What is dialogue

In the real world, people interact and have conversations. This is critical to a successful text. Dialogue is one of the best ways for an author to develop a character and for the understand characterization. Here is an example from the opening chapters of The Catcher in the Rye between Mr. Spencer and Holden Caulfield. Thurmer say to you, boy? I understand you had quite a little chat. We really did. I was in his office for around two hours, I guess. Our speech is full of such echoes.

Dialogue , contrary to popular view, is not a recording of actual speech; it is a semblance of speech, an invented language of exchanges that build in tempo or content toward climaxes. Some people mistakenly believe that all a writer has to do is turn on a tape recorder to capture dialogue. What he'd be capturing is the same boring speech patterns the poor court reporter has to record verbatim. Learning the new language of dialogue is as complex as learning any new language.

John McPhee: Once captured, words have to be dealt with. You have to trim and straighten them to make them transliterate from the fuzziness of speech to the clarity of print.

Speech and print are not the same, and a slavish presentation of recorded speech may not be as representative of a speaker as dialogue that has been trimmed and straightened.

Please understand: you trim and straighten but you do not make it up. Anne Lamott: There are a number of things that help when you sit down to write dialogue. First of all, sound your words--read them out loud.

This is something you have to practice, doing it over and over and over. Then when you're out in the world--that is, not at your desk--and you hear people talking, you'll find yourself editing their dialogue, playing with it, seeing in your mind's eye what it would look like on the page.

You listen to how people really talk, and then learn little by little to take someone's five-minute speech and make it one sentence, without losing anything. Wodehouse: [A]lways get to the dialogue as soon as possible.

I always feel the thing to go for is speed. Nothing puts the reader off more than a big slab of prose at the start. To express as or in a dialogue. Origin of dialogue.

Middle English dialog from Old French dialogue from Latin dialogus from Greek dialogos conversation from dialegesthai to discuss dialect. Dialogue Sentence Examples.

In this the form of dialogue was not employed. Related articles. Also Mentioned In. Words near dialogue in the Dictionary. Words nearby dialogue dialogic , dialogism , dialogist , dialogite , dialogize , dialogue , dialogue box , dial tone , dial train , dial-up , dialysance.

To use them correctly, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind. Words related to dialogue communication , conference , conversation , dialog , discourse , discussion , exchange , chat , colloquy , confab , confabulation , converse , duologue , flap , lines , parlance , parley , rap , remarks , repartee.

How to use dialogue in a sentence We really want to hear and have this dialogue because this is new to everyone. Deep Dive: How companies and their employees are facing the future of work Digiday September 1, Digiday. How to fix that annoying audio delay on your soundbar Whitson Gordon August 25, Popular-Science.