WHAT IS A DIALOGUE?

A dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters in a story. 

FOR EXAMPLE:

"What's sideways in time?" his twin asked.

Neils shrugged and said, "Sideways is sideways."

"This is dumb," declared Emmy.

DIALOGUE CONTAINS TWO MAJOR COMPONENTS:

• The dialogue tag/lead-in

• What the character said

• FOR EXAMPLE: I called, “Grandma? Could you come into the living room?”

"They're the smallest bees in the world," Tina said.

• In this example, the dialogue tag/lead-in is: Tina said.

• The dialogue tag, also known as a lead-in, indicates who said the quote and how they said it!

"Play ball!" cried the second tiny voice.

• In this example, what the character said is "Play ball!"

• Quotation marks are used to indicate that this is the part of the dialogue that was spoken

When writing dialogue, indent new lines!

Each time a new person talks in your story, start a new line of dialogue. To do so, press enter, then tab to indent the line.

—> "I would love to buy one of his books as a keepsake," she said.

—> "Well, you're welcome to take any one you'd like," he replied.

Let's review what we've learned so far!

Get ready to answer some questions on your device...

But how do I punctuate my dialogue?

Watch the video on the next slide to review the different elements of dialogue and learn how to use proper punctuation for quotes as well as tags/lead-ins. After you watch the video, you will answer a few more questions!