The Two Imperatives for Compelling Dialogue
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Weak dialogue portrays exchanges of information that leave the energy of the scene flat. Compelling dialogue does these two things.
Exposition in Dialogue
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You can deliver exposition via dialogue, but you have to finesse it a little. Here we discuss how you can disguise exposition so it doesn’t feel contrived.
Triangulate Dialogue
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To avoid flat dialogue scenes, learn to triangulate the characters’ interaction with a lower-order goal.
Formatting Character Thoughts
![Is it better to format character thoughts with quote marks or italics? I say neither.](https://stormwritingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/featured-images-2.png)
Is it better to format character thoughts with quote marks or italics? I say neither. No special formatting is necessary to signify character thinking. You just need some solid narration.
Should You Use Dialogue Tags Other Than “Said”?
![Should you use synonyms for "said"? Some writing advice claims "said is dead"; others look disparagingly upon "saidisms," the fancier cousins of "said." Here's the rule of thumb.](https://stormwritingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/said-feature-1.png)
Should you use synonyms for “said”? Some writing advice claims “said is dead”; others look disparagingly upon “saidisms,” the fancier cousins of “said.” Here’s the rule of thumb.