Dialogue Terms, Skills and Strategies

Name: ______

Dialogue terms:

1. Dialogue

2. Dialogue tag

3. Action tag

4. Quotation marks

5. Spoken (outer) dialogue

6. Internal dialogue

7. Buried dialogue (avoid this)

8. Monologue

9. Authorial intrusion

Ways to make dialogue more natural and effective? Find at least four strategies. Dialogue Terms, Skills and Strategies

Each of these websites will teach you more about the skills and strategies used in writing dialogue. You will also find some definitions for your worksheet, too! Spend some time reviewing these and learning the rules. Take notes, practice, maybe find some practice worksheets online, too. For the quiz, you will need to define the terms and write a short piece of dialogue that shows your understanding of how to do that correctly. Have fun!

Short and sweet and to the point, this one discusses how to avoid meaningless dialogue, gives basic punctuation rules and gives some exercises to try (You could use those for your journal or drafts): http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writingrules/a/Writing-Story-Dialogue.htm

This blog focuses mostly just on the rules for punctuation and tags in dialogue. However, don’t try the em dash or “free indirect discourse”. Let’s save those for college level writing! http://litreactor.com/columns/talk-it-out-how-to-punctuate-dialogue-in-your-prose

Written by an editor, this blog discusses dialogue tags, action tags, outer and inner dialogue techniques. It’s also really easy to read, pretty short and helpful. http://sirragirl.blogspot.com/2012/01/3-types- of-dialogues-and-2-types-of.html

Written by David Hood, Author of “ The Art and Craft of Creative Writing”, this is a really complete blog about dialogue…when to use it, definitions of types and examples. http://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/writing-fiction-dialogue/

This one is geared to someone who has already started a novel, but there’s useful info in it, especially a nice list of tags other than “Said”, and a lesson on when to use dialogue and when not to: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/files/ywp/ywp_10_hs_dialogue.pdf

This blog by Chuck Wendig, author of several novels and a nonfiction book called “The Kick-Ass Writer” is really good, but my goodness, he has a potty mouth! I hesitate to include it except that I find it (and several of his 25 lists) really helpful once you get past the language. Look at if you want, but seriously, if that kind of language is going to offend you or your parents, then skip it. EXPLICIT LANGUAGE….VIEW WITH DISCRETION: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/07/05/25-things-you-should-know-about-dialogue/

This one gives short and direct ways to improve your dialogue, making it sound more natural and believable, making it easier to read. http://writetodone.com/10-easy-ways-to-improve-your-dialogue/

One more that tells how to make your dialogue GOOD, not just correct. Pay special attention to #9. http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/10/04/dialogue-mistakes/