How To Write Good Dialogue

When I first started to write, my dialogue felt kind of clunky. It didn’t flow the way I wanted it. I went back to my favorite authors to see how they did it. I looked at how their characters talked to each other but sadly I didn’t find the answers I was looking for. So I went to Youtube. I found a lot of helpful ideas. There are a lot of good authors with Youtube channels that also went through the same things I was dealing with. After putting a few of their suggestions to the test I came up with a winner.

As I’m writing, I go along normally until I get to the dialogue. From here I write what my characters are saying. Nothing else. For example:

Eddie, we need your help. And I think we could help you out as well.
Really?
Eddie, we know about your ‘abilities’. We’ve had our eye on you since the video of you getting hit with the alien beam was uploaded on the internet.
Eddie. I didn’t know people were taking video.
Of course they were. It’s the world we live in.
I assume you’ve seen the news lately?
Some super powered nut is blowing up cops and cities to get the attention of someone he calls a champion.
We know that person is you.
Then let me go so I can find this guy and put an end to it.
It’s not that easy. We have questions. For both of you.

After I write down what my characters are going to say, I read it over and think about what they’re going through and what their emotional state is at the time. Once I have that I’ll go back and add the dialogue tags and other information. Like this:

“Eddie, we need your help. And I think we could help you out as well.”
“Really?” he said. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“Eddie, we know about your ‘abilities’. We’ve had our eye on you since the video of you getting hit with the alien beam was uploaded on the internet.” HR pushed a button on her desk. A screen came to life behind her with the video of him suspended in the air by the beam.
“Eddie. I didn’t know people were taking video.” Blair said.
“Of course they were. It’s the world we live in.” Eddie said. He put his hand on Blair’s and gave it a squeeze.
“I assume you’ve seen the news lately?” HR continued. “Some super powered nut is blowing up cops and cities to get the attention of someone he calls a champion. We know that person is you.”
“Then let me go so I can find this guy and put an end to it.” Eddie’s cool exterior was starting to crack. He took a deep breath and let it out.
“It’s not that easy.” HR leaned forward making eye contact with Eddie. “We have questions. For both of you.”

That looks much better. I do like working with dialogue this way. It’s a bare-bones way to figure out where I want the scene to go. Then I add the muscle and tendons to help dial it in. Now, this isn’t the only way to create dialogue. There are a lot of other ways that might be better for you. However you decide to handle it, remember-

It’s not important how you write, it’s important that you write. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million times later, the world needs to read your story.

I hope you find this useful as you continue to write. Feel free to like and share this with your friends.