Dialogue Writing / How to Write Dialogue / Rules for Writing Dialogue

Fakhruddin Babar
Oct 7
9 min read

Dialogue Writing

A dialogue is simply a conversation between two people.

The purpose of writing dialogues in school is to help students learn the normal, everyday way that people talk in English. This practice trains students to share their own ideas using easy and natural language.

Often, students who learn English from books can sound a bit unnatural or too formal when they speak. This is because they do not get many opportunities to practice talking with native English speakers.

Because of this, any activity that helps students speak English more naturally and feel more comfortable is very valuable. Practicing dialogues is an excellent way to do this.

Points to remember

To write a good dialogue, you need to think a little bit like an actor playing two different roles.
First, you must understand both sides of the topic you are writing about. Then, you have to imagine you are actually each of the two characters. This allows you to make them speak in a way that is natural for their personality. You have to think from each person's point of view to make their opinions sound real and believable.
When someone reads your dialogue, it should sound natural and unplanned, as if they were listening to a real, live conversation. It should not feel stiff, boring, or like the characters already practiced what they were going to say.
But here is the secret: even though a good dialogue sounds unplanned, you actually need to prepare it very carefully. The trick is to hide all of your hard work. A good writer has the skill to make their writing seem effortless.
That is why it's always a good idea to make a simple plan or outline before you start writing. If you don't have a plan, your dialogue might become confusing, wander off topic, and have no real purpose.

How to Write Dialogue

Here are four simple steps to help you write a great dialogue.

Step 1: Think and Take Notes

First, think carefully about the topic of the conversation. Then, write down some notes about the different ideas or feelings the two characters might have. What would each person say? What points would they make?

Step 2: Organize Your Ideas

Next, put your notes into an order that makes sense. A conversation should flow, with one idea leading to the next. It helps to create a simple outline or a numbered list of the points. This list will be your map to guide you as you write.

Step 3: Think About Your Characters

Try to imagine the people who are talking. What are their personalities like? Are they old or young? Happy or sad? Smart or simple? Once you have a clear idea of who they are, you can make them speak in a way that fits their character. For example, an excited person might use exclamation points, while a calm person would use simpler, more thoughtful sentences.

Step 4: Write it to Sound Real

When you write the final dialogue, your main goal is to make it sound like a real conversation.

Do: Use easy, everyday words that people normally use when they talk to friends. Try to remember how you and your friends speak, and use that style.
Don't: Avoid using difficult, formal, or "textbook" language. The conversation should not sound stiff or unnatural. It should feel smooth and interesting to the reader.

Things to be Careful about When Writing Dialogue

Here are more tips to make your dialogues lively and realistic.

1. Keep the Conversation Moving

Share the talking. Don't let one character talk for a very long time, like they are giving a speech. A dialogue is a two-way street. Give all the characters a chance to speak.
Keep it quick. The conversation should move back and forth between the characters to keep it energetic and interesting.

2. Use Interruptions Sometimes

In real life, people sometimes interrupt each other. You can use this in your writing to make the dialogue feel more natural. But be careful not to use interruptions too often.

For example:

A: "I'm sure he would never do that. Just the other day he told me—" B: "I don't care what he told you! I know for a fact that he did it."

3. Be Clever with Questions and Answers

Real conversations aren't always straightforward. You can make your dialogue more exciting by having your characters do these things sometimes:

Answer a question with another question:
A: "What will you do if he doesn't answer your letter?" B: "Well, what would you do?"
Answer a question before it is asked:
D: "I heard something about you the other day, John." J: "I know! You're going to ask me why I was absent from the office last Monday. Well, I'll tell you..."

4. Show Feelings with Short Words (Interjections)

People often use short words or phrases to show how they are feeling. Adding these can make your dialogue more colorful.

To show surprise: "Oh my!", "Goodness!", "No way!"
To show annoyance: "Oh, bother!", "Oh, dear!", "Seriously?"
To show happiness: "How wonderful!", "Great!", "Awesome!"

Important: Use these words carefully and don't add too many, or it will sound unnatural. Also, always avoid using slang or inappropriate language.

5. Have a Strong Beginning and a Clear Ending

The Beginning: Start your dialogue in an interesting way to grab the reader's attention from the very first line.
The Ending: The conversation should lead to a clear point or conclusion. It shouldn't just stop suddenly and leave the reader confused. The first and last sentences of your dialogue are the most important, so pay special attention to them.

Dialogue Writing

Relevant Materials on Dialogue writing

মনে রাখতে হবে informal English-এ অধিকাংশ সময় helping verbs-এর contracted form (সংক্ষেপিত রূপ) ব্যবহার করা হয়. এছাড়া ভাব আদান-প্রদানের সময় notions/functions-এর নিয়ম অনুসরণ করে greeting, apology, regret, gratitude, liking, disliking, agreement, disagreement প্রভৃতি attitudes প্রকাশ করার কৌশল আয়ত্বে রাখতে হয়. নিচে এ সংক্রান্ত প্রয়োজনীয় তথ্য অতি সংক্ষেপে তুলে ধরা হল-

Chart-1: Contracted form of subject + helping verbs

Subject + Helping verbs	Contracted form	Subject + Helping verbs	Contracted form
I am	I'm	We have	We've
I have	I've	We had	We'd
I had / I would	I'd / I'd	We would / We should	We'd / We'd
I should	I'd	We will/shall	We'll
I will/shall	I'll	S/He is/was	S/He's
You are	You're	S/He has	S/he's
You were	You're	S/He had	S/he'd
You have	You've	S/he would	S/he'd
You had	You'd	S/he should	S/he'd
You would	You'd	S/he will	S/he'll
You should	You'd	They are/were	They're
You will	You'll	They have	They've
It is	It's	They had	They'd
It has	It's	They would/should	They'd
It had/would/should	It'd	They will	They'll
It will	It'll	Let us	Let's
There is / There are/ were	There's / There're	What will / That will	What'll / That'll
What is	What's	Who will	Who'll
That is	That's	This will	This'll
Who is / We are / We were	Who's / We're / We're	There will / That will	There'll / That'll

N.B: Subject-এর সঙ্গে apostrophe (') যুক্ত হয়ে উল্লিখিত helping verbs-এর প্রথমাংশ লোপ পায় এবং subject-এর সঙ্গে মিলিত হয়ে একটি word রূপে উচ্চারিত হয়.

Chart-2: Contracted negative form of helping verbs

Full form	Contracted form
Am not	Aren't
Are not	Aren't
Is not	Isn't
Was not	Wasn't
Were not	Weren't
Have not	Haven't
Has not	Hasn't
Had not	Hadn't
Do not	Don't
Does not	Doesn't
Did not	Didn't
Cannot	Can't
Full form	Contracted form
Could not	Couldn't
May not	Mayn't
Might not	Mightn't
Would not	Wouldn't
Should not	Shouldn't
Ought not	Oughtn't
Must not	Mustn't
Need not	Needn't
Dare not	Daren't
Shall not	Shan't
Will not	Won't

N.B. Negative contracted form of helping verbs subject-এর সঙ্গে যুক্ত হয় না বরং not-এর সঙ্গে যুক্ত হয় এবং not-এর o লুপ্ত হয়ে apostrophe (') বসে. 'am not' aren't হয় যা কেবল Interrogative বিশেষ করে Tag question এ ব্যবহৃত হয়. Assertive Sentence এ I'm not হয়. তবে 'ain't' ridiculous (ব্যঙ্গায়ক) অর্থে be এবং have verb উভয় ক্ষেত্রে ব্যবহৃত হয়.

Some Important Attitudes/Notions/Functions

1. Greetings (সম্ভাষণ): Social/cultural, Religious, Common

(a) Social/cultural (সামাজিক/সাংস্কৃতিক) এগুলো অপরিচিত এবং সরকারী ও ব্যবসায়িক পরিবেশের জন্য এবং 'Good' বাদ দিয়ে বাকী অংশ বলা যায় নিজস্ব পরিচিত জনদের মধ্যে.

Hello/Hallo, Hi: বন্ধু বান্ধব এবং পরিচিত ঘনিষ্ঠজনদের মধ্যে বিশেষ করে টেলিফোনে Hello/Hallo ব্যবহার করা হয়.

Good morning: দুপুর পর্যন্ত সাক্ষাৎকার (সবার জন্য).

Good afternoon: দুপুরের পর বিকেল ৪টা পর্যন্ত সাক্ষাৎকালে.

Good night: রাতে বিশেষ করে শোয়ার আগে বিদায়কালে ব্যবহত হয়.

Bye/Tata/Cheerio: বিদায়কালে informal greeting বন্ধু বান্ধবদের মধ্যে. Good bye: বিদায়কালে formal greeting এবং নিজস্ব পরিবেশে ব্যবহৃত হয়.

See you / Be seeing you/Cheerio

(b) Religious (ধর্মীয়)

Assalamu alaikum: সকল সময় ছোট বড় পরিচিত অপরিচিত সবার জন্য মুসলিম সম্ভাষণ. Nameste/Namesker: হিন্দু সম্ভাষণ.

Adab: হিন্দু মুসলিম পরস্পর সম্ভাষণ.

(c) Common (সাধারণ)

How are you?: পরিচিত ব্যক্তিদের মধ্যে সাক্ষাৎকালে.

How do you do?: অপরিচিত ব্যক্তিদের মধ্যে পরিচয়কালে উভয় পক্ষই এটি ব্যবহার করে.

2. Request (অনুরোধ):

Give me a pen (please): সাধারণ অর্থে.

Will you lend me a pen?: বিনয় অর্থে.

Could you lend me a pen?: বিনয় অর্থে.

Do you think you could lend me some money?: অধিক বিনয় প্রকাশার্থে.

I wonder if you could help me. Would you mind giving me the pen?

3. Gratitude (কৃতজ্ঞতা):

Thank you: সাধারণভাবে কৃতজ্ঞতা প্রকাশার্থে.

Thanks/many thanks/thanks a lot: বন্ধুদের মধ্যে (informal).

Thank you very much: সর্বাবস্থায় প্রযোজ্য.

This is kind/good/nice of you: অপরিচিত এবং সম্মানিত ব্যক্তিদের নিকট এভাবে কৃতজ্ঞতা প্রকাশ করতে হয়. I am really grateful to you: লিখিতভাবে প্রকাশার্থে formal gratitude.

4. Apology (ক্ষমা):

Sorry: ছোটখাট কারণে এভাবে ক্ষমা চাওয়া হয়.

I'm sorry: অধিকাংশ ক্ষেত্রে ব্যবহার করা যায়.

I'm very sorry/really sorry/ever so sorry: গুরুত্ব প্রকাশার্থে এভাবে বলা হয়.

I can't tell you how sorry I am: বিশেষ পরিবেশে (formal).

5. To accept apology (ক্ষমা গ্রহণ করতে): That's alright. Forget it. Don't worry/Not to worry, etc.

6. Obligation/ Necessity (বাধ্যবাধকতা/আবশ্যকতা): You've to/must do it. (using Have to/must) . We should/ought to love our country. (using Should/ought to) . You have got to take care of your health. (using Have got to) . You needn't go to college today. (using Needn't) . You mustn't touch the books on the shelf. (using Mustn't) .

7. Preference (অধিক পছন্দ): Do you like coffee? No, thanks. Would you prefer tea to coffee? Yes, I prefer tea. But I would rather have coffee than tea.

8. Suggestions/proposal (প্রস্তাবমূলক বাক্য): (a) Let's go out now, shall we? (b) Go out now. (c) Why don't we go out now? (d) We could go out now. (e) It might be a good idea to go out now etc.

9. Surprise (বিস্ময়): Surprising!/amazing!/astonishing! Good heavens! /What a surprise!/I can't believe it! What a pleasant surprise!

10. Opinion (মতামত): Shall we go to the stadium? I don't think it's possible. I also think so. As far as I am concerned it's impossible.

11. To draw attention (দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণ করতে): Excuse me! Sorry to interrupt you.

12. Emphasis/Insistence/ persuasion (জোরদার ভাব প্রকাশার্থে): (Do + verb present form) Do sit down, please. Do have at least a cup of tea, please.

13. Agreeing (সম্মতি): Do you agree with me? Ans. (a) Yes, it is. (b) Of course, quite so. / exactly etc. (c) I agree entirely. / I couldn't agree more. (d) That's just what I'm thinking.

14. Disagreeing (অসম্মতি / দ্বিমত পোষণ): Do you agree with me? Ans. (a) No, surely not/certainly not. (b) I disagree / I don't agree with you. (c) Sorry; but I don't agree with you. (d) I'm not sure. I wonder. (e) I'm afraid. I can't agree. (f) I really don't think so.

15. Sounds expressing relevant attitudes:

Um: a sound that people use when they hesitate or do not know what to say next.

Hmm: a sound that you make to express doubt, a pause, or disagreement.

Err: (meaning to make a mistake).

Wow!: (used to express great surprise or admiration).

Woah! Yeah/Yep: (used when you're commenting on what somebody has just said).

Uf/Ooof Hey: a shout used to get someone's attention/to express surprise, interest or annoyance.

Nope No kidding?

Excuse me!: (used to politely get somebody's attention, especially somebody you do not know).

Well: (used to express surprise, anger or relief).

Sorry?: (BrE to ask someone to repeat something that you have not heard properly).

Cheerio: (BrE Goodbye অর্থে).