Some writers pepper their books with dialogue, some rarely add any dialogue: Conversations are mostly recapped, and they don’t actually happen live. I love dialogue. You can add wit to an otherwise dull section of the book with dialogue, and you can give a character more dimension through the words they choose to say out loud.

My favorite authors often have a secondary character say something significant out loud that the main character ignores or misunderstands, but the audience connects with. Anne Tyler is particularly good at this. In ‘The Beginners Goodbye’ you understand through dialogue that the marriage at the core of the novel was not a great one, long before the narrator realizes this fact himself.

The exercise this week is to write a scene that is at least 50% dialogue.

You can use any characters and setting that you like, but you have to write a scene where the focus is on the actual conversation, not one person’s interpretation of the conversation. The tone and mood are also up to you, although I personally find it easiest to write witty banter-filled dialogue.

Happy writing!