Dogs Are Smarter Than People via Anchor20 Apr 2022

Don’t Be Chunky – Put Your Dialogue in Paragraphs

Hi, welcome to Write Better Now, a podcast of quick, weekly writing tips meant to help you become a better writer. We’re your hosts with NYT bestselling author Carrie Jones and copyeditor extraordinaire Shaun Farrar. Thank you for joining us.

It’s a super quick writing tip again today. Ready?

When you’re writing dialogue, make every new speaker a new paragraph. If you’re writing kids books? You might as well just keep each dialogue a paragraph of their own?

Why? Our brains are wired to read each paragraph as a new speaker. If we jumble a bunch of different speakers into one paragraph, it slows down the reader’s pace of reading and also can get their brain all hitched up as they try to figure out who is talking and when.

Why else? It makes more white space on the page. The more white space on the page, the less intimidating the text is for the reader—especially the reluctant reader.

So don’t write a paragraph like this: Carrie said, “Please support our channel.” Shaun nodded and said, “We are insecure.” “That’s true.” They laughed. Shaun added, “Wow. This is boring dialogue to prove a point.” Instead write the paragraphs like this: Carrie said, “Please support our channel.”Shaun nodded and said, “We are insecure.”“That’s true.”They laughed.Shaun added, “Wow. This is boring dialogue to prove a point.”

Pretty easy, right? Now we know who said “that’s true” even though there wasn’t a dialogue tag there. No readers’ brains hitched during the reading of that dialogue and all is good with the world.

For other posts about writing dialogue, check out below:

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(313)

Losing Your Junk and Swimming in the Pool of Commoners

So, over on our substack, LIVING HAPPY, I’ve been talking a lot about creating our own realities in relation to success and meaning. This is really just sort of diving deep to realize that maybe your...

10 Jan 202322min

Please Don’t Fart On Me: Making Systems For Success

Yep, we’re going there, because we’re the only self-development podcast that will. Join us as we talk about brawls in the Waffle House, farting, and creating systems to actually achieve your goals. DO...

3 Jan 202319min

The Ask

Hi! This year (2023), I’m continuing my quest to share a poem on my blog and podcast and read it aloud. It’s all a part of my quest to be brave and apparently the things that I’m scared about still in...

2 Jan 20231min

Eight types of drunkards and law-breaking Santa clauses a scene in the UK

Since it’s the time of holidays for many religions, we thought it would be a great time to talk about the ancient types of drunk-foolery from the 1500s and how they still exist today. And, a random st...

20 Des 202222min

Christmas Cheer

Just so you all know, if my poem is about a relationship, it might not be about my own current relationship or even about me. :) Hey, thanks for listening to Carrie Does Poems. The music you hear is m...

19 Des 20221min

To e.g. or to i.e., that is the question

Sometimes you see these little bastards in text or sometimes you might want to put them in there yourself. Gasp! We aren’t here to tell you how to be fancy or not, but we are here to let you know how ...

14 Des 20223min

Weird Junk Finds and Key Take-aways From Spending Time with Spiritual Leaders

This week we talk about the take-aways from spending time with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, plus weird junk finds. Because why not? Filmmaker Peggy Callahan spent a lot of time listenin...

13 Des 202221min

Grammy Barnard Poem: A Dream

Hi! This year (2022), I’ve decided to share a poem on my blog and podcast and read it aloud. It’s all a part of my quest to be brave and apparently the things that I’m scared about still include: My...

11 Des 20221min