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Short Stories Newsletter by Dawn
Taking a little look at dialogue." The person said as they typed the words for the newsletter.
Or something like that. Basically, we are looking at dialogue and I tried to say that without using a gender specific tag. Let's look at how dialogue can help a story and ways it might not work. |
What does one say about dialogue that hasn't already been said before in these newsletters? Probably nothing...
But that won't work here so let's talk a little about dialogue in regards to short story writing. Sorry poets, this might not be relevant unless you are writing a story poem and want to include dialogue, which could be interesting. The basics are, there are certain ways to tell/show a story when doing this writing activity. Dialogue is one element that can help move a story forward. Or, if you have ever written for novel writing month (November) then you might also know that doing a dialogue filled scene could also cause a distraction from the main line of conflict. But let's just say that dialogue can help.
There is even a dialogue only contest available. If you haven't tried writing a story with just dialogue to sort of tell a story, then you should give yourself the challenge. "The Dialogue 500" [18+]
Now, when I say tell in this case, we aren't talking about the tell versus show aspect of story writing even though they hare connected. When I say that you are going to tell a story in dialogue, I mean the fact that talking is views as a way of telling something. So, dialogue is a different form of the word tell.
One example from my own stories is that I've got a side character who has a fun little backstory. It will get more involved when I write his own romance story but when he appears in other character's stories, I can't spend a long time talking about the history of his parents with the father being a jerk politician and the fun part, his biological mother was a stripper. Instead of just putting it into words in the parts where I could go the character is thinking about how his friend might know about a certain dance class that might be due to the fact that his mother had a particular past. Well, that is kind of boring. Instead, I'm doing it in dialogue where it can be a joke and the boy can then say, My mom is a stripper. Or something like that. The basics are that I plan to use dialogue to show the reader and other character a detail about someone.
Backstory is one thing that can be exposed in dialogue. It's a little easier to pepper in facts between two characters or more instead of just doing a big paragraph to explain the information to the reader.
Information about characters is another thing that comes up but could be done in dialogue. This means that you can do something different from the mirror description of the character's hair color, eyes and other details. Instead, a different character can mention something about the clothes a character is wearing that day. Or maybe the character themself can mention if they like or dislike their own hair in comparison to a friend's. There are different options there.
Dialogue can also bring up objects that might be related to the story. Instead of being like the strange man pulled out a gun and he noticed how the sunlight glinted off the metal... Maybe someone first yells. "He has a gun." And that sparks the notice getting the details about the particular metal or type involved.
This can be particular helpful in a novel and as a novel writer, I find that having dialogue in a first draft helps me to get words on the page. If I am on a section that is more detail, I stall and struggle. But a dialogue section during a sprint, I'm going to get some words done. However, there are also times where dialogue might be problematic. I don't know about you, but I find micro fiction hard to write. Take the Daily Flash Fiction Challenge as a good example. "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" [13+] When you only have 300 words, there are times when a few short words in dialogue might help. However, you can't have a very chatty character in a big moment for the contest or else you will use all of the words and more just by what the character wants to say.
Writing dialogue is fun but that means it can also be a challenge. You have to figure out what is helpful to the story, what is necessary and how you want to put those words to the page. Do you use dialogue to share information? How do you pick what is said? Tell us. |
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How do you use dialogue in a story? Does it help you give information without telling too much?
Some months ago, for the Short Stories Newsletter, I discussed the different tenses. Present tense is a tough sell at times and here are a couple of comments sent in about the topic of what tense to use when writing a story:
Comment by S🤦♂️  :
I find that present tense does not work well in many cases. Present tense indicates the story is happening right now, as you are reading it, from the perspective of the characters. The thing is, Suzanne Collins did it in 'The Hunger Games' series, so it became trendy. Collins, by the way, did it remarkably well - it suits the story to a T. However, that trend has seen many fail; Stephen King's 'Holly' series uses present tense and it does not feel like it works.
Oh, and you have to use present tense when writing screenplays or scripts.
Also, many publishers I deal with state outright in their submission guidelines that you are not to use present tense, so there is that.
Comment by Osirantinous  :
I like present tense. I've a few stories I'm writing in that tense myself and it's interesting to see how they go verses using past tense. A lot of YA seems to be written in it these days. One of my favs is Maggie Steifvater's The Scorpio Races. It was probably the one that got me looking at the present tense myself.
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Short Stories: November 19, 2025 Issue [#13459]
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