Tips for Writing Dialogue

When writing a screenplay, dialogue is the most fun to write. You get to pick whatever you want people to say!

It’s also the most difficult thing to get right. So let’s go through to see some tips and tricks to writing dialogue that will really pop.

If you’re struggling to improve your dialogue skills, here are a few potholes you should be sure to avoid.

Make your audience work

The entire point of a screenplay is to cause your reader to exercise their imagination. You want them to invest in your world, put their own creative skin in the game. But how?

Start by not giving them answers. Yes, you want your reader to understand what is going on in your story. You want to be clear about the subtext and emotions. But let your audience draw their own conclusions.

Rather than allowing your characters to state their reasons and conclusions, let your readers figure out the subtext on their own. In other words, make the reader work for it.

The creative effort your readers exert will get them invested in your characters, their emotional journeys and their wants. Rather than just reading your script, they will experience it.

All art is made in 2 parts — the artist’s meaning and the audience’s interpretation. You don’t need to state…