dialogue writing
Scripting character speech
Dialogue writing is the craft of composing spoken exchanges between characters in fiction, drama, or screenwriting.
Good dialogue reveals character, advances plot, and sounds natural without merely transcribing how people actually talk—which tends to ramble.
The term also covers writing conversations for video games, podcasts, or interactive media: She took a dialogue writing workshop to improve her screenplay.
- screenwritingComposing scripts for film
- subtextImplicit meaning beneath words
- on the noseExactly accurate or correct
- show don't tellWriting principle favoring demonstration
- inner monologueUnspoken personal narration
pacing · character development · character voice · speech patterns · radio dramas · colloquialism · playwriting · repetition · interruptions · idiomatic expressions · dialects · tension building · realism · storytelling · emotional resonance · graphic novels · brevity · television scripts
dialogue writingscene-setting
Creating initial context
telling · interior monologue · descriptive writing · expository writing · narration
dialogue writingnarrative summary
Condensed account of events
exposition dump · info-dumping · reported speech · authorial intrusion · purple prose