The coffee was hot, the room was tense. Maria stared her boss in the eye.

“You’re wrong.”

That was it. Two words—and suddenly the entire office scene crackled with electricity. Nobody remembered the budget numbers discussed earlier, but everyone remembered that single line of defiance.

Good dialogue doesn’t just move the plot forward or reveal something about the characters—it brands itself into memory. Too many writers think their dialogue must be realistic.

Realistic dialogue isn’t just flat, the reader wasn’t looking for realism! If readers wanted that, they’d watch a documentary… or read the news. Ugh!

They came for fiction because they want to see a fresh, new world, where things are different from how they are in their own life. Your words can create that world for them. The more sparkling your words, the more magical would be the world you create.

It makes sense to learn how to add sparkle to them. Let’s see how to do it.

Stop Writing Talk, Start Writing Tension

Realistic conversation ≠ good dialogue. If you transcribe two people chatting about their grocery list, you’ll bore readers into oblivion.

Good dialogue is a knife fight disguised as a tea party. Beneath the words, something else should be happening: desire, conflict, resistance.

Before:

“Hi, how was your day?”

“Good. Yours?”

“Fine.”

After:

“You look smug. Did you finally beat that algorithm?”

“Maybe. Maybe I just like watching you guess.”

Give Each Character a Verbal Fingerprint

Readers should recognize who’s speaking even without tags.

Vocabulary, rhythm, and even silence create a unique voice.

Before (everyone sounds the same):

“I can’t go. It’s too risky.”

“Yes, it is too risky.”

“Hmm. I agree. It’s risky.”

After (distinct voices):

“I can’t go. It’s suicide.”

“More like homicide, surely?”

“Risky, sure. Since when did that stop us?”

 

Trim the Fat

Dialogue should be leaner than real speech. No “um,” “well,” or “you know” unless it’s character-driven.

Cut filler so every line lands like a dart.

Before:

“Well, um, I guess I was thinking that maybe we should, you know, go there tomorrow if that’s okay with you?”

After:

“Tomorrow. You in?”

Use Subtext as the Secret Sauce

What’s left unsaid is often more powerful than what’s said.

Hint, imply, let the reader connect the dots.

Before (too obvious):

“I love you so much. You’re the most important person in my life.”

After (subtext-driven):

“Leave your toothbrush here next time.”

 

Memorable dialogue neither idle chatter nor a filler to tide you over until you swing into the next bit of drama. It is part of the drama. Characters spar, flirt, dodge, confess, and conceal through words. When you strip away filler and let tension and subtext do the heavy lifting, readers will quote your lines back to you.

Want hands-on practice with writing dialogue that sticks? Join my upcoming Story Clinic: Dialogue Doctor workshop. We’ll roll up our sleeves and craft scenes that sizzle, not snooze. Leave a comment or Contact Me.

Or, if you’d rather test-drive my style first, join my The Write Place community and drop into Pen to Print Hour this week—my free Q&A for community members who want sharper tools.

Mother of three adult humans. An idealistic, outspoken woman of scrupulous integrity, in love with words. A storyteller who enjoys crocheting tales. And a passionate bibliophile, of course.