30. Writing Great Dialogue: Five Criteria to Determine if Your Dialogue is Essential and Crucial to Your Story

THE TOP TEN PRINCIPLES FOR WRITING GOOD DIALOGUE – PART 1

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:     

Last week’s episode laid a foundation for how to write great dialogue, and gave us the first of the top ten principles for writing dialogue in your story. Namely:

1.     It must be essential & crucial to the story in one or more of the following ways:

• a.     It advances plot (gives us essential story information/ exposition)
• b.     It shows us essential character relationships
• c.     It helps us understand scenes
• d.     It reveals character 
• e.     It reflects Theme 

This week, we continue to unpack these top ten principles with:

2.     It comes FROM one character TO another character. Don’t write for the audience’s benefit and have the characters telling each other things that they wouldn’t need to say. Good dialogue must be between the characters only. Don’t underestimate your audience. They’ll get it.

3.     It is an extension of action. Your character should always be pursuing some sort of objective. Ask yourself, “What is his or her next step to get whatever he or she wants?” Also, give the characters something to do. A lot of dynamic scenes can develop if only you put the characters in situations where they’re already doing something.

4.     It is not contrived. It is organic. Don’t give too much information or exposition. Just show us the relationship and let the audience interpret the dynamics of that relationship. Also, Let the scene build and unfold in a natural, organic way. Don’t rush it or force it. Things must build in an organic, believable way.

UP NEXT

Next week, we will go over three more of the top ten principles of good dialogue, and we’ll learn a few more tricks of the trade. Don’t miss out!

QUESTIONS OR TOPIC REQUESTS? 

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SPECIAL THANKS

The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe would like to thank composer Carla Patullo for the original music she graciously permits us to use in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com

TAGS: Artist, Artists, Dialogue, How to write dialogue, characters, Writing tips, Writing, Writers, Story, Storytelling, Storytellers, Zena Dell Lowe, Mission Ranch Films, The Storyteller’s Mission, The Mission with Zena Dell Lowe

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