5 Tips to Make Your Dialogue Sound More Authentic

You might have heard of the concept "show, not tell" when creating characters.

These dialogue tips will help clarify your character motivations, intentions and personalities with an active, "showing" approach to writing.

A sample lesson structure for incorporating these 5 dialogue tips into lesson planning follows the infographic.

Overall Goal: To add dimension to your character work by examining how characters communicate their goals/intentions/motivations through dialogue.

Success Criteria: To be successful, artists must:

turn off all judgement and inner critics, especially during the review of the work

  • be aware of the details of the world their character lives in, along with what motivates the character to do what they do (actions align with language)

  • make choices that will enhance the world of the script, allowing the characters to show (not tell) using action-based language

Note: this activity can be a solo activity or conducted using pairs or small groups. Adjust according to the writer’s needs. 

Activity Breakdown: 

  1. Pick an area of your script to focus on for this activity

  2. Looking at the “Enhancing Dialogue” infographic, pick one of the five categories to focus the work

  3. Follow the questions, answering first through talking through or using a stream of consciousness writing to start thinking about how to push the dialogue further

  4. Go back into the script and apply your thinking to editing the work

  5. Read the work aloud and consider if the changes clarified the character’s personality/motivations/intentions

  6. Pick another category and repeat steps 1 to 5

  7. Repeat the process for as many topics as possible.

Extensions: 

  • Review your writing and circle words/phrases that you would like to explore further

  • Use actors to read the lines, focusing feedback on one of the categories

  • Pick a category and give your script to another artist to look for confirmation/suggestions to push the work further

  • Use a Venn Diagram or brainstorming map to work through the prompts/questions on the Enhancing Dialogue infographic and brainstorm perspectives and possibilities

  • Align this work with character biography ideas. See Character Biography activities available at: https://www.cathyclarketheatre.com/artsedblog/characterbios

Remember: humans are dynamic, complex beings that make choices informed by their belief systems. Your characters should be that way too.