This post was first published in March 2012 and last updated in June 2025.
Unless you’re creating flash fiction or something decidedly experimental, writing dialogue is essential.
Great dialogue can immerse the reader in your book, your world, and most especially your characters.
Poor dialogue jars the reader, and may even see them put the book down in frustration.
Whether you love
writing dialogue and find it comes easily, or you struggle with it and prefer action or description, there are lots of ways to make it work. We’ll go through eight tips for writing strong, believable dialogue—but first, let’s get clear about what dialogue actually is.
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