Writing Dialogue

by Tom Chiarella

Whether you're writing an argument, a love scene, a powwow among sixth graders or scientists in a lab, this book demonstrates how to write dialogue that sounds authentic and original. You'll learn ways to find ideas for literary discussions by tuning in to what you hear every day. You'll learn to use gestures instead of speech, to insert silences that are as effective as outbursts, to add shifts in tone, and other strategies for making conversations more compelling. Nuts and bolts are covered, too - formatting, punctuation, dialogue tags - everything you need to get your characters talking.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, How To

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Candace]

When it comes to writing, I have heard, "Learn the rules, then you can break them." Tom Chiarella tells us he is only offering advice on writing dialogue, not rules. He advises us to listen to dialogue. Listen to our family, friends and, even, movies. We are to jot down what we hear and use it to create new dialogue. He advises comparing the dialogue in a book to its screen play. Last, we come to the final chapter titled Nuts and Bolts. In this chapter we learn about dialogue tags, adverbs, present participles and punctuation. Each chapter is followed by exercises. There is also an appendix at the end of the book.

[Nikki Magennis]

A wonderful look at writing dialogue. I got heaps from this book - learned lots about veracity and producing meaningful dialogue. Entertainingly written, too. A definite essential for a writer, I'd say. Contains plenty of exercises, and some fabulous insights on things like silence, what is not said, plus basic nuts and bolts practicalities.
It's pretty short, only reason I gave it less than five stars. I wanted more!

[K. Anna Kraft]

I have arranged my takeaway on this book into a haiku:

"Tension, intent, taste—
There’s plenty to play with, but
The big rule? Just work."

[S.P.]

This is a nice little guide to writing dialogue in fiction. Chiaralla's focus is on listening to real people talk, how they talk, what they say - emphasizing any dialogue your write is from the characters perspective rather than the writer's or for the benefit for the reader.

There are a number of techniques for doing this, and a excellent last chapter on dialogue tags, and punctuation.

Most informative

[Josh Hutton]

The best thing about this book is it demolishes your notions of dialogue, of listening, of silence— and restructures the way you see friends, family, and creative media. "Writing Dialogue," while thorough, also moves with both lighthearted examples and biting wit. By far one of the best books on writing that I've read.

[Nikki]

If you like books about writing, this is a good one. It's clear and helpful. It's not so much into cheerleading the fledgling authors as teaching the tricks of dialogue. It's very focused, so you are given tons and tons ideas for just dialogue. It's a tad dry, but good.

[Margot]

This book on writing dialogue is chock-full of useful exercises and applicable skills and techniques. Everything is communicated clearly and supported with examples. I liked it so much, I actually bought myself a copy for future reference.

[Kelsey Bryant]

Very helpful dialogue tips here, for any writer! Beware of a few profanities, however.
It includes exercises at the end of each chapter that seem helpful, but I have yet to try them. I look forward to doing so, and implementing his fresh suggestions into my own writing.

[Luke Miller]

This was a very helpful book. The descriptions and examples were excellent. I think many of the exercises in this book would be helpful for those who are not interesting in writing fiction. They would make you more observant. Help you enjoy the life around you more.

[Leemaslibros]

Si ya es malo que haya pocos libros sobre cómo escribir diálogos, peor es que uno de ellos sea una masturbación constante del autor salpicada por algunas pistas de escaso interés.

[Tama]

It’s like school again. Very particular types of work to do. Spending days listening to people. This is much more practical than screenwriting books.

But why can’t I just have it already. Let me snap crackle pop like a Howard Hawks movie.

What your character says is directed by the needs of a story.

What is the main or unforeseen threat in a given conversation. What is up in the air, what might change like THAT?

Temporarily change the subject, to a figurative place or a quirky idea or what if?

Details of the world fade in and out creating a strange irony or poetry of life and disappearing moments in time made relevant to another’s story.

How does one write a soliloquy or aside?

“You’re gonna be so much smarter, because you’re reading in print!”
I’m sitting at the bus stop.
He’s jabbing a pointer at me after crossing the road.
“Do you notice that. Have you ever read on the blue screen?”
“Once. Non-fiction. Maybe fiction is different.”
“It happened with the kids, man. When they were learning at home, they didn’t get it.”

So I’m going to take the 5-word lines seriously. Surely that’s a key towards some ‘His Girl Friday’ writing. 10 and 5 word alternating periods.

It is an interesting philosophy for coming up with dialogue scenes. I’m thinking more favourably on it because “Good soup,” page 125. Humourous. He is saying when a dialogue reaches to the outside world, extraneous details that should reveal character and propel the story along while being believable. Economy comes in with limiting word count.

Felt like I couldn’t write until after I was through with this book—a bad thing, not as if I was learning all over again, but I assumed I would be rebuilding skills from the ground up (no). And it wasn’t as easy to skim as he doesn’t retread the same info as screenplay books. But often is talking about writing in a technical way that isn’t about style. Though his dialogue style is there!

[Shane Lusher]

Good source with exercises for honing your dialogue skills.

[Megan]

With (above)
January 27, 2001

[Tone]

It's a rare book on writing that's informative and fun to read.

[Douglas Wilson]

Quite good.

[Joe]

Great reference; and some excellent exercises to get it right!

[Winnie Thornton]

So good, I was just about squealing by page five. And you can tell that 95% of the fiction authors and screenplay writers out there have NOT read this book.

[Lee Sinclair]

To me, the characters are what makes a story, so dialogue is one of the most critical elements of fiction writing. This book covers all aspects of dialogue and provides lots of specifics.

[Dustin]

A great book for a beginning writer like myself. It has a lot of good advice and some good exercise to help develop your writing. I would definitely recommend it.

[Jennifer Davidson]

Lots of helpful information. It will certainly make me think a lot more while writing dialogue for my suspense novels...each word counts.

[Steven]

This is an excellent book for beginning writers because it gives a way to get started. Probably less useful for someone wanting to revise and hone a draft.

[Krisi]

ok.

[Aditi Chopra]

A great resource for writing dialogues in fiction!

[Gabi]

Great stuff. Clear and valuable advice, meaningful exercises. I'll definitely return to this book in the future.

[Becca]

Incredibly helpful and thought provoking.

[Donna]

Some good pointers and lots of examples in this book. Especially strong in highlighting the differences between book and TV dialogue. I found other books on the topic more helpful though.

[Lute]

Really helpful book about writing dialogue written in an engaging, helpful style. It never gets condescending. I learned a lot from this book and appreciated many of the exercises. I worked my way slowly through this book over a couple of months, and I think that was really the way to do it.

I don't have enough praises to sing about this book. I'm glad I own it because I can tell it's going to be a book that I reference again and again.

[Johnny]

Being more curious about the writing process and finding out more about it I decided to start reading books on the topic along side my fiction reads.
As it often is with books in this genre there’s a lot of fluff and filler sentences, but there’s good points and examples.
Haven’t done the exercises that every chapter ends with, but I’m going to take some of them to heart.
Gave it a 3 star mostly cause of the filler/fluff feel I get with these types of books.

[E.C.]

DNF, not because the book was bad, but because it wasn't applicable to me or my writing situation at the moment.

But I will most definitely come back to it later (hopefully in a couple months when I start drafting my novel). Definitely some great insight within these pages—though small content warning for profanity, though mainly in dialogue examples and not the actual writing.

[Rachel Benefiel]

As with any writing book, not every tip landed, but enough gems did that I consider it a worthy read. The author strongly emphasizes developing an ear for dialogue by becoming more intentional in listening to speech in your everyday life. My big takeaways were keeping dialogue concise and remembering that the characters’ audience is each other, not the reader.