To write strong dialogue, focus on clear formatting, distinct character voices, purposeful lines, and subtext—using “said” as your default tag and action beats to show emotion and pacing.

Using dialogue is an unacknowledged superpower for remaining invisible to readers. Forget what we learned in English and ‘Composition’ at school. It can disrupt the sound and rhythm of your writing. For instance, ‘setting the scene’—you don’t go into great detail describing places and things, unless you’re ­Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. You don’t want descriptions that bring the action, the flow of the story, to a standstill.

It’s not until I read what I’ve written out loud—multiple times—that I’m able to catch stiff, unnatural speaking rhythms. The out-loud reading—both by myself and to an audience if I can find one (shout-out to my writers’ group!)—is critical for writing authentic dialogue. I’m very much aware in the writing of dialogue, or even in the narrative too, of a rhythm. There has to be a rhythm with it.

We speak in partial sentences. We start in one direction, interrupt ourselves, and go off in another direction. We grunt, we purr, we mutter, we blurt, but something we rarely do is speak in grammatically perfect sentences. Whenever I see an exchange of that type of dialogue, it rarely rings true and I suspect the author has not actually heard the dialogue spoken out loud.

The other thing that we humans do—and, so too, should characters—is we’re constantly cutting in on each other. Someone starts a sentence, the listener gets swept up in what is being communicated and jumps in, possibly finishing the thought or taking it in an entirely different direction. In the world of show-don’t-tell, dialogue is one of a writer’s most useful tools in helping convey character. Is the character funny? Smart? Irreverent? Kind? Cocky? Depressed? Exuberant? All of these qualities can be conveyed through a deft use of dialogue.

Another element of human speech is that all of us have “handles.” That is, those little pet phrases or sounds we make. The writer is taught to avoid cliches or trite phrases but, like it or not, we humans constantly speak in them. We end sentences with the emphasising words “right?” or “okay?” or “know what I mean?” We often start a sentence with “So,” or “Well…” We overuse horrible corporate-speak phrases like “at the end of the day” and we often use warm-up phrases before we get to the kernel of the truth within a sentence, such as “Well, I’m not going to lie to you…” All of these handles should be regarded as salt: Use just the right amount and it brings forth the flavour you’re seeking, use too much and it ruins the stew.

Writers often think of dialogue as the ultimate tool for speed. Characters talk, the story zips forward, and the pages turn themselves. And while that’s true—dialogue does create momentum—it can also drag or sputter if the pacing isn’t managed well.

Too much snappy back-and-forth can feel breathless and ungrounded. Too much narration between lines can bog things down until the energy leaks out.

The trick is learning how to pace dialogue with intention. When you know how to slow down or speed up a conversation, you gain control over tension, character dynamics, and reader engagement.

There are many authors who capture dialogue in brilliant fashion. One of my favourites is Elmore Leonard. Beyond simple, compelling, plots, Leonard provides dialogue that leaps off the page. He wastes little time in providing character description. His philosophy is that no-one cares whether the protagonist is wearing a red or blue shirt, parts her hair on the left or right, or has a small scar on her shoulder. “Let the damn reader do some work,” he said once. Leonard’s character descriptions live within the characters’ spoken words. I know exactly what Stick looks like in Swag because of the way he talks and the way others talk to him.

I found this quotation attributable to him on Goodreads:

Elmore Leonard’s Ten Rules of Writing

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

His most important rule is one that sums up the 10:

‘If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.’