How to Craft First-Person Dialogue Between Two Characters?

When crafting a story in first person, it’s important to understand how to write dialogue between two characters. Dialogues effectively portray character personalities and progress storyline.

Deciding the Speaker

When two characters are speaking, it’s necessary to clearly mark who is talking. Usually, this can be done by dialogue tags such as ‘I said’, ‘they responded’ etc. However, overuse can lead to a cluttered narrative.

Instead, consider implying speakers through actions or direct speech that reflect distinct character voices.

Examples:

  • Direct speech: “So, where are you guys eating today?” A question for my friends.
  • Implied through action: C2 shrugged, “We’re probably going to the Italian place down the street”.
laptop and block notes

Maintaining Character Voice

In first-person, the character’s internal voice should be as powerful as their spoken words. Translate their unique thoughts, emotions, and views to the dialogue. Reflect their distinct voice in the words they speak as well as their interactions with the world around them.

Punctuation

When it comes to punctuation, the basic rule centers on placing the punctuation marks within the quotation marks for the character’s dialogue.

Examples:

  • Correct: “So, where are you guys eating today?” I said.
  • Correct: “We’re probably going to the Italian place down the street,” C2 responded.
write without fear

Minimizing the Use of “I”

One common rookie mistake when writing first-person dialogues is overusing “I”. To prevent redundancy, consider starting sentences with references to time, place, or what the character is noticing. The dialogue will come across as more natural and less repetitive.

Expressing Interruptions and Pauses

In dialogues, you can use em dashes to show interruptions and abrupt endings. Similarly, ellipses are useful for indicating trailing off dialogues.

Examples:

  • Interruption: “I just thought we could—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” He interrupted.

  • Trailing off: “I guess this is…the end of the line…”
laptop work station

Quoting within Dialogue

If a character quotes someone else in their dialogue, use single quotation marks to denote the quoted words within the character’s spoken words.

Example: “Mark’s mantra is ‘Just get yourself to tomorrow.'”

Conclusions

Learning to write first-person dialogue is a process that involves a keen understanding of the characters, maintaining their unique voice, and observing correct punctuation and dialogue structuring. With practice, you can create compelling dialogues that draw readers into your characters’ world and effectively move the story forward.

Related articles

Leave a Comment