Writing Dialogue Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: W.4.3.B

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

When we are writing about a conversation this exchange is referred to as dialogue. The conversation can between just two people or a whole crowd. Theater roots itself entirely in dialogue. The actual speech in written form is encased in quotation marks. These marks let the reader know that these are words that were spoken out loud. Otherwise, these words could have just been a thought. Most authors will choose to present a story in the form of dialogue to help reveal more about the personality of the character and to help bring a more realistic story to their readers. This also allows the author to step outside of the characters and let them display their own emotions. These worksheets can help students learn to write dialogue on their own.

Writing Dialogue Worksheets:

Making It Believable - Make the words flow of the page. You will be given dialogue that is overly formal. It is neither realistic nor interesting. Rewrite it on the lines below so that it sounds like a real and interesting conversation. Remember that a father and a son are unlikely to speak in exactly the same way!

Help Characters Expressing - Create an interesting conversation between two gardeners. Study each character. What kind of person do you think that they are? Do you think that they would speak formally or informally?

The Big Wreck - More is at stake for Matt than just losing the race. Make this story more interesting.

How Are You Today? - Use the pictures to drive the way you write for this group of teenagers.

The Lost Dog... - Jane's dog is causing her a bit of trouble. Rewrite each of these sentences to create more pizazz.

Conveying Action - Read the brief paragraph below. Then rewrite it as dialogue, trying to convey as much of the action in passage as possible.

Conveying Setting - Study the picture. Then select one of the scenarios provided. On the lines, write at least six lines of dialogue (three per each person) that communicate the setting in the picture.

The Big Debate - Use another sheet of paper to brainstorm at least three reasons why field trips might be educational, and three reasons why field trips might be a waste of time.

A Bad Cold - Read the paragraph below. Then rewrite it on the lines, adding dialogue where appropriate.

Writing Your Oen Dialogue - Rewrite the sentences below using the techniques that you have learned. Then check the boxes that indicate what kind of additional information you have added to the story.

Dialogue in Stories - Read the dialogue below. Then rewrite it, cutting out anything that does not contribute to the story.

How Character Affects Dialogue - What kinds of words would they use to describe this incident? Rewrite the passage as though each character is the narrator.

The Range of a Character - Study each character below. Imagine that the farmer wants to take the hen's chicks to a market and sell them. The hen does not want to be parted from her chicks.

Writing Combos - Typically, authors use a combination of narrative and dialogue to tell their readers what is happening in the story.

Carrie the Fairy - Read each pair of sentences. Then add dialogue to make them more interesting. You can definitely make this more fun.

Why is Dialogue Important?

Dialogue is a critical aspect of many different stories. It helps instantly bring life to the characters of the story. The words that fly between all of those personalities help the reader grasp the environment. The vernacular that is used indicates to the reader, their level of education and quite possibly a great deal about the community that they are from. The speech patterns that are used and the opinions expressed helps the reader learn to either identify with personalities that is whether they agree or disagree with their opinions.


Conflict or adversity is often the main theme of most stories. When a character first identifies this obstacle, how they put it into words gives the audience a sense of what level of urgency each character perceives it as. As the story continues the sense of this may intensify or diminish, it entirely depends on the language that is shared between them. Dialogue also has the ability to create a sense of mystery and suspense. It can be used to draw your audience thoughts in one direction and then take them on a roller coaster of emotions as it is shared to them through the interactions between the differing personalities.


Tips for Writing Dialogue

Here are some important tips that will help you write good dialogues for fiction books.


Pay Attention to How People Talk


If you want to come up with good dialogues for your fiction writing, you will have to pay attention to how people talk in real life. People like to read fiction because they give them a good reality check about how their society works. It creates a sense of relevance for them. Therefore, good fiction is always relevant to readers. In order to make your dialogues realistic and relevant, pay attention to how people talk in real life. Stay quiet in conversations and notice their tones and words that certain people use for certain things. Pay close attention to how people add different emotions to their speech.


Keep It Brief

Dialogues should be as brief as possible. You don't want your reader to be skimming through your work to save time. Therefore, it is important to keep it short and to the point. However, that does not mean that you should skip all the necessary and important details. Remember, not to give the entire information through one dialogue at once.


Bring Some Action

Another great technique to build powerful dialogues is to break it and bring some action to it. This would remind the readers that it is an actual person they are reading about who is capable of physical actions. You can use small little details to do so.


Read More

Like anything, you will get better at writing and crafting these with more practice. The more you read the works of others, the more your own work will improve. Read fiction novels as much as you can. This will give you more ideas about how you can construct your dialogue. You will also get to know more about the power of using this technique in fictional works.


Punctuate It Correctly

Punctuations are very important when it comes to dialogues. This is because the reader cannot see the actual action with his/her own eyes. They can only read and guess. Punctuations help a lot in understanding the context correctly. So make sure to use them correctly and wisely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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