Questions tagged [dialogue]
He said, she said, or what your characters are saying.
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How to write dialogue with a large group of characters
My story has a cast of 59 characters, 25 of which are either protagonists or antagonists. Nine of these characters are very well-rounded and important, and most make an appearance at least once in ...
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What should I do in this situation?
I get most of my ideas for my novels by watching anime, or listening to the anime op or just music - the idea doesn't always be related to anime but it gives me an idea and with music and anime op, I ...
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Saying letters? [duplicate]
How do you write dialogue in which the character is saying a letter?
Ex: “They speak a language pretty similar to english, just the letter y is replaced with double es.”
Bolded letters are where the ...
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How to give the voice expression of shouting as well as rhetorical question
While writing dialogue, I came across this confusion. There are some moments when the characters are deep in their thoughts (past troubling thoughts), and something happens that makes them flip-out. ...
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How can I specify the speaker in the dialogue without repeating the hero's name?
Let's say my character is Alex, a young man and an actor. I'm describing a long dialogue of him and another person. I need to specify he is a person speaking quite often so the reader is not confused ...
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Moving story forward via conversation in first person
Background
I wrote a few paragraphs of a story, again as an assignment a little while ago, but now I plan on completing it. But there is a problem while I am writing. Unlike other short stories that ...
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How can I make a character's dialouge sound smart?
I have an intelligent character. He's basically there just for comic relief, but also helps the MC.
One of the special things about him is his dialogue. He speaks usually out of annoyance, like when ...
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How to punctuate dialogue interupted by the same character's dialogue?
I understand how to punctuate dialogue interrupted by action. But there are two main examples of where I feel it's effective for the same character to interrupt their own dialogue.
Example 1: ...
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Is italicizing parts of dialogue for emphasis ever appropriate?
Is it ever appropriate to use italics to emphasize parts of dialogue to show which words the speakers is putting emphasis on? I used to do this quite frequently, but I was told that this was a sign of ...
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"Just as well" - can/is this used sarcastically?
I'm having a discussion with another writer: in the story, a person is describing someone else's father's disappearance and possible death. They're trying to express bitter resignation and uses the ...
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How to keep a story interesting when it's mostly dialogue?
I've realized that most of the short stories I've been writing recently are almost entirely dialog. The stories hinge on relationships between characters and associated conflicts, so it felt natural ...
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How can I write dialogue inside a dialogue?
I am writing a story where one person A is narrating a story to B. In the story, there are conversations between characters, C and D, of the story. How do I then write the dialogue between A and B and ...
Ritwik
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How to a describe a character that is not remotely human?
I am writing a story that involves a creature that is specifically not humanoid. Instead of appearing as a human, it is more of ageless energy that exists in the core of a planet, can communicate with ...
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Child's Point of View [duplicate]
I'm writing in the first person from a child's point of view. Is this too complex for an eight-year-old?
My feet tingled. It’s one thing to have an agent come and watch the show, but now the one ...
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Point of View Question on First Person
I'm currently writing from 1st point of view, and I understand that since the character's viewpoint is limited, I can't talk about other characters' actions and reactions unless she sees it. My ...
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Different dialogues for inner thoughts
Whenever I write inner thoughts I do something like:
What is she thinking?, Maria thought.
I find myself using the word thought, think, or wonder a lot when writing inner thoughts. Is there a way to ...
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Should I change or break up a long quote?
In the book I am writing, I have ran into a small problem. One character is retelling an event to a different character, but It's a somewhat longer explanation than I thought it would be. I'm happy ...
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How to keep it clear which character is speaking in a long dialog?
I'm trying to write a long dialog with multiple exchanges between characters. How can I keep it clear which character is speaking without filling the story without repeating 'he said/she said'. ...
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Explicit language in YA fiction
I'm writing a YA novel where most of the characters are in their teens or early 20's. One of my characters has some "colorful" language in certain situations, (e.g. she twists her ankle, ...
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Using non-say dialogue tags
Since I took up writing as a hobby, I've learnt that it's recommended to only use "say" and "ask" as dialogue tags, and to skip even these if the attribution can be supplied in ...
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Using minimal amount of dialogue to introduce two characters but still move the story along
I have always struggled with writing dialogue between my characters in my historical fiction novel. So, when it is possible to avoid dialogue, I avoid it. In the scenario I am writing, I have 2 ...
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How to write natural-sounding dialogue?
Writing dialogue for my novel has proved to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. It all seems clunky and unnatural. Any tips for writing natural sounding dialogue?
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Developing Voice for a Third Person Narrator and Multiple Characters
I'm currently working on what I hope to be a near final draft of my first ever novel. Something I've struggled with through this writing process is developing a voice for my narrator as well as my ...
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How to get across to the reader a character’s prophetic abilities
My protagonist is speaking to my interpretation of the three fates from Greek mythology. He doubts their abilities until one of them echoes his every word as, or an instant before, he utters them.
How ...
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Showing one word hesitation due to fright in dialogue
I'm a children's writer and have always used, "W-Who," to a the character being scared. An example would be "W-Who's there?"
Someone recently asked if it would be more appropriate ...
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How should my script refer to a character who's currently disguised as another character?
I've recently resumed writing a series of scripts for an anime I've been planning. One of the characters has the ability to shape-shift, and there are several scenes in which she initially appears ...
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Is it bad practice to use "ahem" in dialogue?
I'm writing a bit of fiction and what i have is an uncomfortable character who is clearing his throat before speaking. Is it better to say so literally:
Louis cleared his throat. "I'm not sure.&...
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What pronoun to use for a sentient, self aware AI?
I have a sentient AI in a story. He sentience aspect is mostly an unexpected result and some characters in the story do not believe it. When they refer to the AI, should they use the "it" ...
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How to punctuate long, never-ending dialogue sentences?
I need some basic grammar guidelines to follow regarding how to punctuate dialogues where people go on forever, like in the example below:
Now I've edited the whole series all five books which means ...
user47346
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How to punctuate repeated thoughts/words when transcribing dialogues?
I'm transcribing a webinar for work and I need to get the punctuations right for this. How do I punctuate dialogue when the speaker repeats words in a row whilst wondering out loud? For example, in ...
user47346
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All my characters sound the same. How can I change this?
I am writing a fantasy series. I am a new writer. I am almost done with the first draft of the first book, I have about 400 pages. Everyone who has read my work, even complete strangers that I have ...
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protagonist knows things which the reader doesn't know/story starts in the middle. How do I tell them?
when I say "reader", in the context of my particular scenario, I actually mean the "player" as this story is for a videogame.
I start the game off with the player/main character (...
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In dialog, what pronoun forms go before the colon?
What should I write before the colon in dialogue? Subject or object?
I: Do you love me?
He: Yes, I do.
Or
Me: Do you love me?
Him: Yes, I do.
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How are the limits of regional vernacularism/slang should be employed in a novel that is true to the area and time?
What's an acceptable amount of non-standard English that can be used to depict the language of a certain area of the South (Louisiana) without turning off readers? My current work in progress has ...
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How can you add light, quirky, humor or sarcasm into dialog?
Looking back at my book, I'm realizing how flat the dialog is. I'm not known for being funny and I don't consider myself naturally funny, so this is hard for me. How can I make the characters talk to ...
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Will a copyeditor refine both dialogue and plot?
I am a big-picture kinda guy. I have ideas and I love details, but I hate to get stuck up in the microscopic level grunt work - managing accents, tones and environment details that are not so central ...
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Use of commas with non-dialogue-tag verbs before and after dialogue
I've recently found myself second guessing a convention I've followed for a while where with a piece of dialogue, for instance:
"Hurry home" came down the front stairs behind her.
I'm ...
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How do you format dialogue within a paragraph?
He made his way over to the crimson red telephone box that basked in the afternoon sunlight. Ted knew she was hiding in there. “You can come out now." He swung open the door, with a callous look ...
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How to write a character who speaks with Russian mannerisms
One of my characters is Russian and speaks English as a second language. I know that people with Russian accents tend to leave out words like “the” and “a” because they don’t exist in Russian.
My ...
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Realistically writing culture shock for this character?
I wanted help writing a character for my setting.
Basically, in this story I’m writing, I have a character named Christina. Basically, she lived in an underground bunker, in a post-apocalyptic world, ...
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A smooth way to make Dialogue
I am an amateur fiction writer and a key feature in most of my pieces is dialogue. There are often 6-12 characters in the exciting scenes and a lot of the content depends on who said what and how the ...
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How can I write complex and believable characters?
How do I write characters that are more grounded, complex and believable so that readers can resonate with them and makes my novel more compelling?
How should I elaborate their dialogues and actions ...
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How to create unique dialogue for characters? [duplicate]
So, one of my problems is that I have trouble giving my characters unique voices. They usually all sound the same. I may say that they have a certain dialect or accent, but it doesn't come through in ...
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I'm writing a prologue from the POV of a non-English-speaking character. How should I write the dialogue?
Picturing this in movie form would be easy. I would have the character speak their native language in the scene and place subtitles. But I do not have this luxury in writing.
It would be weird to ...
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Punctuation in direct speech with multiple sentences
The information I found on using punctuation marks in direct speech did not address doing so with multiple sentences. For example, I want to write four sentences with direct speech with reporting ...
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How can I show a character's emotions through a phone call?
When writing face-to-face dialogue, I like to give clues as to what the non-POV character is thinking and feeling through their actions. Not all the time, but whenever it feels appropriate. They might ...
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How to make a weak character fight in major battle [closed]
My character is about to fight someone that really strong but he believes that he is still weak. So how can i force him to fight. (For plus note: i make a fantasy story like magic and stuff)
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How to write a POC explaining to a bullied child that dark skin isn't bad
I'm writing a scene where the skin tone of an adult person of color (POC) is brought up in conversation.
The POC has the nickname "Ghost" and another character asks if it's ironic like "Tiny" etc. (...
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How can I write dialogue to show arrogance?
In a series I am currently writing, the protagonist grew up in a big detective family, causing her to know a lot about the detective's world.
How can I write her dialogue to show she's a knows it all?...
user44538
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How do I write characters that aren't just a copy of myself?
I am finding it difficult to create fictional characters with personalities that are not a copy of myself. I'm having trouble trying to understand what others a character would do in certain ...
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