Write Now: Turn Dialogue into Narrative

by Trish on March 8, 2009

in Write Now,writing

Quick, get out a section of your manuscript that is a lot of dialogue (like more than a page). Take one section of that dialogue and turn it back into narrative. Let us into the character’s head a bit more. How is he (or she) reacting to what’s being said.

He was stunned at her words. What was she saying? Was she ready to give everything up and walk away so quickly?

And secondly, if you have more than a page of dialogue, are you tagging every instance of that dialogue?

“I don’t care!” He threw the book down to the floor. [that description of action is a tag]

Just dialogue on the page makes it seems as if your characters are two talking heads without being anchored to a real, physical existence. It’s kinda like two non-humans just talking, but your reader can’t see how their talk affects them.

If dialogue seems to fill most of your pages, consider reworking that dialogue into narrative and at the last, adding tags every time a character speaks.

Your readers will thank you.

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