How to Write Dialogues in Texts: Some Tips

1. Frequent mistakes of authors in writing dialogues
2. Punctuation in dialogs: dashes, quotes, paragraphs
3. Dialogue and speech styles

A work of fiction is interesting not only because of its plot, but also because of its presentation and colorful description. When the characters communicate, the reader better understands what is happening, their feelings, motivation, empathizes. But if the text does not comply with the rules of writing dialogue in the Russian language, there are difficulties in reading and perceiving the material. But dialogues can also be used in journalistic texts. In them it is also important to properly design and insert dialogues.

Frequent mistakes made by authors in writing dialogues

Beginning authors can take one of the extremes: writing a solid canvas or abusing the conversations of the characters, ignoring the rules of writing dialogues in the text. An abundance of colloquial speech deprives the work of dynamics, authorial explanations, and an outsider's view of the characters.

It is not as difficult to compose a dialogue as it is to follow the rules of writing. If you know about typical mistakes made by novice writers, you can avoid them yourself.

• Duration. Do not insert too long dialogues into the text materials, they are unlikely to be read by anyone. In addition, it will affect the overall perception of the text.
• Non-contentiousness. The presence of dialogue in the text material should be justified. You should not insert dialogue for the sake of dialogue. Dialogue is used to supplement information from the text. It should not become a key component of the text.
  
• The characters say what the author has to say. Dialogue is not a separate genre, it is just an element of the text. It is not meant to tell the main information. Dialogue is used to confirm or supplement information from the text.
• Inappropriateness of the situation. Dialogues should be used carefully. There is no need to insert them everywhere. They should fit seamlessly into the text and fit the theme.
• The retelling of other people's words by the characters. Dialogues should not tell about the situation, they should confirm it. Sometimes it is better to use indirect speech instead of dialogue.
• Obscene language, slang. It is detrimental to the dialogue, these elements of speech are appropriate in a limited amount and in certain texts. The exceptions are the cases when these elements play into the disclosure of the character or the situation.

Punctuation in dialogues: dashes, quotation marks and paragraphs

Monologue, speech of 1 person, 1 replica is designed as a sentence with direct speech. Dialogue - a conversation between 2 or more persons.

The rules for writing direct speech and dialogues are similar. A sentence scheme with direct speech contains basically the same punctuation marks as in a dialogue.

Examples of sentences with direct speech:

• Ivan thought, "I will never understand this man."
• "I'll finish the embroidery and then I'll buy yarn for knitting," Nina informed the salesman.
• "Anya invited Luba to visit," my mother lamented, "she doesn't know yet who spread the gossip about her.

Each dialogue line (statement of one of the participants) begins with a new line, a dash and a capital letter. A punctuation mark is placed at the end of the phrase, which corresponds to the content and emotional colouring of the statement.

If the hero's speech comes first, the phrase is completed:

• punctuation mark (comma, period, question mark, exclamation mark, ellipsis);
• dash;
• explanation (author's words).

When a line ends with a period, the author's subsequent words are written with a capital letter, and after other punctuation marks - with a lowercase letter.

If the author's words come first, they are followed by:

• colon;
• a dash on a new line;
• the character's line is capitalized.

Asimple scheme of dialogues in Russian literary language.

Dialogue and styles of speech

The form and content of the dialogues depend on the situation in which the characters find themselves. There are 5 styles of speech in the Russian literary language.

The conversational style is distinguished by relaxedness, it is used for exchange of opinions, emotional experiences, it is used in everyday life.

The book style is not commonly used in everyday life, it is the language of articles, monographs and books.

The same text can be written in different ways, depending on the purpose.

The book style is divided into 4 types:

• Artistic - a style of artistic works, marked by emotionality, aesthetic expression;
• scientific - accurately, logically translates the material in textbooks, scientific articles, reviews;
• Business is the official filing of laws, decrees;
• Publicistic - the style is designed to inform the reader truthfully, but emotionally, it is the language of newspaper articles, reports from the scene.

Dialogues are more logically presented in conversational and artistic styles. The exact description of the object and the process discussed by the characters in a formal form looks strange.

By memorizing diagrams of dialogue and direct speech, the rules of their application in texts, the writer gets an effective tool for writing interesting material .

Sometimes dialogues come out dry, people don't communicate that way. In order to diversify dialogues or make them more lively, you can use ReText.AI, a neural network that has been trained on the best literary works. You just need to insert the text into the program and convert it. But this method will be suitable only for those dialogues that you compose yourself, for example, for a work of fiction. If you use dialogue in your text as a quote