Talk Dirty to Me: Dialogue

We’ve spent a lot of time this month talking about narrative. Let’s take a moment to review the other half of the writing in your script: Dialogue.

Here are simple tips on how to create good dialogue and common pitfalls to avoid while trying to give a believable and distinct voice to your characters.

In the book The Tools of Screenwriting, by David Howard and Edward Mabley, the authors highlight ten things that dialogue must accomplish:

1. It must characterize the speaker and perhaps the person addressed.
2. It must be idiomatic, maintaining the individuality of the speaker, yet still blend into the style of the screenplay as a whole.
3. It must reflect the speaker’s mood, convey their emotion, or provide some window into their inner life.
4. It must often reveal the speaker’s motivation or an attempt to hide their motivation.
5. It must reflect the relationships of the speaker to the other characters.
6. It must be connective, that is, grow out of a preceding speech or action and lead into another.
7. It must advance action.
8. It must sometimes carry information or exposition.
9. Often it must foreshadow what is to come.
10. It must be clear and…