can you start an essay with dialogue

Writing Dialogue [20 Best Examples + Formatting Guide]

Have you ever found yourself cringing at clunky dialogue while reading a book or watching a movie? I know I have.

It’s like nails on a chalkboard, completely ruining the experience. But on the flip side, well-written dialogue can transform a story. It’s the magic that makes characters leap off the page, immersing us in their world.

As a writer, I’m fascinated by the mechanics of great dialogue.

So here are 20 of the best examples of writing dialogue that brings your story to life.

Example 1: Dialogue that Reveals Character

Table of Contents

One of the most powerful functions of dialogue is to shed light on your characters’ personalities.

The way they speak – their word choice, tone, even their hesitations – can tell us so much about who they are. Check out this example:

“Look, I ain’t gonna sugarcoat this,” the detective growled, his knuckles whitening as he gripped the chair. “You were spotted leaving the scene, and the murder weapon’s got your prints all over it.”

Without any lengthy description, we get a sense of this detective as a no-nonsense, direct type of guy.

Example 2: Dialogue that Builds Tension

Dialogue can become this amazing tool to ratchet up the tension in a scene.

Short, clipped exchanges and carefully placed silences can leave the reader on the edge of their seat.

Here’s how it might play out:

“Do you hear that?” Sarah whispered. “Hear what?” A scratching noise echoed from the attic. Sarah’s eyes widened. “It’s coming back.”

The suspense is killing me just writing that!

Example 3: Dialogue that Drives the Plot

Conversations aren’t just about characters sitting around and chatting.

Great dialogue should actively push the story forward. It can set up a conflict, reveal key information, or change the course of events.

Take a look at this:

“I’ve made my decision,” the king declared, the crown heavy on his brow. “We go to war.”

A single line, and the whole trajectory of the story shifts.

Formatting Tips: The Basics

Now, before we get carried away, let’s cover some essential dialogue formatting rules.

Think of these as the grammar of a good conversation.

• Quotation Marks:  Yep, those little squiggles are your best friend. They signal to the reader: “Hey! Someone’s talking!”
• New Speaker, New Paragraph:  Whenever a different character starts talking, give them a new paragraph. It’s all about keeping things easy to follow.
• Dialogue Tags:  These are the little phrases like “he said” or “she replied.” Use them, but try not to overuse them. A well-placed action beat can often do a better job of showing who’s speaking.

Example 4: Dialogue that Creates Humor

Dialogue can be ridiculously funny when done well.

The key? Snappy exchanges, playful misunderstandings, and just a dash of absurdity. Consider this:

“I saw the weirdest thing at the grocery store today,” Tom said, “A woman arguing with a head of lettuce.” “Was she winning?” Lily asked, a grin playing on her lips.

You can almost hear the deadpan delivery, can’t you?

Example 5: Dialogue that Shows Relationships

The way characters speak to each other says a ton about the dynamics between them.

Is there warmth, hostility, an underlying power struggle? Dialogue can paint a crystal-clear picture. Imagine this exchange:

“You didn’t do the dishes again?” Sarah sighed, hands planted on her hips. “Aw, c’mon babe. I was busy,” Mike whined, avoiding her gaze.

We instantly sense the long-suffering tone from Sarah and the playful guilt from Mike.

Example 6: Dialogue with Subtext

The most interesting dialogue often has layers. What the characters say might not be exactly what they mean.

This is where subtext comes in – the unspoken thoughts and feelings bubbling beneath the surface.

Take this snippet:

“It’s a nice ring,” Emily said, her voice flat. “You don’t like it?” Mark’s brow furrowed. Emily shrugged. “It’s fine.”

Is Emily truly indifferent? Or is she masking disappointment, perhaps a sense of something not being quite right? Subtext makes us read between the lines.

Formatting Tips: Getting Fancy

Now, let’s spice things up with a few more advanced formatting tricks:

• Ellipses (…):  These little dots are perfect for showing a character trailing off, hesitating, or searching for words. Example: “I…I don’t know what to say.”
• Em Dashes (—):  These guys can interrupt a thought or indicate a sudden change in direction. Example: “I was going to apologize, but then — well, you’re still being a jerk.”
• Internal Dialogue:  Instead of quotation marks, sometimes you’ll want to italicize a character’s inner thoughts. Example:  Why did I say that? I’m such an idiot.

Cautionary Note

It’s important to remember: dialogue shouldn’t feel like an interrogation. Avoid rigid “question-answer, question-answer” patterns. Real conversations flow and meander naturally.

Example 7: Dialogue with Dialects and Accents

Regional dialects and accents can bring so much flavor to your characters, but it’s a delicate balance.

You want to add authenticity without it becoming a caricature or making it hard to understand.

Here’s a subtle example:

“Well, I’ll be darned,” drawled the farmer, squinting at the sky. “Looks like a storm’s brewin’.”

Notice how just a few word choices and a slight change in pronunciation hint at the speaker’s background.

Example 8: Dialogue in Groups

Writing conversations with more than two people can get chaotic fast. The key is clarity.

Here are a few tips:

• Strong Dialogue Tags:  Sometimes, you need to be more specific than just “he said” or “she said”. Example: “Don’t be ridiculous,” scoffed Sarah.
• Action Beats:  Break up chunks of dialogue with actions that show who’s speaking. Example: Tom slammed his fist on the table. “I won’t stand for this!”

Example 9: Dialogue Over the Phone (or Other Technology)

Conversations where characters aren’t physically together pose unique challenges.

You can’t rely on body language cues. Instead, focus on conveying tone and potential misunderstandings.

For instance:

“Hello?” Sarah’s voice crackled through the phone. A long pause. “Sarah, is that you?” “Mom? Why are you whispering?”

Instantly there’s a sense of distance and something not being quite right.

Example 10: Inner Monologue with a Twist

We often think of internal dialogue as a single character reflecting, but sometimes our inner voices can argue.

This can be a powerful way to showcase internal conflict.

Here’s how it might look:

You should just tell him how you feel, one voice chimed. Are you crazy? the other shrieked back. He’ll never feel the same way .

This creates a vivid picture of a character torn between opposing desires.

Example 11: Dialogue With a Manipulative Character

Manipulative characters often use language as a weapon.

They might use guilt trips, flattery, or veiled threats to get what they want.

Consider this:

“After everything I’ve done for you…” The old woman sighed, a flicker of disappointment in her eyes. “Well, I guess I shouldn’t expect gratitude.”

Notice how she doesn’t directly ask for anything, instead hinting at a debt, leaving the listener feeling uneasy and obligated.

Example 12: Dialogue Across Time Periods

If you’re writing historical fiction or anything with time travel elements, you’ll need to capture the distinct speech patterns of different eras.

Imagine this exchange:

“Gadzooks! What manner of contraption is this?” The Victorian gentleman exclaimed, staring in bewilderment at the smartphone. “It’s a phone,” the teenager replied, barely suppressing a laugh. “Let me show you.”

This little snippet highlights the potential for both humor and linguistic challenges when worlds collide.

Formatting Tip: Dialogue Without Tags

Sometimes, for a rapid-fire or dreamlike effect, you might want to ditch the “he said” or “she asked” altogether.

It’s a bold move, but it can be effective if done sparingly.

Check this out:

“Where are you going?” “Away.” “When will you be back?” “I don’t know.” “Please don’t leave me.”

This creates a sense of urgency, the raw exchange forcing us to focus solely on the words themselves.

Example 13: Dialogue that Shows Transformation

A great way to showcase how a character develops is through shifts in how they speak.

Maybe they become bolder, quieter, or their vocabulary changes.

Let’s see an example:

Scene 1: “I-I don’t know,” Emily whimpered, cowering in the corner. Scene 2 (Later in the story): “That’s it. I’m not taking this anymore!” Emily declared, her chin held high.

The dialogue itself reflects her transformation from victim to someone ready to stand up for herself.

Example 14: Dialogue that’s Just Plain Weird

It’s okay to get strange sometimes.

Absurdist humor or unsettling conversations can add a unique flavor to your story. Just be sure it fits the overall tone.

“Do you believe in cucumbers?” the man asked, his eyes wide and unblinking. “Excuse me?” “Cucumbers, my dear. Agents of the underground vegetable kingdom.”

This immediately creates a sense of oddness and perhaps a touch of unease. Is this guy crazy, or is there something more going on?

Example 15: Dialogue with a Purpose

Remember, good dialogue isn’t just about being entertaining.

It should move your story along. Here are some functions dialogue can serve:

• Providing Exposition:  Sometimes, you need to inform the reader of backstory or world-building details. Trickle information through natural conversation rather than an information dump.
• Foreshadowing:  Subtle hints within a conversation can foreshadow future events or create a sense of unease for the reader.
• Revealing a Twist:  A single line of dialogue can completely flip the script and reframe everything that came before.

Example 16: Dialogue with Non-Verbal Elements

So much of communication happens beyond just words.

Sighs, laughs, and gestures can add richness to dialogue on the page.

“I’m fine,” she said, crossing her arms and looking away.

Notice how the body language contradicts her words, hinting at inner turmoil.

Example 17: Silence as Dialogue

Sometimes, what isn’t said is the most powerful thing of all.

A pregnant pause or a character refusing to speak can convey volumes.

Imagine this:

“So, will you help me or not?” Tom pleaded. Sarah stared at him, her lips a thin line. Finally, she turned and walked away.

The lack of a verbal response speaks louder than any words could.

Example 18: Dialogue With Humorous Effect

A well-timed O.S. voice can deliver a funny remark or punchline, undercutting the seriousness of a scene or taking a moment in an unexpected comedic direction.

INT. CLASSROOM – DAY The teacher drones on about the causes of the American Revolution, his voice as dull as the worn textbook in front of him. KEVIN tries to stifle his yawns, failing miserably. STUDENT (O.S.) Is he ever going to stop talking? My brain just turned to mush. Snickers ripple through the class. The teacher pauses, a look of annoyance flickering across his face. Kevin shoots a desperate look towards the source of the O.S. voice.

• Timing is everything. The best comedic O.S. lines act as a witty reaction to something else happening in a scene. The student’s comment comes right as Kevin’s boredom peaks.
• Subverting expectations is funny. The audience expects the scene to continue with a stern reprimand for speaking out of turn, but the script doesn’t give us that. This leaves room for further humor.
• Consider the tone of the voice – sarcastic, matter-of-fact, or outright whiny? This adds to the comedic effect.

Example 19: Dialogue With Unexpected Reveals

Think of this as a surprise twist using O.S. dialogue.

The audience (and maybe even some characters) are led to believe one thing, only for an O.S. voice to reveal something completely unexpected, shifting the scene’s dynamic.

INT. POLICE INTERROGATION ROOM – NIGHTDETECTIVE HARRIS paces in front of a nervous SUSPECT. Photos of the crime scene are scattered on the table. HARRIS Don’t lie to me! We’ve got witnesses who saw you at the scene. SUSPECT I – I swear, I had nothing to do with it! I was… I was with my girlfriend. Harris leans in, a triumphant glint in her eyes. She claps her hands sharply, startling the suspect. WOMAN (O.S.) That’s a lie! He was nowhere near me last night! The suspect whips around. His face pales as we hear the sound of the interrogation room door swinging open…

• The power lies in the build-up. The initial dialogue and the characters’ reactions should lead the audience to believe one outcome, making the O.S. interruption all the more impactful.
• Consider who speaks the O.S. line. Is it someone the audience recognizes, or a totally new character whose identity becomes a new mystery?
• Play with the proximity of the voice. Is it right outside the room, adding to the dramatic reveal as the door opens, or is it more distant – perhaps a voice over an intercom – for an even more unsettling effect?

Example 20: Dialogue With a “Haunted” Feeling

Explanation: O.S. can be used to create an eerie or unsettling atmosphere, particularly in horror or psychological thrillers. This could be unexplained voices, creepy whispers, or sounds that hint at a supernatural (or simply unnerving) presence.

INT. OLD MANSION – NIGHTSARAH explores the abandoned mansion, flashlight cutting through the thick dust. Cobwebs cling to every surface. A faint WHISPER drifts through the air, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Sarah freezes. VOICE (O.S.) Get out… leave this place… Sarah’s breath catches in her throat. She hesitantly follows the direction of the voice, her flashlight beam trembling.

• Less is more. The vaguer and more inexplicable the O.S. voice, the more chilling it becomes.
• Layer sounds for a full creepy effect. Combine whispers with unexpected bangs, creaks, or the faint sound of footsteps following behind Sarah.
• Play with audience expectations. If the script initially leads the audience to think the house is merely abandoned, the O.S. voices become that much more terrifying.

Here is a good video about writing dialogue:

Additional Dialogue Tips & Tricks

• Read Your Dialogue Aloud:  This is the best way to catch awkward phrasing or unnatural rhythms. Our ears often pick up on what our eyes might miss.
• Less is More:  Don’t feel the need to have every single interaction be profound. Sometimes a simple “Hey” or “Thanks” can do the job just fine.
• Eavesdrop:  Paying attention to real-life conversations is fantastic research. Note the pauses, the filler words, the way people interrupt each other.

Final Thoughts: Writing Dialogue

Phew! We did it!

Does that feel like a solid collection of dialogue examples? We haven’t covered absolutely every scenario, but I hope these illustrate the vast potential within dialogue to bring your stories to life.

Read This Next:

• How To Use Action Tags in Dialogue: Ultimate Guide
• How Do Writers Fill a Natural Pause in Dialogue? [7 Crazy Effective Ways]
• Can You Start a Novel with Dialogue?
• How To Write A Southern Accent (17 Tips + Examples)
• How to Write a French Accent (13 Best Tips with Examples)

Dialogue: The Dos and Don’ts of Quotes in Your College Essay

“Hey,” I began, “you have cow eyes. I know that sounds like a bad thing but have you ever looked into a cow’s eyes? They are so deep and brown and beautiful. I’ve looked into a lot a cow eyes because I’m from Wisconsin.”

This dialogue segment is from Malcolm Conner’s winning “Modern Love” College Essay , p r i n t e d j u s t a c o u p l e m o n t h s a g o i n t h e N e w Y o r k T i m e s . Without dialogue, he might have said “I fumbled with my words, trying to compliment her,” but the dialogue shows his rambling and awkward demeanor instead.

Dialogue is an underutilized tool in the college essay. So many students don’t even consider adding an outdated adage from a parent or a hilarious crack from a high school coach to break up their prose, set the scene or build the profiles of their stories’ characters.  And yet, dialogue is one of those devices that can give you a lot of bang for your buck, delivering a punch of personality or a wallop of context using just a few carefully culled utterances. Dialogue is also one of those tools that is easy to waste if you don’t know how to wield it for maximum effect. So when should you use dialogue in your college essay? And when should you avoid it?

Use dialogue:

If it reveals something specific about a character in your essay. Is your character cranky? A jokester? Is your character selfish? (“You can’t have any.”) Dialogue can telegraph these kinds of qualities to a reader very quickly.

If it helps to move the story forward. Maybe when everything is going great, your friend pulls you aside and says, “I have to tell you something, something bad.”

If it expresses humor or heartache or other emotions in the character’s own words. Is your character a funny grandparent? (“If you eat any more potatoes, Ireland’s gonna come for you, sport.” “Honey, if I had known about senior discounts, I would have let my hair go grey twenty years ago.”)

Don’t use dialogue:

If it is expressing something that is obvious to the reader without adding an additional layer of context or insight to the story or your characters. If it doesn’t tell us anything new about the character, the story may be better without it.

If you’ve already used it a few times in your essay. The impact of dialogue is enhanced when it’s used sparingly — especially in short pieces of writing.

If it takes away from the focal point of your story. Dialogue can be great insight into a character or situation, but if it doesn’t serve a purpose in hitting home your main point, it needs to be cut.

All of this said, of course, there are exceptions to these rules. If used intentionally, as a conscious creative choice, submitting an essay overflowing with dialogue can actually work to amazing effect. For example, maybe your essay is a discussion between you and your former self, between you and your best friend, or you and your parent.  In these cases, you should ask yourself: why is this the best way to share my story? If you can answer that question and still believe you’re making the right choice, by all means, continue with your experiment.

Otherwise, the tips above should help you on the road to incorporating the right kind and amount of dialogue into your college essay. When used well, dialogue illuminates. It shows personality. It’s specific. I say, “Do it! Do it! Do it!”

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Examples of Dialogue Tags

Examples of Dialogue Tags:

interrupted

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Additional Links & Resources

• Dialogue Cheat Sheet

Dialogue is an exchange of conversation between two or more people or characters in a story. As a literary style, dialogue helps to advance the plot, reveal a character's thoughts or emotions, or shows the character's reaction within the story. Dialogue gives life to the story and supports the story's atmosphere.

There are two types of dialogue that can be used in an narrative essay.

Direct dialogue  is written between inverted commas or quotes. These are the actual spoken words of a character 

Indirect dialogue  is basically telling someone about what another person said

Formatting Dialogue

Dialogue is an important part of a narrative essay, However formatting dialogue can be troublesome at times.

When formatting dialogue use these rules and examples to help with your formatting:

Place double quotation marks at the beginning an end of spoken words.  The quotations go on the  outside  of both the words and end-of-dialogue punctuation.

• Example:  "What is going on here?" John asked.

Each speaker gets a new paragraph that is indented.

      “hi,” said John as he stretched out his hand.

           "Good Morning, how are you?" said Brad shaking John’s hand.

                      "Good. Thanks for asking," John said.

Each speaker’s actions are in the same paragraph as their dialogue.

 A  dialogue tag  is anything that indicates which character spoke and describes how they spoke.

If the tag comes before the dialogue,  use a comma straight after the tag. If the dialogue is the beginning of a sentence, capitalize the first letter. End the dialogue with the appropriate punctuation (period, exclamation point, or question mark), but keep it INSIDE the quotation marks.

• Examples Before: 

James said, “I’ll never go shopping with you again!”

John said, “It's a great day to be at the beach.”

She opened the door and yelled, “Go away! Leave me alone!”

If the dialogue tag comes after the dialogue , Punctuation still goes INSIDE quotation marks. Unless the dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, it is  not  capitalized. End the dialogue tag with appropriate punctuation. Use comma after the quote unless it ends with a question mark or exclamation mark.

• Examples After: 

“Are you sure this is real life?” Lindsay asked.

“It’s so gloomy out,” he said.

“Are we done?” asked Brad . 

“This is not your concern!” Emma said.

If dialogue tag is in the middle of dialogue.  A comma should be used before the dialogue tag inside the closing quotation mark; Unless the dialogue tag begins with a proper noun, it is  not  capitalized. A comma is used after the dialogue tag, outside of quotation marks, to reintroduce the dialogue. End the dialogue with the appropriate punctuation followed by the closing quotation marks. 

When it is two sentences, the first sentence will end with a punctuation mark and the second begins with a capital letter.

• Examples middle: 

“Let’s run away,” she whispered, “we wont get another chance.”

“I thought you cared.” Sandy said, hoping for an explanation. “How could you walk away?”

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Jerry whispered. “I’ll miss him.”

Questions in dialogue.  

if there is a dialogue tag, the question mark will act as a comma and you will then lowercase the first word in the dialogue tag 

• Example: What are you doing?" he asked.

if there is simply an action after the question, the question mark acts as a period and you will then capitalize the first word in the next sentence.

“Sarah, why didn't you text me back?” Jane asked.

“James, why didn’t you show up?” Carol stomped her feet in anger before slamming the door behind her.

If the question or exclamation ends the dialogue, do not use commas to separate the dialogue from dialogue tags.

• Example:  “Sarah, why didn't you text me back?” Jane asked.

If the sentence containing the dialogue is a question, then the        question mark goes outside of the quotation marks.

Did the teacher say, “The Homework is due Tomorrow”?

If you have to quote something within the dialogue.  When a character quotes someone else, use double-quotes around what your character says, then single-quotes around the speech they’re quoting.

• Example: 

"When doling out dessert, my grandmother always said, 'You may have a cookie for each hand.'"

Dashes & Ellipses:

Dashes ( — ) are used to indicate abruptly interrupted dialogue or when one character's dialogue is interrupted by another character.

Use an em dash  inside  the quotation marks to cut off the character mid-dialogue, usually with either (A) another character speaking or (B) an external action.

• Including the em dash at the end of the line of dialogue signifies that your character wasn't finished speaking.
• If the speaking character's action interrupts their own dialogue . 
• Use em dashes  outside  the quotation marks to set off a bit of action without a speech verb. 

Examples: 

• Heather ran towards Sarah with excitement. “You won’t believe what I found out—”
• "Is everything—" she started to ask, but a sharp look cut her off.
• "Look over there—" She snapped her mouth shut so she didn't give the secret away.
• "Look over there"—she pointed towards the shadow—"by the stairway."

Use ellipses (...) when a character has lost their train of thought or can't figure out what to say

• Example:  “You haven’t…” he trailed off in disbelief.

Action Beats

Action beats show what a character is doing before, during, or after their dialogue.

“This isn't right.” She squinted down at her burger. “Does this look like it is well done to you?”

She smiled. “I loved the center piece you chose.”

If you separate two complete sentences, you will simply place the action beat as its own sentence between two sets of quotes.

“I never said he could go to the concert.” Linda sighed and sat in her chair. “He lied to you again.”

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How to Write Dialogue: 7 Great Tips for Writers (With Examples)

Hannah Yang

Great dialogue serves multiple purposes. It moves your plot forward. It develops your characters and it makes the story more engaging.

It’s not easy to do all these things at once, but when you master the art of writing dialogue, readers won’t be able to put your book down.

In this article, we will teach you the rules for writing dialogue and share our top dialogue tips that will make your story sing.

Dialogue Rules

How to format dialogue, 7 tips for writing dialogue in a story or book, dialogue examples.

Before we look at tips for writing powerful dialogue, let’s start with an overview of basic dialogue rules.

• Start a new paragraph each time there’s a new speaker. Whenever a new character begins to speak, you should give them their own paragraph. This rule makes it easier for the reader to follow the conversation.
• Keep all speech between quotation marks . Everything that a character says should go between quotation marks, including the final punctuation marks. For example, periods and commas should always come before the final quotation mark, not after.
• Don’t use end quotations for paragraphs within long speeches. If a single character speaks for such a long time that you break their speech up into multiple paragraphs, you should omit the quotation marks at the end of each paragraph until they stop talking. The final quotation mark indicates that their speech is over.
• Use single quotes when a character quotes someone else. Whenever you have a quote within a quote, you should use single quotation marks (e.g. She said, “He had me at ‘hello.’”)
• Dialogue tags are optional. A dialogue tag is anything that indicates which character is speaking and how, such as “she said,” “he whispered,” or “I shouted.” You can use dialogue tags if you want to give the reader more information about who’s speaking, but you can also choose to omit them if you want the dialogue to flow more naturally. We’ll be discussing more about this rule in our tips below.

Let’s walk through some examples of how to format dialogue .

The simplest formatting option is to write a line of speech without a dialogue tag. In this case, the entire line of speech goes within the quotation marks, including the period at the end.

• Example: “I think I need a nap.”

Another common formatting option is to write a single line of speech that ends with a dialogue tag.

Here, you should separate the speech from the dialogue tag with a comma, which should go inside the quotation marks.

• Example: “I think I need a nap,” Maria said.

You can also write a line of speech that starts with a dialogue tag. Again, you separate the dialogue tag with a comma, but this time, the comma goes outside the quotation marks.

• Example: Maria said, “I think I need a nap.”

As an alternative to a simple dialogue tag, you can write a line of speech accompanied by an action beat. In this case, you should use a period rather than a comma, because the action beat is a full sentence.

• Example: Maria sat down on the bed. “I think I need a nap.”

Finally, you can choose to include an action beat while the character is talking.

In this case, you would use em-dashes to separate the action from the dialogue, to indicate that the action happens without a pause in the speech.

• Example: “I think I need”—Maria sat down on the bed—“a nap.”

Now that we’ve covered the basics, we can move on to the more nuanced aspects of writing dialogue.

Here are our seven favorite tips for writing strong, powerful dialogue that will keep your readers engaged.

Tip #1: Create Character Voices

Dialogue is a great way to reveal your characters. What your characters say, and how they say it, can tell us so much about what kind of people they are.

Some characters are witty and gregarious. Others are timid and unobtrusive.

Speech patterns vary drastically from person to person.

To make someone stop talking to them, one character might say “I would rather not talk about this right now,” while another might say, “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

When you’re writing dialogue, think about your character’s education level, personality, and interests.

• What kind of slang do they use?
• Do they prefer long or short sentences?
• Do they ask questions or make assertions?

Each character should have their own voice.

Ideally, you want to write dialogue that lets your reader identify the person speaking at any point in your story just by looking at what’s between the quotation marks.

Tip #2: Write Realistic Dialogue

Good dialogue should sound natural. Listen to how people talk in real life and try to replicate it on the page when you write dialogue.

Don’t be afraid to break the rules of grammar, or to use an occasional exclamation point to punctuate dialogue.

It’s okay to use contractions , sentence fragments , and run-on sentences , even if you wouldn’t use them in other parts of the story.

This doesn’t mean that realistic dialogue should sound exactly like the way people speak in the real world.

If you’ve ever read a court transcript, you know that real-life speech is riddled with “ums” and “ahs” and repeated words and phrases. A few paragraphs of this might put your readers to sleep.

Compelling dialogue should sound like a real conversation, while still being wittier, smoother, and better worded than real speech.

Tip #3: Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

A dialogue tag is anything that tells the reader which character is talking within that same paragraph, such as “she said” or “I asked.”

When you’re writing dialogue, remember that simple dialogue tags are the most effective .

Often, you can omit dialogue tags after the conversation has started flowing, especially if only two characters are participating.

The reader will be able to keep up with who’s speaking as long as you start a new paragraph each time the speaker changes.

When you do need to use a dialogue tag, a simple “he said” or “she said” will do the trick.

Our brains generally skip over the word “said” when we’re reading, while other dialogue tags are a distraction.

A common mistake beginner writers make is to avoid using the word “said.”

Characters in amateur novels tend to mutter, whisper, declare, or chuckle at every line of dialogue. This feels overblown and distracts from the actual story.

Another common mistake is to attach an adverb to the word “said.” Characters in amateur novels rarely just say things—they have to say things loudly, quietly, cheerfully, or angrily.

If you’re writing great dialogue, readers should be able to figure out whether your character is cheerful or angry from what’s within the quotation marks.

The only exception to this rule is if the dialogue tag contradicts the dialogue itself. For example, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said angrily.

The word “angrily” is redundant here because the words inside the quotation marks already imply that the character is speaking angrily.

In contrast, consider this sentence:

• “You’ve ruined my life,” she said thoughtfully.

Here, the word “thoughtfully” is well-placed because it contrasts with what we might otherwise assume. It adds an additional nuance to the sentence inside the quotation marks.

You can use the ProWritingAid dialogue check when you write dialogue to make sure your dialogue tags are pulling their weight and aren’t distracting readers from the main storyline.

Sign up for your free ProWritingAid account to check your dialogue tags today.

Tip #4: Balance Speech with Action

When you’re writing dialogue, you can use action beats —descriptions of body language or physical action—to show what each character is doing throughout the conversation.

Learning how to write action beats is an important component of learning how to write dialogue.

Good dialogue becomes even more interesting when the characters are doing something active at the same time.

You can watch people in real life, or even characters in movies, to see what kinds of body language they have. Some pick at their fingernails. Some pace the room. Some tap their feet on the floor.

Including physical action when writing dialogue can have multiple benefits:

• It changes the pace of your dialogue and makes the rhythm more interesting
• It prevents “white room syndrome,” which is when a scene feels like it’s happening in a white room because it’s all dialogue and no description
• It shows the reader who’s speaking without using speaker tags

You can decide how often to include physical descriptions in each scene. All dialogue has an ebb and flow to it, and you can use beats to control the pace of your dialogue scenes.

If you want a lot of tension in your scene, you can use fewer action beats to let the dialogue ping-pong back and forth.

If you want a slower scene, you can write dialogue that includes long, detailed action beats to help the reader relax.

You should start a separate sentence, or even a new paragraph, for each of these longer beats.

Tip #5: Write Conversations with Subtext

Every conversation has subtext , because we rarely say exactly what we mean. The best dialogue should include both what is said and what is not said.

I once had a roommate who cared a lot about the tidiness of our apartment, but would never say it outright. We soon figured out that whenever she said something like “I might bring some friends over tonight,” what she meant was “Please wash your dishes, because there are no clean plates left for my friends to use.”

When you’re writing dialogue, it’s important to think about what’s not being said. Even pleasant conversations can hide a lot beneath the surface.

Is one character secretly mad at the other?

Is one secretly in love with the other?

Is one thinking about tomorrow’s math test and only pretending to pay attention to what the other person is saying?

Personally, I find it really hard to use subtext when I write dialogue from scratch.

In my first drafts I let my characters say what they really mean. Then, when I’m editing, I go back and figure out how to convey the same information through subtext instead.

Tip #6: Show, Don’t Tell

When I was in high school, I once wrote a story in which the protagonist’s mother tells her: “As you know, Susan, your dad left us when you were five.”

I’ve learned a lot about the writing craft since high school, but it doesn’t take a brilliant writer to figure out that this is not something any mother would say to her daughter in real life.

The reason I wrote that line of dialogue was because I wanted to tell the reader when Susan last saw her father, but I didn’t do it in a realistic way.

Don’t shoehorn information into your characters’ conversations if they’re not likely to say it to each other.

One useful trick is to have your characters get into an argument.

You can convey a lot of information about a topic through their conflicting opinions, without making it sound like either of the characters is saying things for the reader’s benefit.

Here’s one way my high school self could have conveyed the same information in a more realistic way in just a few lines:

Susan: “Why didn’t you tell me Dad was leaving? Why didn’t you let me say goodbye?”

Mom: “You were only five. I wanted to protect you.”

Tip #7: Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Dialogue tends to flow out easily when you’re drafting your story, so in the editing process, you’ll need to be ruthless. Cut anything that doesn’t move the story forward.

Try not to write dialogue that feels like small talk.

You can eliminate most hellos and goodbyes, or summarize them instead of showing them. Readers don’t want to waste their time reading dialogue that they hear every day.

In addition, try not to write dialogue with too many trigger phrases, which are questions that trigger the next line of dialogue, such as:

• “And then what?”
• “What do you mean?”

It’s tempting to slip these in when you’re writing dialogue because they keep the conversation flowing. I still catch myself doing this from time to time.

Remember that you don’t need three lines of dialogue when one line could accomplish the same thing.

Let’s look at some dialogue examples from successful novels that follow each of our seven tips.

Dialogue Example #1: How to Create Character Voice

Let’s start with an example of a character with a distinct voice from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling.

“What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can’t you?” Colin had run down from his seat and was now dancing alongside them as they left the field. Ron gave a huge heave and more slugs dribbled down his front. “Oooh,” said Colin, fascinated and raising his camera. “Can you hold him still, Harry?”

Most readers could figure out that this was Colin Creevey speaking, even if his name hadn’t been mentioned in the passage.

This is because Colin Creevey is the only character who speaks with such extreme enthusiasm, even at a time when Ron is belching slugs.

This snippet of written dialogue does a great job of showing us Colin’s personality and how much he worships his hero Harry.

Dialogue Example #2: How to Write Realistic Dialogue

Here’s an example of how to write dialogue that feels realistic from A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.

“As much as I love this land, some days I think about leaving it,” Babi said. “Where to?” “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget. Pakistan first, I suppose. For a year, maybe two. Wait for our paperwork to get processed.” “And then?” “And then, well, it is a big world. Maybe America. Somewhere near the sea. Like California.”

Notice the punctuation and grammar that these two characters use when they speak.

There are many sentence fragments in this conversation like, “Anyplace where it’s easy to forget.” and “Somewhere near the sea.”

Babi often omits the verbs from his sentences, just like people do in real life. He speaks in short fragments instead of long, flowing paragraphs.

This dialogue shows who Babi is and feels similar to the way a real person would talk, while still remaining concise.

Dialogue Example #3: How to Simplify Your Dialogue Tags

Here’s an example of effective dialogue tags in Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

In this passage, the narrator’s been caught exploring the forbidden west wing of her new husband’s house, and she’s trying to make excuses for being there.

“I lost my way,” I said, “I was trying to find my room.” “You have come to the opposite side of the house,” she said; “this is the west wing.” “Yes, I know,” I said. “Did you go into any of the rooms?” she asked me. “No,” I said. “No, I just opened a door, I did not go in. Everything was dark, covered up in dust sheets. I’m sorry. I did not mean to disturb anything. I expect you like to keep all this shut up.” “If you wish to open up the rooms I will have it done,” she said; “you have only to tell me. The rooms are all furnished, and can be used.” “Oh, no,” I said. “No. I did not mean you to think that.”

In this passage, the only dialogue tags Du Maurier uses are “I said,” “she said,” and “she asked.”

Even so, you can feel the narrator’s dread and nervousness. Her emotions are conveyed through what she actually says, rather than through the dialogue tags.

This is a splendid example of evocative speech that doesn’t need fancy dialogue tags to make it come to life.

Dialogue Example #4: How to Balance Speech with Action

Let’s look at a passage from The Princess Bride by William Goldman, where dialogue is melded with physical action.

With a smile the hunchback pushed the knife harder against Buttercup’s throat. It was about to bring blood. “If you wish her dead, by all means keep moving," Vizzini said. The man in black froze. “Better,” Vizzini nodded. No sound now beneath the moonlight. “I understand completely what you are trying to do,” the Sicilian said finally, “and I want it quite clear that I resent your behavior. You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen, and I think it quite ungentlemanly.” “Let me explain,” the man in black began, starting to edge forward. “You’re killing her!” the Sicilian screamed, shoving harder with the knife. A drop of blood appeared now at Buttercup’s throat, red against white.

In this passage, William Goldman brings our attention seamlessly from the action to the dialogue and back again.

This makes the scene twice as interesting, because we’re paying attention not just to what Vizzini and the man in black are saying, but also to what they’re doing.

This is a great way to keep tension high and move the plot forward.

Dialogue Example #5: How to Write Conversations with Subtext

This example from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card shows how to write dialogue with subtext.

Here is the scene when Ender and his sister Valentine are reunited for the first time, after Ender’s spent most of his childhood away from home training to be a soldier.

Ender didn’t wave when she walked down the hill toward him, didn’t smile when she stepped onto the floating boat slip. But she knew that he was glad to see her, knew it because of the way his eyes never left her face. “You’re bigger than I remembered,” she said stupidly. “You too,” he said. “I also remembered that you were beautiful.” “Memory does play tricks on us.” “No. Your face is the same, but I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore. Come on. Let’s go out into the lake.”

In this scene, we can tell that Valentine missed her brother terribly, and that Ender went through a lot of trauma at Battle School, without either of them saying it outright.

The conversation could have started with Valentine saying “I missed you,” but instead, she goes for a subtler opening: “You’re bigger than I remembered.”

Similarly, Ender could say “You have no idea what I’ve been through,” but instead he says, “I don’t remember what beautiful means anymore.”

We can deduce what each of these characters is thinking and feeling from what they say and from what they leave unsaid.

Dialogue Example #6: How to Show, Not Tell

Let’s look at an example from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. This scene is the story’s first introduction of the ancient creatures called the Chandrian.

“I didn’t know the Chandrian were demons,” the boy said. “I’d heard—” “They ain’t demons,” Jake said firmly. “They were the first six people to refuse Tehlu’s choice of the path, and he cursed them to wander the corners—” “Are you telling this story, Jacob Walker?” Cob said sharply. “Cause if you are, I’ll just let you get on with it.” The two men glared at each other for a long moment. Eventually Jake looked away, muttering something that could, conceivably, have been an apology. Cob turned back to the boy. “That’s the mystery of the Chandrian,” he explained. “Where do they come from? Where do they go after they’ve done their bloody deeds? Are they men who sold their souls? Demons? Spirits? No one knows.” Cob shot Jake a profoundly disdainful look. “Though every half-wit claims he knows...”

The three characters taking part in this conversation all know what the Chandrian are.

Imagine if Cob had said “As we all know, the Chandrian are mysterious demon-spirits.” We would feel like he was talking to us, not to the two other characters.

Instead, Rothfuss has all three characters try to explain their own understanding of what the Chandrian are, and then shoot each other’s explanations down.

When Cob reprimands Jake for interrupting him and then calls him a half-wit for claiming to know what he’s talking about, it feels like a realistic interaction.

This is a clever way for Rothfuss to introduce the Chandrian in a believable way.

Dialogue Example #7: How to Keep Your Dialogue Concise

Here’s an example of concise dialogue from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

“Do you blame me for flunking you, boy?” he said. “No, sir! I certainly don’t,” I said. I wished to hell he’d stop calling me “boy” all the time. He tried chucking my exam paper on the bed when he was through with it. Only, he missed again, naturally. I had to get up again and pick it up and put it on top of the Atlantic Monthly. It’s boring to do that every two minutes. “What would you have done in my place?” he said. “Tell the truth, boy.” Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff. I told him how I would’ve done exactly the same thing if I’d been in his place, and how most people didn’t appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull.

Here, the last paragraph diverges from the prior ones. After the teacher says “Tell the truth, boy,” the rest of the conversation is summarized, rather than shown.

The summary of what the narrator says in the last paragraph—“I told him I was a real moron, and all that stuff”—serves to hammer home that this is the type of “old bull” that the narrator has fed to his teachers over and over before.

It doesn’t need to be shown because it’s not important to the narrator—it’s just “all that stuff.”

Salinger could have written out the entire conversation in dialogue, but instead he kept the dialogue concise.

Final Words

Now you know how to write clear, effective dialogue! Start with the basic rules for dialogue and try implementing the more advanced tips as you go.

What are your favorite dialogue tips? Let us know in the comments below.

Do you know how to craft memorable, compelling characters? Download this free book now:

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Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, can i use dialogue in my college essay.

I'm writing my college essay and I want to include a conversation I had with someone that's relevant to my topic. Is it acceptable to use dialogue in a college essay or is it considered unprofessional?

Absolutely! Including dialogue in your college essay can be a great way to showcase your storytelling abilities and make your essay more engaging. Just make sure that the conversation you include is relevant to your overall message and doesn't distract from the main point you're trying to make.

When using dialogue, it's important to format it correctly and maintain a balance between dialogue and narrative. Too much dialogue might make your essay seem more like a script, while too little might not have the desired impact. One example could be using a meaningful conversation you had with a mentor that inspired you to pursue your passions.

Remember, a well-crafted college essay should reflect your authentic voice and experiences, so if dialogue helps you tell your story more effectively, go for it! Just keep in mind that the essay should still be professional and focused on your personal growth and development.

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Last updated on Sep 21, 2023

How to Write Fabulous Dialogue [9 Tips + Examples]

This post is written by author, editor, and bestselling ghostwriter Tom Bromley. He is the  instructor of Reedsy's 101-day course,  How to Write a Novel .

Good dialogue isn’t about quippy lines and dramatic pauses.

Good dialogue is about propelling the story forward, pulling the reader along, and fleshing out characters and their dynamics in front of readers. Well-written dialogue can take your story to a new level — you just have to unlock it.

In this article, I’ll break down the major steps of writing great dialogue, and provide exercises for you to practice your own dialogue on.

Here's how to write great dialogue in 9 steps:

1. Use quotation marks to signal speech

2. pace dialogue lines by three , 3. use action beats , 4. use ‘said’ as a dialogue tag  , 5. write scene-based dialogue, 6. model any talk on real life , 7. differentiate character voices, 8. "show, don't tell" information in conversation , 9. delete superfluous words, which dialogue tag are you.

Find out in just a minute.

Alfred Hitchcock once said, “Drama is life with all the boring bits cut out.”

Similarly, I could say that good dialogue in a novel is a real conversation without all the fluff — and with quotation marks. 

Imagine, for instance, if every scene with dialogue in your novel started out with:

'Hey, buddy! How are you doing?"

“Great! How are you?""

'Great! Long time no see! Parking was a nightmare, wasn’t it?"

Firstly, from a technical perspective, the quotation marks are inconsistent and incorrectly formatted. To learn about the mechanics of your dialogue and how to format it, we also wrote this full post on the topic that I recommend reading.

Secondly, from a novel perspective, such lines don’t add anything to the story. And finally, from a reading perspective, your readers will not want to sit through this over and over again. Readers are smart: they can infer that all these civilities occur. Which means that you can skip the small talk (unless it’s important to the story) to get to the heart of the dialogue from the get-go.  

For a more tangible example of this technique, check out the dialogue-driven opening to Barbara Kingsolver's novel, Unsheltered .

Screenwriter Cynthia Whitcomb once proposed an idea called the “Three-Beat Rule.” What this recommends, essentially, is to introduce a maximum of three dialogue “beats” (the short phrases in speech you can say without pausing for breath) at a time. Only after these three dialogue beats should you insert a dialogue tag, action beat, or another character’s speech.

Here’s an example from Jane Gardam’s short story, “Dangers”, in which the boy Jake is shooting an imaginary gun at his grandmother:

In theory, this sounds simple enough. In practice, however, it’s a bit more complicated than that, simply because dialogue conventions continue to change over time. There’s no way to condense “good dialogue” into a formula of three this, or two that. But if you’re just starting out and need a strict rule to help you along, then the Three-Beat Rule is a good place to begin experimenting.

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Let’s take a look at another kind of “beats” now — action beats.

Action beats are the descriptions of the expressions, movements, or even internal thoughts that accompany the speaker’s words. They’re always included in the same paragraph as the dialogue, so as to indicate that the person acting is also the person speaking.

On a technical level, action beats keep your writing varied, manage the pace of a dialogue-heavy scene, and break up the long list of lines ending in ‘he said’ or ‘she said’.

But on a character level, action beats are even more important because they can go a level deeper than dialogue and illustrate a character’s body language.

When we communicate, dialogue only forms a half of how we get across what we want to say. Body language is that missing half — which is why action beats are so important in visualizing a conversation, and can help you “show” rather than “tell” in writing.

Here’s a quick exercise to practice thinking about body language in the context of dialogue: imagine a short scene, where you are witnessing a conversation between two people from the opposite side of a restaurant or café. Because it’s noisy and you can’t hear what they are saying, describe the conversation through the use of body language only.

Remember, at the end of the day, action beats and spoken dialogue are partners in crime. These beats are a commonly used technique so you can find plenty of examples —  here’s one from  Never Let Me Go  by Kazuo Ishiguro . 

If there’s one golden rule in writing dialogue, it’s this: ‘said’ is your friend.

Yes, ‘said’ is nothing new. Yes, ‘said’ is used by all other authors out there already. But you know what? There’s a reason why ‘said’ is the king of dialogue tags: it works.

Pro-tip: While we cannot stress enough the importance of "said," sometimes you do need another dialogue tag. Download this free cheatsheet of 270+ other words for said to get yourself covered!

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Upgrade your dialogue with our list of 270 alternatives to “said.”

The thinking goes that ‘said’ is so unpretentious, so unassuming that it focuses readers’ attention on what’s most important on the page: the dialogue itself. As writer Elmore Leonard puts it: 

“Never use a verb other than ‘said’ to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But ‘said’ is far less intrusive than ‘grumbled,’ ‘gasped,’ ‘cautioned,’ ‘lied.’”

It might be tempting at times to turn towards other words for ‘said’ such as ‘exclaimed,’ or ‘declared,’ but my general rule of thumb is that in 90% of scenarios, ‘said’ is going to be the most effective dialogue tag for you to use while writing dialogue.

So now that we have several guidelines in place, this is a good spot to pause, reflect, and say that there’s no wrong or right way to write dialogue. It depends on the demands of the scene, the characters, and the story. Great dialogue isn’t about following this or that rule — but rather learning what technique to use when . 

If you stick to one rule the whole time — i.e. if you only use ‘said,’ or you finish every dialogue line with an action beat — you’ll wear out readers. Let’s see how unnaturally it plays out in the example below with Sophie and Ethan: 

All of which is to say: don’t be afraid to make exceptions to the rule if the scene asks for it. The key is to know when to switch up your dialogue structure or use of dialogue tags or action beats throughout a scene — and by extension, throughout your book.

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Dialogue isn’t always about writing grammatically perfect prose. The way a person speaks reflects the way a person is — and not all people are straight-A honor students who speak in impeccable English. In real life, the way people talk is fragmented, and punctuated by pauses.

That’s something that you should also keep in mind when you’re aiming to write authentic dialogue.

It can be tempting to think to yourself, “ Oh, I’ll try and slip in some exposition into my dialogue here to reveal important background information.” But if that results in an info-dump such as this — “ I’m just going to the well, Mother — the well that my brother, your son, tragically fell down five years ago ” — then you’ll probably want to take a step back and find a more organic, timely, and digestible way to incorporate that into your story.

Kay Adams is Michael’s date at his sister’s wedding in this scene. Her interest in his family is natural enough that the expository conversation doesn’t feel shoehorned in. 

A distinctive voice for each character is perhaps the most important element to get right in dialogue. Just as no one person in the world talks the same as each other, no one person in your book should also talk similarly.

To get this part of writing dialogue down pat, you need to start out by knowing your characters inside out. How does your character talk? Do they come with verbal quirks? Non-verbal quirks?

Jay Gatsby’s “old sport,” for example, gives him a distinctive, recognizable voice. It stands out because no one else has something as memorable about their speech. But more than that, it reveals something valuable about Gatsby’s character: he’s trying to impersonates a gentleman in his speech and lifestyle.

Likewise, think carefully about your character’s voice, and use catchphrases and character quirks when they can say something about your character. 

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“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most oft-repeated rules in writing, and a conversation on the page can be a gold mine for “showing.”

Authors can use action beats and descriptions to provide clues for readers to read between the lines. Let’s revisit Sophie and Ethan in this example:

While Sophie claims she hasn’t been obsessing over this project all night, the actions in between her words indicate there’s nothing on her mind  but  work. The result is that you show , through the action beats vs. the dialogue, Sophie being hardworking—rather than telling it.

Show, Don't Tell

Master the golden rule of writing in 10 five-minute lessons.

As always when it comes to writing a novel: all roads lead back to The Edit, and the dialogue you’ve written is no exception.

So while you’re editing your novel at the end, you may find that a “less is more” mentality will be helpful. Remember to cut out the unnecessary bits of dialogue, so that you can focus on making sure the dialogue you  do  keep matters. Good writing is intentional and purposeful, always striving to keep the story going and readers engaged. The importance lies in quality rather than quantity. 

One point I haven’t addressed yet is repetition. If used well (i.e. with clear intention), repetition is a  literary device  that can help you build motifs in your writing. But when you find yourself repeating information in your dialogue, it might be a good time to revise your work. 

For instance, here’s a scene with Sophie and Ethan later on in the story: 

As I’ve mentioned before, good dialogue shows character — and dialogue itself is a playground where character dynamics play out. If you write and edit your dialogue with this in mind, then your dialogue will be sharper, cleaner, and more organic. 

I know that writing dialogue can be intimidating, especially if you don’t have much experience with it. But that should never keep you from including it in your work! Just remember that the more you practice — especially with the help of these tips — the better you’ll get.

And once you’re confident with the conversational content you can conjure up, follow along to the next part of our guide to see how you can punctuate and format your dialogue flawlessly .

As an editor and publisher, Tom has worked on several hundred titles, again including many prize-winners and international bestsellers. 

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Articles & Advice > College Admission > Articles

Using Dialogue in Your College Application Essay

Admission officers are swamped. They want to be wowed by hopeful students' applications—including their admission essays. Try using dialogue to stand out!

by Ashley Wellington Founder, Mint Tutors LLC

Last Updated: Oct 4, 2023

Originally Posted: Aug 19, 2014

Admission officers are swamped with applications.   Particularly at very selective institutions, they need to make quick judgements about students' applications and personal statements. This makes the opening line of that application essay critical. If you want to wow them from the get-go, follow the advice below. 

Will your essay get tossed in the "eh" pile?

“I hate to break it to you, but your essay might not get read,” my college counselor remarked without even looking up from his computer as I nervously handed him my first draft. I was horrified at the time, but he was, and still is, right. Just picture it: admission officers, especially those for the most selective institutions, are sifting through a record number of applications and have about three months to eliminate the majority of those deserving, accomplished candidates.

And guess what? When it comes to the Ivy League and their ilk, most of those applicants look identical on paper, with comparable grades, test scores, activity lists, accolades, and course loads. After pulling several weeks’ worth of consecutive all-nighters, the admission officers’ eyes start to blur, and they can barely differentiate among the nation’s best and brightest teenagers, all eagerly vying for a coveted spot in their school’s freshman class. As they flip through the paperwork of yet another valedictorian, someone remarks, “Annie Applicant looks like a run-of-the-mill achieve-o-tron.” But they haven’t gotten to the essays yet, and that’s where students really set themselves apart! They note items on the transcript—over 200 hours of volunteer work at a local special needs daycare, a patent application, a regional award for a short story, the lead role in three school musicals—that really fascinates them, so they assume the essay will shed light on some of these impressive endeavors. Right?

Then they hit the first line of her personal statement. “For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. When I was younger, books were my escape. I could really relate to the characters and would get lost in various stories for hours at a time. If I had a bad day, I would curl up with a book.”

Before the admission officers even hit the fourth sentence, they’ve tossed her file into the “eh” pile, purgatory for applicants who don’t have the writing chops to match their academic records. Have Annie’s chances of admission been dashed? Not necessarily, but the uphill battle is infinitely steeper now that she’s done nothing to set herself apart from the other applicants who, shockingly, also love to read.

Related: How to Write a Great College Admission Essay, Step-by-Step

Perhaps the third paragraph is where Annie’s narrative really comes alive as she weaves readers through her favorite novels and relates characters to her everyday life, giving insight into her world, but who would read that far? The opening is so generic that admission officers simply don’t have time to give Annie the benefit of the doubt; they quickly move on to their discussion of Joe College, whose first line describing his sublime experience as Townsperson #5 in his school play makes them laugh out loud.

So how do students master that strong opening without seeming too gimmicky or desperate? How do they make the gatekeepers to the country’s top schools stop and think, “Wow, even though I am going blind from squinting at countless single-spaced pages, I sure wish this particular essay were longer than 650 words!”? A great way to capture admission officers’ attention in the application essay is starting with dialogue. This approach is certainly not a Band-Aid for an otherwise mediocre essay, but it might just keep someone reading long enough to get to know you as an applicant. But before you slap a witty exchange on the top of your essay, make sure you heed these warnings:

Don’t make the other person too interesting

You open with: “‘Hey, are you free to come to the environmental club meeting?’ asked my friend Kevin, who was canvassing the library to recruit helpers for the school-wide solar panel installation project he would be pitching at the next faculty meeting.

‘Sorry, but I’ve got miles to go before I sleep!’ I tell him as I launch back into my independent research project on the theme of depression in Robert Frost’s poetry.”

How might admission officers respond to this exchange? Suddenly, they are more interested in Kevin than they are in you. Then, they put your application aside and look to see if there are any applicants named Kevin from your school so they can learn more about this unique solar panel project.

You should have used Kevin’s voice as a sounding board for expressing your own passions and beliefs, not as the force driving the conversation. You have to remember that you’re selling yourself, not your friends, and you don’t want to be overshadowed by your own essay’s supporting cast.

Keep your language natural

You open with: “’I have to scamper off to my occupation of preparing caffeinated beverages!’ I elucidate for the benefit of my roommate, Natalie, as I ambulate through our means of egress.”

Admission officers will read that, scratch their heads, and think, “Yeah, I see that she knows some SAT words, but did she mean, ‘I’ve got to run to my job at the coffee shop!’ I shout to Natalie as I scamper out the door”? That version would have saved time and sounded more like an authentic teenager. Now they really have no idea who you are, and even worse, they probably find you annoying.

Related: How to Show, Don't Tell to Boost Your Writing for School and Beyond

...but not too natural

You open with: “’I’m so wiped I don't even know what to do. Like, I can’t even. It’s ridic!’ I whine as my BFF Selena sits down beside me in English class.”

Admission officers ask themselves, “Is this her real essay? Someone must have hacked her Common App account, because no one would risk coming across as this vapid!” They then worry that you won’t be able to hold your own in seminars on War and Peace when you don’t have the attention span to finish typing the word “ridiculous.” Even if you sound that way in real life (I hope not!), you need to be cognizant of the fact that an essay this important requires you to bring your verbal A-game.

Related:  What NOT to Do in Your College Application Essay

In general, don’t be afraid to lead off with an in-medias-res conversational tidbit that will help you come to life. Here's an example:

“You ski for how many miles? Then you shoot a rifle?” Andy gasped in disbelief as I explained that I couldn’t hang out after school because I had to go to the range and practice my aim for my upcoming biathlon.

“And every time I miss the target, I have to ski a 150-meter penalty loop just for good measure,” I added, chuckling as Andy’s jaw dropped.

Take your time thinking about what examples best represent you as an applicant in the context of the application essay prompts given. Then, once you narrow your options to a worthy anecdote, explore that moment—and the unique, enchanting, entrancing dialogue within.

Looking for more application essay advice? We've got you covered. Check out our College Admission section now!

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•   Best Ways to Prepare for 5 Different Supplemental Essays
•   How to Write an Effective, Powerful Personal Statement
•   Don't Use Your English Paper as a College Essay
•   6 of the Worst College Admission Essay Myths You Shouldn't Listen To
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The Forever Workshop

Lesson 3 | Who’s Talking: Dialogue and Point of View in Personal Essay

Lesson 3 of 8: finding your essay’s heartbeat.

Today, we’re going to look at dialogue and point of view—who’s talking and how. Personal essays are often told from the point of view (POV) of a first-person narrator using the pronouns I, me, my, and mine. This is my story based on experiences from my life—so that choice for POV makes sense. But I/me isn’t the only point of view used in personal essay. We’ll explore other POVs and how to present dialogue, too. Let’s dive in.

Here are some thoughts about dialogue before we get into the readings. These questions always come up.

Memory and Dialogue . We don’t walk around recording our daily conversations, so dialogue is recreated. Even though personal essays are true stories, we won’t remember past conversations word for word, no one does. We do our best to represent what was said accurately. We won’t include every line and word from a conversation in our essays—it’s not a trial transcript. We’ll select the dialogue that best moves the narrative and shows the readers who is talking and how. 

Presentation. Dialogue can be external, like two people having a conversation, or internal, like an individual thinking in their head. Dialogue can be presented several ways, in quotations, in italics, or with no quotation or italics, and we’ve already seen these different styles in the essays we’ve read so far:

“Really?” he asks, eyeing the tubs. ( “Taste Test!” by Eric Lemay )

I’m sorry, I said… ( “Swerve” by Brenda Miller )

Oh yes, that’s strep , says the doctor on the screen. The color of that mouth, a dead giveaway. ( “Strawberry Tongue” by Danielle Harms )

Try me, he said. ( “Generation Gap” by Sarah Moss )

I thought, That sloth is as slow as grief. (Internal Dialogue: “The Sloth” by Jill Christman )

The key is to present dialogue in a consistent way throughout the essay so that your reader understands when someone is talking and who’s talking. Keep dialogue attribution, what comes at the end (or sometimes in middle or beginning), straight forward: he asks, I said, I thought . You can use more active verbs to attribute dialogue, such as he screamed or I shrieked , but do this sparingly. Let the dialogue and action show the emotion, how the words are spoken. And forget the adverbs: he screamed loudly , I shrieked hysterically. These adverbs are redundant. A good editor will strike these out. Again have the dialogue and action do the showing. 

Note: With every guideline for creative writing that you are told (by me or anyone else)—there will always be exceptions.

Here’s an example. When writing dialogue and the speaker changes, typically we’ve been told to hit return and start a new line. But in our first Readings, Brenda Miller doesn’t do this, neither does Kate Moss. Huh? But the writers Eric Lemay and Danielle Harms do separate speakers’ dialogue by white space. Phew! As you can see, there is no one set way to present dialogue—the key is to stay consistent and clear, so you don’t lose your reader.

And what’s white space?

The space on a page without words. The empty lines created by hitting return on the keyboard that create white space between lines and paragraphs. White space signals the reader to pause and/or to get ready for a change in speaker or content or approach, like POV.

What if the narrator speaks a language other than English or uses non-English words and phrases?

If the narrator occasionally uses non-English words or phrases in dialogue (or elsewhere in the prose) often the context will be sufficient for the reader to follow. Rely on the reader to “Google it” as needed. Footnotes or a glossary are not necessary in personal essays. If a narrator or other character always speaks in a language other than English, you can include a couple lines, or snippets of dialogue, in that language to show this. 

What do I do about accents and dialects in dialogue?

Including words and phrases that demonstrate an accent or dialect can show how the speaker sounds and add to the voice of the essay. But you don’t want the speech or verbal mannerism to distract the reader, a few examples may be all you need to show this. The same goes for slang and colloquialisms. Be careful not to stereotype—use a balanced, minimalistic approach.

“Whiting” by Deesha Philyaw

“The Game for Winners” by Kimberly Elkins

“Badge” by Wendy Fontaine

In “Whiting,” Deesha Philyaw uses yet another way to present dialogue. She starts with the attribution in italics and follows with the dialogue, not in italics but in quotations.

My father said , “I already buttered the grits and the biscuits for you. You know how to pick the bones out the whiting, don’t you?” 

She groups his dialogue together in three spots, My father said, My father said, My father said. And maybe she got “creative” with his first long paragraph of dialogue. Maybe that wasn’t said all at one time. What do you think? Does it matter? Does the dialogue still feel authentic and ring true?

Philyaw doesn’t show her responses to her father’s dialogue, or if she did respond. Why do you think Philyaw chose to show only her father’s spoken words? Could that be a way to show the imbalance in their father-daughter relationship? Could that say something about the value of his spoken words in the past and the focus she gives his words now? What do you think?

Whilst this lesson was live, Andrea called students to answer in the comments. Feel free to refer to them and see what other’s had to say.

One of the great things about personal essay is that there are many ways to write one. As craft goes, there’s nothing off limits. (Your only constraint is telling a true story.) Point of View is another technique you can manipulate to tell your story in a different but authentic way.

First-person, the I POV . In ‘Whiting” the story is told from the daughter’s point of view using a first-person narrator and the pronoun I—and it works. Now let’s see how switching from that traditional POV can impact how a personal essay is told. 

First-person plural, the we POV. Kimberley Elkins’ essay, “The Game for Winners,” starts with the pronouns “we” and “us”—first-person plural, a group of kids from school, acting in unison.

We called it fainting. Gathered in a knot at recess or after lunch in an empty corridor or a corner of the gym, wherever the teachers, who’d been told to stop the game, couldn’t find us. 

Second-person, the you POV. But by the third sentence in “The Game of Winners,” the essay moves to the second-person POV and uses the pronoun “you,” a singular you, and stays in that POV through the end. 

The game went like this: you knelt and breathed deeply, one, two, three, and then jumped up as hard and as fast as you could, a boy’s arms wrapped around you from behind in a bear hug, squeezing the air from your diaphragm. 

Why does the narrator tell her story using the pronoun “you?” What effect does that have as you read the essay? 

Second-person narration implicates the reader bringing them directly into the story, the reader and narrator become one. Using second person to tell the story creates an interactive, connected, intimate experience for the reader. It can make the reader feel a range of emotions from discomfort and fear to understanding and empathy and more. How did it make you feel?

One person, Two Points of View—The Then and Now Narrators

Let’s look at the essay , “Badge,” by Wendy Fontaine.  The essay opens, in scene, with the narrator (in first person, using I) preparing to sell Girl Scout cookies. How old is she? 9? At most 11? Let’s say she’s 10. How do we know her age? From the details! 1. She’s a Girl Scout. 2. She needs her mom’s permission to go to the neighbor’s home. And 3. She is unaware of the slang use of the word pussy. 

Over the next five paragraphs the young narrator describes walking through the trailer park, her fear of spiders, and her neighbor’s trailer.

In paragraph six there’s a shift. The narrator says: I don’t know a lot things. And she lists the things she doesn't know at age 10, including the facts that the neighbor is probably stoned and that her father is an alcoholic and depressed. 

These are things I’ll learn in time, and there will be no badges for any of it.  

Here, the narrator who is speaking is older, more experienced, matured. We’ll call her the now narrator, who in the present moment looks back at herself at age 10, who we’ll call the then narrator. In both situations, now and then , the pronoun I is used—but the narrator is speaking in two different points of time, in two different states of mind—recalling scenes from her 10 -year-old perspective and reflecting as an adult.

Why is this relevant? Because when you write a personal essay you will often be looking at a situation from two perspectives— then and now . Your outlook on the event or situation that you remember, whether it was many years ago or not so long ago, will have changed with time. Your aim in writing personal essay is to uncover the new truth that is revealed in the exploration—that recognition, realization, or epiphany. You as the narrator, the essayist, change from then to now and learn something from the experience.

Can you switch the point of view within an essay? Yes —but have a reason and do it carefully. 

If you switch the POV, that change should serve the essay. We saw how Elkins’ switched from “we” to “you” early on in “The Game for Winners.” She started the essay explaining how we , a group of kids, played a furtive game of fainting. But overall this essay is about the narrator, an individual, how she felt when playing this game and how it manifested in her later in life, so Elkins’ moved to a singular POV with you. You want to use the writing craft to support the essay’s throughline. what’s it’s about and what it means.

Switching the narrator’s POV can easily confuse the reader. In a short essay, you can probably change POV once without losing the reader, but not more (there are always exceptions). Inserting white space, i.e., starting a new paragraph, when changing POV, can help the reader to follow and stay on track.

Here I point out some points of craft for each essay, but there’s lots more. Use The Language of Creative Nonfiction Writing Craft resource to help you identify other writing craft.

View Resource Worksheet here

Uses similes (a comparison using like or as): 

… a fraction of what it cost me to gather up the pieces of a girl, shattered like broken seashells gathered from the sands of the ocean floor . This is your inheritance. Spread it like a balm on your broken heart: …

Uses repetition, which adds rhythm and emphasis.

Every bone in the whiting is an apology. Every grain of the grits, an apology. The cat’s head biscuit, a mound of apologies. Everything my father does not say. 

Uses sensory description and simile

—A tingle in your stomach, a hard trail of thrill burring up to your chest like the compression of body in the seconds an airplane’s wheels leave the ground. 

Marks time and creates new language

—Years later, you found the same whoosh of unbecoming with the drinking…

Uses specific details and simile:

spiders black and yellow, as big as Easter eggs.

Uses alliteration and simile:

…webs, white and wispy, like a dead man’s hair.

✍️Take an essay that you have written in the past or take one of the Readings we’ve covered and read it aloud changing the point of view. Change the I’s to you or we . Or change you to I . What effect does the change have? Do you find one POV works better than another? Why?

✍️ Let’s start to dig into what these essays are about on a deeper level. Here’s a question for each.

In “ Whiting,” Twice in the essay, Philyaw tells us what she doesn’t know. Why? What’s significant about that?

In the Game for Winners,” Elkins’ describes finding “euphoria” in the fainting game. What does she mean?

In “Badge,” Fontaine includes three paragraphs about spiders? What/how do the spiders add to the narrative?

👀 Andrea called students to share in the comments. Feel free to refer to them and see what other’s had to say.

Andrea A. Firth

Lesson 4 | Beginnings, Endings and Titles

Ready for more?

• How It Works
• Essay Examples

How to Write Dialogue in an Essay

Knowing how to insert source materials into an essay is a central theme of academic writing. Sources can be cited to support your argument, expand it or even to be used to dissect a counter-argument and examine its validity.

This skill is so essential the rules of using quotation marks of when quoting texts are pounded into the student’s head. So much so you know when to quote a textual source and the reason to do so.

One of the areas many students struggle with is when or how they should use dialogue in an essay. A high number of essay writers don’t even know the difference between dialogue and quotes, let alone the correct punctuation surrounding it. The main reason it happens is because a large number of academic subjects focus solely on claim-based essays where dialogue is not used. This article will look at why dialogue can be so effective within a narrative essay and why. The topics discussed will be:

What is dialogue?

When do you use dialogue?

Why use dialogue?

How to write dialogue?

And Where you can find more information on this subject.

Dialogue: A definition

Dialogue is defined as a literary technique that writers use to depict a conversation between two or more people. Dialogue is a device that is employed in all kinds of fiction – movie, plays, books and can even be used in essays. It's important not to confuse dialogue with quotations from an outside source. Dialogue is largely made up to create a more visual, dramatic effect. Whereas direct quotes can be verified through citations.

Quotation marks are used with quoting from source as well as to mark dialogue in an essay but the conventions around the two change. As such, it is important to know the difference between the two.

Here is a small table that documents the main differences.

One of the biggest mistakes an essay writer makes is when they use dialogue as a direct quote. This mistake occurs as we are trained to use speech as direct quotes in claim-based essays. As we are trained to do this in the majority of our subjects, we don't know that we can use crafted narration and create dialogue in narrative essays to give them more weight. Due to this, we do not understand the conventions around its use or why to use it.

Dialogue: When to Use it.

Dialogue is a big part of the movies, television, novels, and plays. It is important to keep in mind that when it comes to essay writing, a dialogue only really appears in one type of essay – the narrative essay.

A narrative essay differs from most kinds of essay writing. Other types of essays often aim to make a claim about something. If we look at an argumentative essay , for example, it makes a claim that one point of view is right. And an expository essay will make claims about how a model or idea works. A narrative essay doesn't make claims like this. It is an essay that is used to relate stories and experience to the reader, and as such, it is much more story like in nature. These experiences include conversations the writer has had with other people.

Presenting conversations you had with friends as dialogue in an argumentative essay or expository piece wouldn’t do much to strengthen your argument and would undermine your creditability. It is better to use direct quotes from the source – even if it is spoken material. Direct quotes will be seen as the conventional norm as these types of essay expect the writer to be objective and scientific in their discussion.

Dialogue: Why do you use dialogue

Narrative essays use dialogue as a device – much like written fiction. They add depth, tension and character development to nonfiction writing. It also helps move the story along. As it is reported speech, you would be unlikely to remember all the details; so, you will have to recreate them from memory – remember to use the words, tones, and emotions that report it in the correct flavor. Readers will trust realistic dialogue that captures the situation.

Dialogue: How to format

This section will demonstrate the correct formatting conventions to use when inserting your dialogue into a narrative essay. This section will look at the correct usage of the quotation marks, and where to put other punctuation marks. This will be looking at the U.S rules of grammar – the formations and convention in other variants of English might differ.

Quotations Marks

There are three main rules that surround the usage of quotation marks:

Double quotation marks are used to signify that a person is using speech.

Example: - When I was young, my father warned me, “Look in both direction before you cross the road.”

Single quotation marks are used to mark quotes in quotes.

Example: - “I remember read Oscar Wilde’s quote ‘I can resist everything except temptation’ and feeling so inspired,” the creative writer coach said.

When dialogue extends across several paragraphs, use quotation marks at the start of each paragraph, but only use the closing quotation make when the speech ends.

Example: - Rupert nodded and said, "Yeah I think you're correct. If we lay the carpet before painting the ceiling, we'll need dust sheets.

But if we do the ceiling before laying the new carpet it should be fine.”

If the quote is at the end of a sentence, always put the full stop inside the quotation marks.

Incorrect: - The bus driver said, “This is your stop”.

Correct: - The bus driver said, “This is your stop.”

Question marks and exclamation should be placed inside the quotation mark if they apply to the person's speech.

Incorrect: - The boy screamed, “Watched out the ceiling is falling”!

Correct: - The boy screamed, “Watched out the ceiling is falling!”

When the quote is simply embedded in a larger sentence that is a question or exclamation the punctuation should be placed outside the speech marks.

Incorrect : -How did you feel when the newscaster said, “JFK had been shot?”

Correct: - How did you feel when the newscaster said, “JFK had been shot”?

If a speech tags fall before the quote use a comma before the quotation marks to separate them.

Incorrect: - My brother said “I’m telling mom that you stole the cookies from the jar.”

Correct: - My brother said, “I’m telling mom that you stole the cookies from the jar.”

If the speech tag comes after the quotation marks, then the coma should be placed in the speech marks

Incorrect: - “Just be back in time for tea” My mum warned me before I went to play.

Correct: - “Just be back in time for tea,” My mum warned me before I went to play.

When a sentence is interrupted with a speech tag, a comma should be placed after the first segment of speech and at the end of the speech tag.

Incorrect: - “No” Karen said wrinkling her nose in disgust “That’s just all kinds of wrong.”

Correct: - “No,” Karen said wrinkling her nose in disgust, “That’s just all kinds of wrong.”

It is important to learn how to use quotation marks and punctuation correctly. These rules act as a convention between reader and writer, and as such, using them will make your work easier to read and understand. Without following these rules, your dialogue might be confusing and messy to the reader, which means it will not convey the message you want it to.

Dialogue: Where to find more resources

Here is a collection of some great links that will aid you in crafting the perfect narrative essay , and making sure you get your dialogue quotation spot on. You’ll be writing an amazing narrative essay in no time at all.

• What Response Essays Are and How to Tackle Them
• How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
• How to Write a Good Hook for Your Essay
• How To Write A Good Resume
• How to Write a Military Essay

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10 Guidelines for Highly Readable College Essays

You’ve probably had this happen to you — after reading for a long time, the lines start to blur together, and you look at the words on the page, but they don’t register in your brain. 

Admissions officers deal with this daily, as they have to scan through thousands of applications each cycle. The volume of applications makes it all the more important to write an essay that’s highly readable, both in terms of physical readability, and how engaging your story is. 

In this post, we’ll share our top 10 tips for writing a college essay that will make admissions officers pay attention.

How to Write a Readable College Essay

1. start your essay with an engaging introduction..

Do you sometimes close out of a video or article because the introduction was boring? With so many things vying for our attention in the modern world, it’s important for introductions to grab our attention right away. This is equally true for college essays.

You want the first lines of your essay to make us want to read more. Some ways to do that are using dialogue, or starting your essay in media res , in the middle of action. 

Here’s an example of an essay introduction that uses dialogue and the technique of in media res .

“1…2…3…4 pirouettes! New record!” My friends cheered as I landed my turns. Pleased with my progress, I gazed down at my worn-out pointe shoes. The sweltering blisters, numbing ice-baths, and draining late-night practices did not seem so bad after all. Next goal: five turns.

And here’s an example of an essay that begins in media res :

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears. As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire. 

You’ll see that with these introductions, we’re plunged into the writer’s world, and we get to observe the moment as it’s happening. This makes it easier to relate to the writer, and also makes us wonder what happens next in the story.

2. Break up long paragraphs.

No one wants to read a huge block of text, and this can be another deterrent from paying attention to your essay. The ideal paragraph length is 3-5 sentences, or 50-100 words. This allows you to separate your ideas and to include natural breaks in your writing. 

For example, let’s take a look again at the previous excerpt from a student’s essay on starting a fire. The introduction would’ve been easier to read with a new paragraph beginning with the “As a child” line. This line is a fitting place to separate paragraphs, as it goes from the present moment to a description of the writer’s childhood.

Was I no longer the beloved daughter of nature, whisperer of trees? Knee-high rubber boots, camouflage, bug spray—I wore the garb and perfume of a proud wild woman, yet there I was, hunched over the pathetic pile of stubborn sticks, utterly stumped, on the verge of tears.

As a child, I had considered myself a kind of rustic princess, a cradler of spiders and centipedes, who was serenaded by mourning doves and chickadees, who could glide through tick-infested meadows and emerge Lyme-free. I knew the cracks of the earth like the scars on my own rough palms. Yet here I was, ten years later, incapable of performing the most fundamental outdoor task: I could not, for the life of me, start a fire.

As you read your draft, go through and see if there are any places you could naturally begin a new paragraph, especially if your paragraphs are long. On the flip side, do make sure that not every paragraph is super short. While having one or two standalone lines is fine for dramatic effect, it can look gimmicky to have too many, and it will also diminish their impact.

3. Include dialogue in your anecdotes to bring readers into the moment. 

Dialogue is a powerful tool not only at the beginning of your essay, but also throughout. You can and should use it any time you want to draw attention to what specifically was said, or to bring your essay to a specific moment. 

Using dialogue tends to be much more engaging than summarizing what was said in your own words. Take this excerpt as an example:

No dialogue: My brother told me that I ruined his life. After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain.

With dialogue: “You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain.

Between the two excerpts, the first feels more like a summary of events than a real glimpse into the writer’s life. Adding dialogue takes the reader to the specific moment that the brother actually uttered those words. 

Of course, dialogue should also be used judiciously, as dialogue can’t always reveal important details like your thoughts during a conversation, what the setting was like, or how you felt. Too much of anything is never a good thing, even if it’s a useful writing technique. (Of course, you could make your essay primarily dialogue if you write it in the form of a script for a movie, but that’s a whole other story).

4. Show, don’t tell. 

You may also know this technique as “indirect characterization” from your English class. If you want to describe a personality trait or event, highlight it through your actions, thoughts, and feelings instead of explicitly stating it. Otherwise, your essay will just read like a report of your experiences, which is boring. 

Here’s an example: say you want to say that someone is arrogant. 

If you were “telling” or “directly characterizing” them, you’d write: Bill is arrogant.

If you were “showing” or “indirectly characterizing,” you’d write: Bill swaggered into the meeting late, with his perpetual sly grin. He shooed the presenter away and shut off the projector. “Hey my dudes, I have a killer idea you just won’t believe. It’s my greatest idea yet, and it’s gonna change the world.” Accustomed to Bill’s exaggerated claims, those in attendance gave each other knowing looks.

While the second version is longer, it gives us a better understanding of Bill’s personality, and it’s much easier to relate to the situation. Simply stating that someone is X or Y trait, or summarizing how something happened, is much less illustrative. As you’re writing, think about ways you can use anecdotes to convey what you want, as these are more engaging.

5. Use impeccable grammar and spelling.

This should go without saying, especially since college admissions officers also use your essay to gauge your writing skills. If your essay has several misspelled words or uses improper grammar, it could make an otherwise engaging essay unreadable.

Use spell check, take the time to proofread carefully, and ask others to give you feedback. And before you submit, print your essay out and read it aloud with a pen in your hand. You’d be surprised at the typos you catch. After you read a document over and over, you start to fill in the words that should be there, and can easily miss a mistake.

6. Vary the length of your sentences.

The best essays flow almost rhythmically. If you use too many short sentences, your essay will feel choppy. If all your sentences are long, readers may get lost or bored. 

You don’t have to alternate short or long sentences in a robotic pattern, but try to naturally incorporate varied sentence length. Similar to the tip about paragraph length, break up any sections with many long sentences by creating new, shorter sentences out of the originals. To do this effectively, choose points where the writing shifts, whether that’s in terms of ideas, time periods, or the subject.

7. Make sure that your essay is logically consistent throughout.

It’s important that different parts of your essay don’t contradict each other. For example, if you describe yourself as shy in one section, don’t paint yourself as outgoing later on, unless it’s clear there was a period of change or personal growth. 

This point is especially important if you’re writing a more academic essay, like the fourth Common App prompt . This prompt asks you to describe a problem you’d like to solve, its personal significance, and potential solutions. Say you want to write your essay on food waste, and your argument is that most of the waste is happening at the production/corporate level, and is due to improper distribution. In this case, don’t write your entire essay on ways individuals can reduce their food waste.

8. Be consistent with your use of slang, acronyms, etc.

Similarly, your language should be as consistent as possible. For example if you use an acronym to describe an organization, you might spell it out the first time with the acronym in parentheses, i.e. “National Honor Society (NHS),” but use the acronym the rest of the time. 

Or, if you use slang like “gonna” in your dialogue, keep using it in the rest of the dialogue, unless the person speaking actually has a more formal tone (which you should make clear). Of course, keep in mind that you probably shouldn’t be using slang like “gonna” in parts of your essay that aren’t dialogue. 

You can, however, use contractions, and they can be a great way to not only lower your character count, but also make your essay feel more conversational. Just be sure to stay consistent with them as well.

9. Avoid excessive repetition of words and phrases.

If you find yourself using the same word over and over again in your essay, consider using synonyms, or rephrasing the sentence. An exception, of course, would be repetition for emphasis. In that case, it should be clear that the repetition is intentional. Otherwise, using the same words and phrases can come off as lazy, and your writing can seem unpolished.

10. Make sure that your verb tenses are consistent. 

Use the same tense throughout your essay, or make sure that there are clear lines of demarcation where you shift tenses. There are few reasons to need to shift tenses, but the most common one is incorporating flashbacks into your essay, or changing time periods. In that case, it would make sense to use present tense for the most recent time period, and past tense for the less recent one.

Here’s an example of an essay that does a good job shifting tenses:

Night had robbed the academy of its daytime colors, yet there was comfort in the dim lights that cast shadows of our advances against the bare studio walls. Silhouettes of roundhouse kicks, spin crescent kicks, uppercuts and the occasional butterfly kick danced while we sparred. She approached me, eyes narrowed with the trace of a smirk challenging me. “Ready spar!” Her arm began an upward trajectory targeting my shoulder, a common first move. I sidestepped — only to almost collide with another flying fist. Pivoting my right foot, I snapped my left leg, aiming my heel at her midsection. The center judge raised one finger. 

There was no time to celebrate, not in the traditional sense at least. Master Pollard gave a brief command greeted with a unanimous “Yes, sir” and the thud of 20 hands dropping-down-and-giving-him-30, while the “winners” celebrated their victory with laps as usual. 

Three years ago, seven-thirty in the evening meant I was a warrior. It meant standing up straighter, pushing a little harder, “Yes, sir” and “Yes, ma’am”, celebrating birthdays by breaking boards, never pointing your toes, and familiarity. Three years later, seven-thirty in the morning meant I was nervous. 

The room is uncomfortably large. The sprung floor soaks up the checkerboard of sunlight piercing through the colonial windows. The mirrored walls further illuminate the studio and I feel the light scrutinizing my sorry attempts at a pas de bourrée, while capturing the organic fluidity of the dancers around me. “Chassé en croix, grand battement, pique, pirouette.” I follow the graceful limbs of the woman in front of me, her legs floating ribbons, as she executes what seems to be a perfect ronds de jambes. Each movement remains a negotiation. With admirable patience, Ms. Tan casts me a sympathetic glance.   

There is no time to wallow in the misery that is my right foot. Taekwondo calls for dorsiflexion; pointed toes are synonymous with broken toes. My thoughts drag me into a flashback of the usual response to this painful mistake: “You might as well grab a tutu and head to the ballet studio next door.” Well, here I am Master Pollard, unfortunately still following your orders to never point my toes, but no longer feeling the satisfaction that comes with being a third degree black belt with 5 years of experience quite literally under her belt. It’s like being a white belt again — just in a leotard and ballet slippers. 

But the appetite for new beginnings that brought me here doesn’t falter. It is only reinforced by the classical rendition of “Dancing Queen” that floods the room and the ghost of familiarity that reassures me that this new beginning does not and will not erase the past. After years spent at the top, it’s hard to start over. But surrendering what you are only leads you to what you may become. In Taekwondo, we started each class reciting the tenets: honor, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, courage, humility, and knowledge, and I have never felt that I embodied those traits more so than when I started ballet. 

The thing about change is that it eventually stops making things so different. After nine different schools, four different countries, three different continents, fluency in Tamil, Norwegian, and English, there are more blurred lines than there are clear fragments. My life has not been a tactfully executed, gold medal-worthy Taekwondo form with each movement defined, nor has it been a series of frappés performed by a prima ballerina with each extension identical and precise, but thankfully it has been like the dynamics of a spinning back kick, fluid, and like my chances of landing a pirouette, unpredictable.

The shift of tenses in this essay is very clear, and it marks a transition from seven years ago to the present day.

Final Thoughts

The readability of your essay is just as important as the content. If your essay is hard to read, it’s unlikely that admissions officers will pay attention. Follow these tips to present your essay in the best possible light, and to make it as engaging as possible. With that, we wish you the best of luck on your essays!

For more inspiration and advice on your college essays, check out these posts:

How to Format and Structure Your College Essay

11 Cliché College Essay Topics + How to Fix Them

How to Use Literary Devices to Enhance Your Essay

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Starting a Novel With Dialogue: Five Dos and Don’ts

by Brandon Cornett | June 8, 2020

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Starting a novel with dialogue can be tricky, even for the most experienced writers. That’s why many writers avoid it altogether. When done poorly, it can leave readers scratching their heads. Who are these people? Who’s the main character? How is this conversation meaningful to the story?

But it can also be done well. With the right technique, you can start your novel with dialogue without losing readers along the way. It just requires some forethought and planning, and that’s what we’ll be discussing today.

Starting a Novel With Dialogue

So, can you start a novel with dialogue? Sure you can. You can do whatever you want. You’re the author, after all. It’s your book and your story to tell. You call the shots!

The real question is: Can you start your novel with dialogue without losing the reader ?

That second question is a hard one. But let’s tackle it anyway.

The short answer is yes, starting your novel with dialogue is a viable option. There are many ways to open a story, and that’s one of them. But you want to do it in a way that helps the reader understand the story and its characters. You want to do it for the right reasons.

Here are five best practices for starting a novel with dialogue, followed by five potential pitfalls to avoid.

Five Things to Do

Okay. You’re convinced you want to start your story with a conversation between two or more people. What next? Here are five writing techniques and strategies that will help you succeed…

• Introduce your main character first. If you start your novel with straight dialogue, readers won’t know who the protagonist is. Readers need to recognize the protagonist, or main character, in order to connect with the story. It’s like giving them an anchor they can cling to. But they have to know who that person is. You might want to start the scene in the main character’s head, from her POV, and then move into the dialogue.
• Create context around the dialogue. Help your readers understand the context of the forthcoming dialogue. Otherwise, the conversation will be meaningless. For example, John and Jane are about to have a conversation about a new position opening up at work. If we learn beforehand that Jane (the protagonist) desperately needs the pay increase to cover her sick mother’s hospital bills, the dialogue has a lot more meaning. Without this added context, the dialogue might seem trivial and pointless. In a novel, dialogue should never be trivial. It needs purpose. It should either move the story forward or reveal character. Context helps you achieve both of those things.
• Hint at the story’s main challenge or conflict. Conflict is the lifeblood of fiction. Without conflict, there can be no drama. And without drama, stories tend to fall flat. Starting your novel off with dialogue gives you an opportunity to inject conflict, or to hint at a future conflict. Seize that opportunity! When it comes to writing a novel, the sooner you get to the conflict, the better.
• Minimize the number of speakers. Have you ever read a book that featured dialogue between a group of speakers, like four or more? It’s hard to keep up with, isn’t it? Even the best writers can confuse readers, if they have too many characters talking at one time. If you’re going to start your story with dialogue, consider limiting the number of speakers. It’s not the time for non-essential personnel.
• Give your characters distinct voices and personalities. This is a good strategy to use throughout your novel. It’s especially important if you’re planning to start your first chapter with dialogue between multiple characters. If everyone “sounds” the same on paper, the reader will have an even harder time distinguishing between voices. This relates back to tip #1 above. If you introduce your main character before the dialogue begins — and give him/her a distinct voice — the whole scene will work better.

Related: How to break up action and dialogue

Five Things to Avoid

We talked about the things you should do when starting a novel with heavy dialogue. There are also some things to avoid . Here are five potential pitfalls that could derail your story before it even gets going…

• Talking head syndrome. If you start your novel with dialogue from line one, the reader won’t know who the main character is. For that matter, she won’t know who any of the characters are. After all, they haven’t been properly introduced. They’re just talking heads, bantering back and forth. Who are these people? What’s the context of this conversation? If the reader can’t answer these questions, the whole dialogue becomes pointless.
• Trivial characters. This is an extension of tip #1 above. In addition to identifying your speakers, you want to make sure they’re relevant to the story. Sure, your protagonist will speak to minor characters from time to time, as the novel progresses. But the opening scene probably isn’t the place for that. For maximum effect, consider having your opening dialogue take place between the protagonist and another major character.
• Pointless dialogue. Hi, Jane, how are you? I’m good, Tom, how about you? Fine, thanks. Hey, did you happen to watch SNL last night? I sure did. Stop right there! If you start your novel with pointless dialogue or small talk, you’re giving the reader a good reason to put it aside. Opening a novel with dialogue can be risky. To minimize that risk, make sure the dialogue is meaningful within the broader context of the story. If you can do that and hint at the coming conflict / problem / challenge, you get bonus points.
• Talking in a void. Where is the conversation taking place? What time of day is it? Who else is around? In other words, what’s the scene? If you don’t paint the scene before the dialogue begins, you’ll make it harder for the reader to get immersed in the story.
• The name game. This one might seem a bit nitpicky, but it can have readers rolling their eyes from the start. I call it the name game. It’s when characters repeatedly use the other person’s name when speaking to them. (Example: Jamal, have you seen these latest reports? No, Amy, I haven’t. Well, Jamal, there might be a problem here. What kind of problem, Amy? Jamal, just look at these numbers…) We don’t talk to each other like that in real life, so why do it in fiction? It gets tiring fast.

Study the Masters, Follow Your Instincts

This isn’t a writing class and there aren’t any rules. These are just some things to consider if you plan to start your novel with heavy dialogue between two or more characters. Ultimately, you have to trust your instincts and choose what you feel is the best path forward.

You might also study the work of writers who are known for crafting good dialogue, writers like Margaret Atwood, Elmore Leonard and Toni Morrison. How do they handle their dialogue? How do they start their novels? Reading good fiction is the key to writing good fiction. Good luck!

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Iowa Reading Research Center

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books

(View and download versions of this post in languages besides English at the bottom of this page)

Parents and teachers alike nearly universally accept the importance of reading to children. Even  pediatricians and hospitals encourage it . However, reading aloud can have greater educational value than serving as a filler activity before bedtime or lunch.

It is easy to simply take a book of a shelf, read it, and maybe ask a few questions at the end of the story without giving much thought to the selection of the book or the purpose of reading the story. Maybe it is the child’s favorite, or it is just the right length for the time allotted. Maybe it fits with the class theme of the week. However, these are all adult-directed examples. The adult selects the book, reads the story, and asks the questions or leads the discussion.

A more engaging and productive alternative is interactive reading or dialogic reading. Dialogic reading involves an adult and child having a dialogue around the text they are reading. Their conversation includes defining new vocabulary, improving verbal fluency, introducing story components, and developing narrative skills.

When parents and teachers properly plan and execute dialogic reading, research suggests it can be particularly effective at improving skills such as print awareness, oral language, and comprehension. Most importantly, it helps model how good readers think about the text as they are reading it. The benefits of dialogic reading are not just for young children. Although the concept originated with picture book reading for preschoolers (Whitehurst et al., 1988), a wide body of research has extended its use to other ages and populations including students with disabilities (What Works Clearinghouse, 2010), struggling readers (Swanson et al., 2011), and English language learners (Brannon & Dauksas, 2014).

Different Levels of Questions in Dialogic Reading

A traditional implementation of dialogic reading involves repeatedly reading the same book and interacting around three levels of questions (Flynn, 2011).

• Level 1  questions are basic “wh” type questions focused on what can immediately be seen (or read) in the text. Level 1 also includes introducing new vocabulary. For example, while pointing to a picture, the adult reader may ask, “What type of feet does this animal have?” Here the adult is looking for a specific, correct response to expand the child’s oral vocabulary.
• Level 2  questions are open-ended and are used to solicit the child’s feedback. For example, the adult reader might ask, “What is happening in this part of the story?” Here the adult is trying to encourage the child to share what he or she is thinking about and make meaning from the text.
• Level 3  questions are more advanced and introduce concepts like text features and story components. For example, the adult reader might ask, “Who was the main character and how did he feel?” This also may include questions that distance the student from the text and connect the story to their own life. For example, “How would you feel if that happened to you?”

Differences Between Correct Ways and Incorrect Ways to Utilize Dialogic Reading

Dialogic reading....

• Is not  "teacher reads, students listen"
• Is not  teacher led
• Is not  limited to narrative text with questions and discussions at the end
• Is not  only for very young children
• Is  interactive
• Is  student centered
• Is  conducted with narrative and expository text with questions and discussion throughout
• Is  an activity requiring careful planning
• Is  for students at all levels

Although several strategies exist to facilitate the three tiers of questions in dialogic reading, the two most popular are known by the acronyms  CROWD  and  PEER . Both have been covered in previous IRRC blog posts, and this post will expand on the two strategies and provide another resource to help with planning a dialogic reading activity.

Covering the Various Question Tiers with CROWD

CROWD is used to remember the types of questions to ask:  c ompletion,  r ecall,  o pen-ended, “ w h” questions, and  d istancing. An extension of CROWD is CROWD-HS, which is used to encourage distancing prompts related to  h ome and  s chool. Here is an example of CROWD-HS questions for the well-known story of  The Three Little Pigs .

C ompletion question: “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll __________ ___________ _________ ___________.”

Answer: Blow your house down.

R ecall question: Which house couldn’t the Big Bad Wolf blow down?

Answer: The one made of bricks.

O pen-ended question: Why do you think the first pig built his house out of straw?

Answer: It was the easiest to build. He was lazy.

“ W h” question: What kind of animal was after the pigs?

Answer: Wolf.

D istancing: How do you think the pigs felt when the wolf tried to get them?

Answer: (Answers will vary.) Scared, angry, sad.

H ome question: If you had to build a playhouse at home, what kind would you build?

Answer: (Answers will vary.) Tree house, tent, fort.

S chool question: The wolf was a bully. He was mean to the three little pigs.  What should you do if someone is bullying you at school?

Answer: (Answers will vary.) Tell a teacher. Tell them to stop. Ignore them.

Prompting More Dialogue with PEER+PA

CROWD-HS is helpful for remembering the types of questions to ask, but remember that the point is to foster a dialogue about the text, not prompt one-word answers. The PEER ( p rompt,  e valuate,  e xpand, and  r epeat) strategy can be used to help the adult encourage deeper responses. An extension of PEER is PEER+PA, which is used to remind the adult to  p raise the child for engaging in conversation and help the child  a pply the response so it is meaningful. These components are applied throughout the dialogue with the child. Here is an example of using PEER+PA with one of the above CROWD-HS questions:

P rompt the child to say something about the book.

Adult: What kind of animal was after the three little pigs?

Child: Wolf.

E valuate the child’s response.

Adult thinks to self, “Yes, it was a wolf, but we can add more to that response.”

E xpands the child’s response.

Adult: Yes, it was a big, bad wolf!

R epeat the prompt.

Child: A big, bad wolf!

P raise and  A pply the child’s response.

Adult: That’s right! The big bad wolf was after the three little pigs. Good job remembering the story! How would you feel if you saw a big bad wolf?

Child: (Answers will vary.) I’d be scared and run away.

Teaching Vocabulary Through Dialogic Reading

Recall that an important goal of dialogic reading is to expand the oral language skills of students, particularly vocabulary. One way to do this is to engage in pre-reading activities to teach key vocabulary. Just as there are levels of questions to facilitate dialogue about the text, it is easy to think about vocabulary words in three tiers:

• Tier 1  words are basic vocabulary words that should be in the child’s receptive and expressive vocabularies. Tier 1 words in the story of The Three Little Pigs would include: house, pig, wolf.
• Tier 2  words occur with high frequency in texts for mature language users. These words should be taught to help expand the receptive and expressive vocabularies of the child. A Tier 2 word in the story of The Three Little Pigs might be eldest (some versions of the story characterize the first pig as the eldest of the three).
• Tier 3  words are domain specific and best learned when needed in a content area or in a specific context. These words are less likely to occur in a story like The Three Little Pigs. However, a more sophisticated version of the story might include the Tier 3 word for the bricklaying tool the third pig used: trowel.

Although some words can be introduced during dialogic reading, it is important to carefully identify and pre-teach any words that might otherwise interfere with a student’s comprehension of the book. The adult reader can identify Tier 2 words that will be helpful for understanding the current text and that the child is likely to use or read in other settings.

Now that we are swimming in levels, tiers, and alphabet soup, how do we keep our heads above water, bring it all together, and actually engage in dialogic reading? The most important thing is to adequately prepare! This includes selecting appropriate text that encourages dialogue, identifying vocabulary to pre-teach, thinking of CROWD-HS questions, and anticipating child responses with which you can use PEER+PA to expand the dialogue. The  Interactive Reading Guide  below can be put in every book to help you plan the vocabulary and questions you will include. The questions should be asked throughout the text, not just at the end, so do not forget to record a page number for each! This will make it easier for you or someone else to locate the targets for the conversation starters while implementing dialogic reading.

Bookmarks/Book Inserts to Aid in Dialogic Reading

Set of Three Interactive Reading Guide Book Inserts for Download

Set of Four CROWD Bookmarks for Download

Set of Four PEER Bookmarks for Download

Brannon, D., & Dauksas, L. (2014). The effectiveness of dialogic reading in increasing English language learning preschool children’s expressive language.  International Research in Early Childhood Education ,  5 , 1-10.

Flynn, K. S. (2011). Developing children’s oral language skills through dialogic reading: Guidelines for implementation.  Teaching Exceptional Children ,  44 , 8-16. doi: 10.1177/004005991104400201

Stephenson, J. (2010). Book reading as an intervention context for children beginning to use graphic symbols for communication.  Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities ,  22 , 257-271. doi: 10.1007/s10882-009-9164-6

Swanson, E., Vaughn, S., Wanzek, J., Petscher, Y., Heckert, J., Cavanaugh, C., . . . Tackett, K. (2011). A synthesis of read-aloud interventions on early reading outcomes among preschool through third graders at risk for reading difficulties.  Journal of Learning Disabilities ,  44 , 258-275. doi: 10.1177/0022219410378444 |  Full article

What Works Clearinghouse (2010).  What Works Clearinghouse intervention report early childhood education interventions for children with disabilities: Dialogic reading.  Washington, DC: Institute for Education Sciences. Retrieved from  http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/136

Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F. L., Lonigan, C. J., Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C, & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Fischel, J. E., DeBaryshe, B. D., Valdez-Menchaca, M. C, & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading.  Development Psychology ,  24 , 552-559. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.24.4.552

Translations

In order to provide this post and information about dialogic reading in the home to more families in Iowa, we have provided the following versions of the post and associated bookmarks and inserts, translated from English.

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Lees in Dialoog: 'N Gesprek Oor Boeke)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Interaktiewe Leesgids)

CROWD bookmarks (VOOWD Boekmerk)

PEER bookmarks (VEBH Boekmerk)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (القراءة الحوارية: التحدث حول الكتب)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (مجموعة من ثلاثة فواصل تفاعلية للقراءة لتنزيلها)

CROWD bookmarks (مجموعة من علامات مميزة من CROWD لتنزيلها)

PEER bookmarks (مجموعة من علامات مميزة من PEER لتنزيلها.)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Dijaloško čitanje: razgovaranje o knjigama)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Komplet tri knjižna umetka za Vodič za interaktivno čitanje koji možete preuzeti)

CROWD bookmarks (Komplet četiri CROWD knjižne oznake koje možete preuzeti)

PEER bookmarks (Komplet četiri PEER knjižne oznake koje možete preuzeti)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (ဒိုုင္ယာေလာဂ်စ္ ရီးဒင္း - စာအုုပ္မ်ားအေၾကာင္း အျပန္အလွန္ေျပာဆိုုေဆြးေႏြးျခင္း )

Interactive reading guide book inserts (ေဒါင္းလုုတ္ လုုပ္ရန္ ျပန္လွန္ဆက္သြယ္စာဖတ္ပံုုလမ္းညႊန္ စာအုုပ္တြင္းထည့္သြင္းသည့္အရာသံုုးခုုပါ ဆက္)

CROWD bookmarks (ေဒါင္းလုုတ္လုုပ္ရန္ CROWD စာအုုပ္မွတ္ ေလးခုုပါ ဆက္)

PEER bookmarks (ေဒါင္းလုုတ္လုုပ္ရန္ PEER စာအုုပ္မွတ္ ေလးခုုပါ ဆက္)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Lecture dialogique : Conversation à propos de livres)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Inserts de livre du guide de lecture interactive à télécharger)

CROWD bookmarks (marques-pages CMOGD à télécharger)

PEER bookmarks (marques-pages IEER à télécharger)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Dialogisches Lesen: Ein Gespräch Über Bücher)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Satz von drei interaktiven Leseführer Buchzeichen zum Herunterladen)

 CROWD bookmarks (Satz von vier CROWD Lesezeichen zum Herunterladen)

PEER bookmarks (Satz von vier PEER Lesezeichen zum Herunterladen)

Interactive reading guide book inserts

CROWD bookmarks

PEER bookmarks

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (대화식 독서: 책에 관해 대화하기)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (다운로드를 위한 세 가지 대화식 독서 가이드 책 표식 세트)

CROWD bookmarks (다운로드를 위한 네 가지 CROWD 북마크 세트)

PEER bookmarks (다운로드를 위한 네 가지 PEER 북마크 세트)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (ການອ່ານແບບໂຕ້ຕອບ: ດຳເນີນການສົນທະນາກ່ຽວກັບປຶ້ມ)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (ຊຸດແນວສອດຂັ້ນໜ້າປຶ້ມແນະນຳການອ່ານແບບສື່ສານຕອບກັບສາມຢ່າງສຳລັບການດາວໂຫຼດ)

CROWD bookmarks (ຊຸດເຄື່ອງໝາຍຂັ້ນໜ້າປຶ້ມ CROWD ສີ່ຢ່າງສຳລັບການດາວໂຫຼດ)

PEER bookmarks (ຊຸດເຄື່ອງໝາຍຂັ້ນໜ້າປຶ້ມ PEER ສີ່ຢ່າງສຳລັບການດາວໂຫຼດ)

Chinese (Mandarin)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (对话式阅读：开启一场与书籍的对话)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (提供下载的一套三个互动式阅读指南插件)

CROWD bookmarks (提供下载的一套四个CROWD书签)

PEER bookmarks (提供下载的一套四个PEER书签)

Marshallese

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Riit im Bwebwenato: Kōnono kōn Bok ko)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Guide n̄an Riit Ippān Doon)

CROWD bookmarks (CROWD Kakōļļe in Bok)

PEER bookmarks (PEER Kakōļļe in Bok)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (वार्तालापपूर्ण पढाइ (Dialogic Reading): पुस्तकहरूका विषयमा कुराकानी गर्नु)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (तीन वटा सहभागी मुलक पढाइ गाइड पुस्तक डाउनलोड)

CROWD bookmarks (चार वटा क्राउड (CROWD) बुकमार्क्सहरू डाउनलोड)

PEER bookmarks (चार वटा पियर (PEER) बुकमार्क्सहरू डाउनलोड)

Serbo-Croatian

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Aqrinta Wadahadalka: Lahaanshaha Wada sheekeysiga Ku saabsan Buuggaagta)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Daji Sadex jaheynada Aqrinta Isdhaxgalka ee Gelinada Buugga ee Dajisashada)

CROWD Boookmarks (Daji Afar Aastaamaha buugga CROWD ee Dajisashada)

PEER bookmarks (Daji Afar Aastaamaha buugga PEER ee Dajisashada)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Lectura dialógica: Conversemos sobre los libros)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Conjunto de tres inserciones en la Guía de lectura interactiva para descargar)

CROWD bookmarks (Conjunto de cuatro marcadores CROWD para descargar)

PEER bookmarks (Conjunto de cuatro marcadores PEER para descargar)

Dialogic Reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Usomaji wa Majibizano: Kuwa na Mazungumzo Kuhusu Vitabu)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Seti ya Vitabu Vitatu vya Mwongozo wa Usamaji wa Kuingiliana kwaajili ya Kupakua)

CROWD bookmarks (Seti ya Alama za CROWD nne kwaajili ya Kupakua)

PEER bookmarks (Seti ya Alama za PEER nne kwaajili ya Kupakua)

Dialogic reading: Having a Conversation about Books (Đọc sách Đối thoại: Thực hiện Đối thoại về Sách)

Interactive reading guide book inserts (Bộ Ba Chèn sách Hướng dẫn Đọc Tương tác để Tải xuống)

CROWD bookmarks (Bộ Bốn Đánh dấu sách CROWD để Tải xuống)

PEER bookmarks (Bộ Bốn Đánh dấu sách PEER để Tải xuống)

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Sunak suggests next five years will be ‘some of most dangerous’ in UK history and he’s best leader to keep people safe – politics live

PM to outline what he sees key threats to UK in speech and says there will be more change in next five years than in last 30

• 5m ago Labour Chris Bryant suggests Buckland should face standards inquiry for covering up Elphicke's alleged lobbying bid
• 1h ago Sunak suggests next five years will be ‘some of most dangerous’ in UK history and he’s best leader to keep people safe

Sunak suggests next five years will be ‘some of most dangerous’ in UK history and he’s best leader to keep people safe

Good morning. Rishi Sunak has made various attempts to define what he stands for, in a way that would frame the choice at the next election to his advantage, and this morning we’ll get another version. When he became Tory leader; he was the antidote to Liz Truss; competence and fiscal responsibility. For a while last year he was the motorists’ champion and net zero realist. He has dabbled a bit with being anti-woke. Last autumn, for several weeks, he made a sustained and serious attempt to claim he would be the change candidate at the election (a move that failed because it was wholly implausible ). More recently he has been the person “sticking to the plan”. And today he is going to present himself as the leader best able to keep people “safe and secure” in a dangerous world.

Downing Street released some extracts from the speech overnight and Kiran Stacey has written up the briefing here.

And here is the key passage from the advance briefing. Sunak will say:

I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country. I feel a profound sense of urgency. Because more will change in the next five years than in the last thirty. I’m convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known.

According to the briefing, Sunak will say that war, a global rise in immigration, threats to “shared values and identities” and new technologies like artificial intelligence are what makes the future so threatening.

One problem is that is his “next five years” theory sounds questionable. Thirty years ago the internet barely had an impact on everyday life and a mobile phone was the size of a brick (and about as intelligent). Another difficulty is that Sunak is leading his party into an election, people like positivity, and his analysis all sounds rather gloomy. According to the advance briefing, Sunak will address this by saying that “we’re a nation of optimists” and that he can offer people a more secure future.

Sunak is not the first Tory to frame the election in these terms. Only last week David Cameron, the foreign secretary and former PM, said keeping people safe would be “on the ballot paper” and that “security to me is the most conservative value of all” .

But if security is the essay question, is the Conservative party the answer? Not according to opinion polls. Last month Lord Ashcroft, the former Tory deputy chair who now runs a respected polling operation, published figures saying that the voters trust Labour more than the Conservatives on all key issues , including defence.

Labour responded overnight with a statement from Pat McFadden , the party’s national campaign coordinator saying, in effect, that it does not really matter what Sunak claims because his party’s record is so poor. McFadden said:

Nothing the prime minister says will change the fact that over the past fourteen years the Conservatives have brought costly chaos to the country, with this being the only parliament in living memory where people’s standard of living will be lower at the end of it than the beginning. The Tories crashed the economy by using the country for a giant and reckless economic experiment, for which the British people are still paying the price. Even as the prime minister speaks, others in his party are positioning themselves to replace him. The only way to stop the chaos, turn the page and start to renew is with a change of government. The Conservatives can’t fix the country’s problems because they are the problem. Another five years of them would not change anything for the better.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10am: Anas Sarwar, the Scotish Labour leader, gives a speech on Labour’s plans to reset devolution.

10am : Esther McVey, the Cabinet Office minister, gives a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank on “putting common sense at the heart of govenment”.

11am: Rishi Sunak delivers his speech in London at the Policy Exchange thinktank.

2.30pm: Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

3.45pm: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Also, Keir Starmer is holding a meeting today with Labour’s elected mayors. He will be asking them to work with him on proposals for local growth plans.

For technical reasons we are not using the ‘send us a message’ feature any more, and if you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is to small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.

Labour Chris Bryant suggests Buckland should face standards inquiry for covering up Elphicke's alleged lobbying bid

Yesterday the Sunday Times splashed on a story that implied the Conservative party was out to extract maximum revenge on Natalie Elphicke following her defection to Labour.

In a story that quoted Robert Buckland , the former justice secretary, the paper claimed that, just before her then husband was about to go on trial for sexual assault in July 2020, Natalie Elphicke lobbied Buckland to try to get the case heard by an alternative judge. Elphicke has not denied the story, although she has said she does not accept the “characterisation” of the meeting given by the Sunday Times (ie, that she was trying to get Buckland to ensure her husband was treated more leniently).

The Sunday Times: Elphicke ‘asked lord chancellor for favour over husband’s trial’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/VDn8ECxrrc — George Mann (@sgfmann) May 11, 2024

At first sight, this looked like a problem for Labour . Trying to interfer with a judicial process is a serious matter, and can be a criminal offence, and Labour’s newest recruit has questions to anwer.

But, if this was an intentional hit job by CCHQ, then it may have backfired, for reasons explained last night in a post on X by the Secret Barrister , the pseudonym used by a barrister who has written a series of highly-praised exposés of how the law operates.

The biggest story today is that the then-Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice was a direct witness to a criminal attempt to pervert the course of justice, and covered it up for four years because it involved one of his political allies. pic.twitter.com/ExtieF2XA5 — The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) May 12, 2024

The biggest story today is that the then-Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice was a direct witness to a criminal attempt to pervert the course of justice, and covered it up for four years because it involved one of his political allies.

And today the Labour party is running with this line. Chris Bryant , the shadow minister for creative industries, was on Sky News this morning. He was chair of the Commons standards committee when it published a report criticising Elphicke and four other Tory MPs for interfering with a judicial decision after Charlie Elphicke’s conviction (relating to the publication of character references) and Bryant told Sky News this morning that Buckland should have disclosed at that point what he knew about Elphicke’s history of lobbying the judiciary on behalf of her husband.

Bryant suggested that it was Buckland who should be investigated, not Elphicke. He explained:

When we were doing that investigation, I would have thought that if what Robert Buckland has said today, namely that he says that she lobbied him, if that is true, he should have told our committee. So if anybody should be being investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards - and he’s perfectly independent, it’s up to him to decide - frankly, it should be Robert Buckland.

Here is my colleague Gaby Hinsliff ’s snap reaction to Rishi Sunak’s argument this morning.

I think Sunak’s right these are unusually dangerous times but it begs the question ‘so why did you make Grant Shapps defence sec then’ & that’s been the problem for years now: internal politics trumping operational effectiveness pic.twitter.com/jLWkwrIgfM — gabyhinsliff (@gabyhinsliff) May 13, 2024

I think Sunak’s right these are unusually dangerous times but it begs the question ‘so why did you make Grant Shapps defence sec then’ & that’s been the problem for years now: internal politics trumping operational effectiveness

The No 10 advance briefing on the PM’s speech “landed well” (in spin jargon) in the pro-Tory papers.

Monday's DAILY TELEGRAPH: PM: Britain safer under Tories for dangerous years ahead #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/glxRl8wT7t — Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) May 12, 2024

Monday's DAILY MAIL: RIshi warns UK is entering a 'dangerous era' #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Eym5QadMIJ — Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) May 12, 2024

Monday's DAILY EXPRESS: PM's bold vision for 'stark choices' facing Britain #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/WzDl0Aumwk — Jack Surfleet (@jacksurfleet) May 12, 2024

• Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
• Rishi Sunak
• Conservatives
• Keir Starmer
• Chris Bryant
• Robert Buckland

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Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact

This essay about the Chicano identity explores its origins, cultural significance, and evolving meaning. Originally emerging in the 1940s and 1950s, the term “Chicano” gained prominence during the 1960s and 1970s as young Mexican Americans used it to signal a break from previous generations and to assert a unique cultural and political identity. Central to the Chicano Movement were issues like labor rights, educational reform, and cultural renaissance, encapsulated through impactful murals, literature, and advocacy for bilingual education. The essay discusses how Chicano identity continues to adapt, embracing a broader spectrum of Mexican American experiences while still rooted in its original context of activism and pride. The ongoing relevance and influence of the Chicano identity in education, arts, and politics demonstrate its enduring legacy and dynamic nature in shaping American cultural and social landscapes.

How it works

The term “Chicano” is uniquely American, coined to embody the experience of people of Mexican descent born in the U.S. It’s a term that carries with it a history of activism, a flourishing of arts, and an ongoing dialogue about identity and belonging.

The roots of “Chicano” trace back to the 1940s and 1950s, but it was during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s that the term really took on a life of its own. Young Mexican Americans adopted the term as a symbol of rebellion against the previous generations’ more assimilative tendencies and as an expression of their anger against discrimination, cultural suppression, and social injustice.

Being Chicano meant you were taking a stand—not just against racial and social injustice, but also in favor of reclaiming a cultural identity that had been marginalized for so long.

The Political and Social Awakening

The Chicano Movement, or El Movimiento as it is affectionately known, was not just a cultural reawakening but also a political and social uprising. Central to the movement were issues like the restoration of land grants, labor rights for farmworkers, educational reform, and voting rights. The movement brought together artists, writers, and activists who used their talents as tools for education and vehicles for change. One of the most enduring symbols of this era is the Chicano murals, which often depicted themes of oppression, resistance, hope, and pride, painted on the very walls of the neighborhoods that many Chicanos called home.

These murals weren’t just art; they were declarations of existence, proclaiming that Chicanos were here, part of the American narrative, and refusing to be overlooked. Alongside these visual expressions, Chicano poets and playwrights were crafting works that voiced both the frustrations and the dreams of their communities.

Cultural Renaissance

The movement was also about embracing a bilingual identity. Spanish, peppered with English and regional nuances, became a point of pride—a linguistic resistance against the “English-only” wave that swept through public life. This bilingualism was a statement, a refusal to let go of a linguistic heritage that connected Chicanos to their Mexican past while navigating their American present.

Education, too, was a major battlefield. Chicanos fought for educational reforms that included bilingual education, Chicano history, and cultural studies. These changes were pivotal, aimed at reducing dropout rates among Chicano students and fostering a greater sense of self-worth and identity.

Evolution of the Term

As time marched on, the term “Chicano” began to evolve. Today, it captures a wider spectrum of identities, encompassing the diverse experiences of Mexican Americans across generations. While some argue that “Chicano” is tied specifically to the struggles and context of the 60s and 70s, others view it as a more fluid identity, continuously shaped by new challenges and perspectives.

Indeed, the debate over who is considered Chicano reflects broader questions about identity in America—questions about who gets to decide one’s identity and on what grounds. For many, being Chicano is still very much about community, resilience, and pride, but it’s also about an ongoing dialogue with the past and the future.

Chicano Influence Today

The influence of the Chicano movement stretches far into the realms of American culture today. Chicano studies programs in universities across the country delve into not only the historical movements but also current social issues facing the Chicano community. The legacy of the Chicano movement has also permeated American music, cinema, and literature, enriching the American cultural landscape with a distinctly Chicano flavor.

Moreover, the spirit of the movement—its drive for justice, equality, and cultural recognition—continues to inspire new generations. Whether through continued activism, artistic expression, or community engagement, the essence of what it means to be Chicano is continuously redefined and reimagined.

In summary, Chicano is more than just a term. It’s a rich, complex identity forged in the fires of social and political struggle, imbued with cultural pride and an unwavering sense of justice. Understanding what it means to be Chicano means appreciating this deep history and recognizing the dynamic nature of identity in a world that never stops changing.

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Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact. (2024, May 12). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/chicano-identity-origins-and-cultural-impact/

"Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact." PapersOwl.com , 12 May 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/chicano-identity-origins-and-cultural-impact/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/chicano-identity-origins-and-cultural-impact/ [Accessed: 13 May. 2024]

"Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact." PapersOwl.com, May 12, 2024. Accessed May 13, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/chicano-identity-origins-and-cultural-impact/

"Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact," PapersOwl.com , 12-May-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/chicano-identity-origins-and-cultural-impact/. [Accessed: 13-May-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Chicano Identity: Origins and Cultural Impact . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/chicano-identity-origins-and-cultural-impact/ [Accessed: 13-May-2024]

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