#104: 10 Tips For Writing Better Dialogue
Fiction Writing Made Easy
Savannah Gilbo
4.9 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2023
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In today’s episode, I’m sharing my top 10 tips for writing stronger, more impactful dialogue in your novel. Here’s a preview of what’s included:
[02:00] Tip #1: Make sure your dialogue serves a purpose in the overarching story.
[03:00] Tip #2: Think of your dialogue as action vs. exposition (or active vs. passive).
[06:09] Tip #3: Get clear on each character’s goal and motivation within a scene.
[07:43] Tip #4: Make sure your dialogue is ripe with conflict and tension.
[10:02] Tip #5: Check that your dialogue sounds right for your genre and tone.
[11:15] Tip #6: Ensure each character has a unique and rich vocabulary.
[13:13] Tip #7: Curate your dialogue to show readers only what they need to see.
[14:30] Tip #8: Keep your dialogue short and to the point.
[16:16] Tip #9: Aim to have your dialogue do more than one thing—and include subtext.
[18:19] Tip #10: Use dialogue to help you control your story’s pacing.
[20:17] Final thoughts and episode recap.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Real quick, my five-day live challenge called Unlock Your Story is about to begin. |
| 0:04.7 | We're about to shut down enrollment and get started on September 28th, |
| 0:08.5 | so I wanted to give you one last chance to head over to SavannahGilbo.com forward slash |
| 0:13.3 | challenge to save your seat before your chance is gone. If writing a novel has been a dream of yours |
| 0:18.0 | for a while or something on your to-do list that you'd really like to check off, |
| 0:22.2 | then join me inside the Unlock Your Story Challenge, where I'll help you develop the four |
| 0:26.4 | foundational elements of a working story idea. A plot that hooks interest at protagonists |
| 0:30.8 | with a compelling goal, conflict with high stakes, and a theme with heart in just five days. |
| 0:35.6 | It's only $47 to join, but the doors are closing very, very soon. You can either |
| 0:40.2 | head to savannagilbo.com forward slash challenge to sign up, or you can find me on Instagram |
| 0:45.1 | at savanna.gilbo and send me a DM with the word challenge. If you DM me the word challenge, |
| 0:50.1 | I will send you a link with all the details you need to join. Hope to see you there. |
| 0:54.2 | Subtext is built on characterization, which is the key to great dialogue. So again, |
| 0:59.1 | this is why developing your characters is super important before writing or editing your dialogue. |
| 1:04.0 | But essentially you'll want to consider things like a character's backstory, their fears, |
| 1:08.0 | their worries, their hopes, and their dreams, any current or past relationships that might be at |
| 1:12.7 | play in the present moment, and things like that. All of this will help you write subtext into your |
| 1:17.3 | dialogue. Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. My name is Savannah Gilbo, and I'm |
| 1:23.4 | here to help you write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't |
| 1:28.0 | have to be overwhelming. So each week, I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, |
| 1:32.8 | actionable, and step-by-step strategies that you can implement in your writing right away. |
| 1:37.6 | So whether you're brand new to writing or more of a seasoned author looking to improve your craft, |
... |
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