Posted on 10-15-23

Let’s talk about it!

Dialogue is important on so many levels inside your manuscript. It helps describe who your characters are. Are they serious? Fun loving? Angry? How do they react to different stimuli or situations you throw them into?

Dialogue can point your reader in a direction you want them to think or feel. It’s an amazing tool that, if used correctly, can move your book forward. Dialogue combined with action scenes, if done correctly, can enhance your book and create a reading experience that will be talked about for years!

Dialogue shouldn’t be in your story for no reason. Don’t ‘chatter’ your way through a scene that could better written with narrative. And vice versa. Dialogue should move your plot forward, or develop your character.

We all know The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

This book has great dialogue and with very few words, we figure out the characters immediately.

And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t put this:

“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die.”

Pretty much everyone knows this sentence. There are memes abundant with this famous phrase. And we, as readers, learn so much right here the moment Inigo states it. We learn his name; we learn what happened in his past, and in the last part of the sentence, we learn he’s in it to win it. He’s practiced this phrase like he’s practiced his skill.

But the dialogue in this book is amazing on so many levels. In a few short, well-placed sentences, and word choice, we learn all about the characters without the author having to describe them in detail. Not only this, but every action scene propels the reader forward into this world, leaving us wanting more. When Westley dies, we think, ‘He’s the hero! He can’t die.’

This book also shows main characters and supporting characters switching roles from main characters to supporting characters and back again. He does it so flawlessly, the reader doesn’t realize it.

In The Princess Bride, everycharacters’ quotes are tied to their motivations. If you do a study of this book, you’ll find not only the witty humor, but each character as their own agenda and each agenda moves the plot forward.

So, what is your favorite part of this book/movie?

What is your favorite book, and can you break it down and analyze it to make your own book shine in dialogue?

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to…

Write On!