How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript (Bell on Writing)

by James Scott Bell

dramatic dialogue should always be "a compression and extension of action."

If you think of speech as action, it will keep you from writing soggy, inert dialogue. Speech as action reminds you that characters talk in fiction because they want to further their own ends.

Every word, every phrase that comes out of a character's mouth is uttered because the character hopes it will further a purpose. The character has, in short, an agenda.

This is the first and most important lesson in dazzling dialogue: be clear on every character's agenda in a scene, and the agendas in conflict. Before you write take just a moment to jot down what each character in the scene wants, even if (as Kurt Vonnegut once said) it is only a glass of water.

So that's the foundation for dazzling dialogue. It comes from a character who has an agenda, and is directed toward another character who has an agenda. No matter how small or large the objectives, if they are in conflict the dialogue will work.

Dialogue in fiction has five functions. One or more of the following must always be at work, or you're just taking up space: 1. Reveal story information 2. Reveal character 3. Set the tone 4. Set the scene 5. Reveal theme

Act first, explain later. Readers will wait a long time for explanatory material if there is solid action going on. In fact, by not revealing the reasons behind certain actions and dialogue, you create mystery. That works in any genre. Readers love to be left wondering. Second, once you know what you need to reveal, put it into a tense dialogue exchange. In other words, hide the exposition within confrontation.