Comments on: How to Write Dialogue in a Story https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story Your voice is a gift. Share it. Tue, 18 Nov 2025 19:38:54 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Sean Glatch https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-267584 Tue, 18 Nov 2025 19:38:54 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-267584 In reply to Lilian Pomeroy Edmonds.

I’m glad I can help, Lilian!

]]> By: Lilian Pomeroy Edmonds https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-267582 Tue, 18 Nov 2025 18:14:43 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-267582 Fabulous article, Sean! I’m saving this one. Dialog is the one thing I rarely try, except for internal dialog, which seems easier. This is a must read for all writers, no matter skill level. Great review of all the basics.

]]> By: Jenna https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-100256 Wed, 14 Feb 2024 21:45:21 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-100256 Really great advice. One thing I often do is get my students to ‘capture conversations’ so they can hear the cadence of real dialogue. Then we look at how to make it more powerful by taking out most if not all of the ‘um’s, ah’s’ and other interruptions or interjections. It has improved the quality of my students written dialogue immensely. πŸ™‚

]]> By: Vanessa Thurgood https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-93802 Tue, 02 Jan 2024 20:54:03 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-93802 I came across your website while doing some research for my writing students and I have to say this is one of the best resources I’ve found when it comes to writing dialogue. Thank you for taking the time to put together such a valuable resource and one which I’ll be passing on to my students.

Thank you again!

]]> By: Deraaa https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-45973 Wed, 28 Dec 2022 17:42:50 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-45973 Directed here from somewhere else. A novice when it comes to fiction writing and the proper use of English. I fid dialogue my most difficult in writing. I am glad for this. I get most of the gist now.

]]> By: Sean Glatch https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-12450 Sun, 10 Apr 2022 15:20:54 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-12450 Thank you, Nicole! I’m so glad you found it helpful. Happy writing!

]]> By: πŸ–‹ Writing Links Round Up 3/7 – B. Shaun Smith https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-11156 Mon, 07 Mar 2022 20:56:36 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-11156 […] How to Write Dialogue in a Story […]

]]> By: Sean Glatch https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-8354 Mon, 27 Dec 2021 20:03:00 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-8354 In reply to John Lee.

Hi John,

You’re absolutely right–that bit of advice was written in error. The start of a new sentence of dialogue should always begin with a capital letter. I’ve updated the text accordingly. Many thanks for your comment!

]]> By: John Lee https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-8180 Wed, 22 Dec 2021 20:39:16 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-8180 Great article! Nice job capturing so many elements and explaining things so well. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.

The only thing that puzzled me was in the following section (watch for the **):

If your sentence starts with the dialogue tag, put a comma before the quotation mark. **In this case, do not capitalize the first letter inside the quotation marks.**

Chief Brody said, β€œyou’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

I’ve never seen that guidance before. I thought you were supposed to capitalize the first word of complete dialogue sentences regardless of speaker attribution placement. Might this be a mistake? Or a vestige from a previous edit?

]]> By: Kats https://writers.com/how-to-write-dialogue-in-a-story#comment-2221 Wed, 19 May 2021 16:14:54 +0000 http://writers.com/?p=8112#comment-2221 As an aspiring writer, this helped me a lot!

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