How to Use Dialogue in Short Stories

Sometimes when writing short stories, it's best to let the characters speak directly for themselves. This gives the reader a feeling of being there listening as the conversation unfolds. When writing dialogue, it's critical that you follow a few simple rules so as to not confuse the reader.

The first rule is to use quotation marks. This makes it very clear that the words that are being read are being spoken directly by one of the characters in the story. For example the following sentence let's us know that someone is speaking to John.

"I don't know why you have to look at me that way, John, I was only being honest."

Of course, in the text, you have to make it perfectly clear who exactly it is that is speaking to John or your readers will get confused. You can do this by providing action before the sentence, such as providing a sentence like this.

Nancy backed away a step then looked at his face. "I don't know why you have to look at me that way, John, I was only being honest."

This makes it very clear that Nancy is speaking, without actually having to say so. This is a common method writer's use to help avoid constantly hammering away with the phrases "he said" and "she said."

The next rule you should always try to follow is to start a new paragraph whenever someone speaks for the first time, or responds to something someone else has said.

For example:

He looked at her, his face reddening and his mouth twisted, but he didn't speak.

Nancy backed away a step then looked up at his face. "I don't know why you have to look at me that way, John, I was only being honest."

John turned away and walked slowly to the window.

In this example, both John's actions and Nancy's response are separated by a blank line, which not coincidently is the correct method to use to separate paragraphs. It helps the reader to follow which actions and words are being performed or spoken by which character. This is especially critical when there are more than two characters involved in a scene.