1. What is the woman saying in this picture?
What is the woman saying in this picture?

2. Dialogue: When people speak in a story.
Creating Dialogue
Dialogue: When people speak in a story.

3. Why Do We Use Dialogue?

4. Imagine if there were no rules for how to write dialogue
Imagine if there were no rules for how to write dialogue. It would be hard to read.
Hey. Hey. Hey, how’s it going. OK. I’m feeling awful today. What about you. Just took a test -- think I got an A. Who’s test. Mr. Miller’s. Oh, I took that yesterday. I did badly. I had him last semester. He was a jerk. Yeah. No, he wasn’t. He was the best.

5. Some basic rules help us understand dialogue
1. Put quotations around the words that are being spoken.
Example: “Hey”

6. Some basic rules help us understand dialogue
2. Add tag lines. These are phrases that identify the speaker.
Example: “Hey” said Jeff.

7. Some basic rules help us understand dialogue
3. Tag lines and dialogue are usually separated with a comma.
Example: “Hey,” said Jeff.

8. Some basic rules help us understand dialogue
4. Punctuation (commas and periods) goes INSIDE the quotations when they come AFTER the dialogue.
Example:
“Hey,” said Jeff. Jim said, “hey.”

9. Some basic rules help us understand dialogue
5. The first word in the dialogue is usually capitalized. Example: “Hey,” said Jeff. Jim said, “Hey.”

10. Some basic rules help us understand dialogue
6. Every time someone new talks, you MUST start a new paragraph. Example: “Hey,” said Jeff. Jim said, “Hey.” Mark said, “Hey, how’s it going?”

11. Some basic tips to improve your writing
1. Vary the tag lines location (beginning, middle, end).
Example:
“Hey,” said Jeff. (END)
Jim said, “Hey.” (BEGINNING)
“Hey,” Mark finally said, “how’s it going?” and he looked at Jim. (MIDDLE)
Note: When the tag line interrupts a dialogue sentence, the second part of the sentence is NOT capitalized.

12. Some basic tips to improve your writing
2. Don’t always use “said.” Use vivid verbs – whispered, asked, yelled, responded. Sometimes you don’t even need a tag line. Instead, simply describe what the person is doing at the time of talking to create imagery.
Example:
“Hey,” Jeff shouted.
Jim quickly replied, “Hey.”
Mark looked at the ground nervously. “Hey, how’s it going.”

13. Some basic tips to improve your writing
3. You don’t need tag lines when it is obvious who is talking (only when two people are talking).
Example:
“Hey,” Jeff shouted.
Jim quickly replied, “Hey. What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
Who said “Nothing”?

14. Journal
Have a conversation with a partner. Both of you should write everything that you say to each other using the proper dialogue rules.