at least five possible settings or locations for future stories. Remember to describe each setting in detail.
• Think of something new you recently learned. Write this down. Now write a short story where your main character also learns the same thing.
• Describe the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your whole life. Your goal is to amaze your readers with its beauty. 
• Make a list of things that make you happy or cheer you up. Try to think of at least five ideas. Now imagine living in a world where all these things were banned or against the law. Use this as inspiration for your next story.
• Would you rather be rich and alone or poor and very popular? Write a story based on the lives of these two characters. 
• Imagine your main character is a Librarian. Write down at least three dark secrets they might have. Remember, the best secrets are always unexpected.
• There’s a history behind everything. Describe the history of your house. How and when was your house built? Think about the land it was built on and the people that may have lived here long before you.
• Imagine that you are the king or queen of a beautiful kingdom. Describe your kingdom in great detail. What kind of rules would you have? Would you be a kind ruler or an evil ruler of the kingdom?
• Make a wish list of at least three objects you wish you owned right now. Now use these three items in your next story. At least one of them must be the main prop in the story.
• Using nothing but the sense of taste, describe a nice Sunday afternoon at your house. Remember you can’t use your other senses (i.e see, hear, smell or touch) in this description. 
• What’s the worst pain you felt in your life? Describe this pain in great detail, so your readers can also feel it.
• If you were lost on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, what three must-have things would you pack and why?
• Particpate in online writing challenges or contests. Here at Imagine Forest, we offer daily writing challenges with a new prompt added every day to inspire you. Check out our challenges section in the menu.

Do you have any more fun creative writing exercises to share? Let us know in the comments below!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

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15 Ways to Level Up Your Dialogue Game: Creative Dialogue Activity Ideas

April 19, 2023 //  by  Keren Dinkin

Incorporating dialogue activities can be one of the best ways to help improve your students’ communication skills. These activities will not only enhance their creative writing skills but also offer fun ways to bolster classroom confidence! Use our collection of 15 unique activities to take your student’s communication skills to the next level!

1. Role Play

Role play is a fun and efficient way to practice real-life scenarios and improve communication skills. Make sure to establish clear ground rules and time limits. Students can even choose to enact these scenarios like a play!

Learn more: Game for ESL

2. Question-And-Answer Task

Explore different types of questions and prompt your learners to spend time answering them. This activity is similar to Jeopardy but minus the cash prizes. Establish rules beforehand, or you may end up with more chaos than answers!

Learn more: Elementary Nest

3. Debate Club

Why not start a debate club? It’s a fun and engaging way to improve your students’ communication skills; allowing them to express their thoughts and ideas while learning how to respectfully listen and respond to others.

Learn more: ESU.ORG

4. Improv Night

Host an improv session in your classroom and let your students unleash their creativity! This spontaneous and entertaining dialogue activity requires no scripts and is a great way to encourage dynamic dialogues.

Learn more: Owlcation

5. Quotation Hunt

Search for inspiring quotes and use them as prompts for dialogue writing practice. Remind students to use quotation marks to distinguish them from the rest of the statements in their write-ups.

Learn more: Mensa for Kids

6. Teach Dialogue to Young Writers

Discuss Jon Klassen’s book I Want My Hat Back to explore the importance of dialogue in a story. Then, have students put on their writer’s hats and come up with their own unique dialogues!

Learn more: Walking By The Way

7. Guess Who

“Guess Who” is a fun dialogue activity during which your learners can create conversations with different characters by guessing their identities. They should focus on using their answer sets to expand their vocabulary and improve communication skills.

Learn more: Fit Mag

8. Trivia Challenge

Get your students’ brains buzzing with a Trivia Challenge! This classic dialogue activity helps sharpen their communication and critical thinking skills by challenging students to answer tricky questions in order to earn points.

Learn more: Parade

9. Interview Practice

Have your students role-play a professional interview so that they can understand how to communicate effectively during their future job search. Through engaging in this type of activity, they’ll learn the power of body language and the art of answering tough questions.

Learn more: The Balance

10. Bell Ringer Activity

Engage your students with quick and fun questions to get their brains buzzing. They can create a flowchart that depicts different dialogues or create imaginary dialogues using historical figures!

Learn more: Ditch That Textbook

11. Dialogue Journals

Students can write back and forth to each other in a journal; responding to each other’s questions or sharing their own thoughts. 

Learn more: Teacher Vision

12. Picture Prompts for Writing

Visual cues are a fun way to inspire student conversation-  especially when discussing topics that might be hard to put into words! Have your students analyze and interpret images; making connections between visual and verbal worlds.

Learn more: Write Out Loud

13. Collaborative Comic Creation

This activity promotes creativity, collaboration, and the development of dialogue writing skills. Have your learners work in pairs or small groups to create a comic strip. Each member of the group will take turns adding a panel to the story; using dialogue to move the narrative forward. 

Learn more: Edutopia

14. Alternative Endings

Have your littles read a short story or watch a video clip and discuss what they think the ending should be. They can then work in pairs or small groups to create their own alternative endings;  using dialogue to explain the story’s conclusion.

Learn more: Teacher Starter

15 . Jigsaw Discussions

Divide students into small groups and assign each of them a different topic or theme. Each group member must then conduct research and become an expert in their assigned topic before joining new groups and engaging in conversation to gain new insights and perspectives.

Learn more: Instructional Moves