Five Things I've Learned About Dialog

1. There’s no “ue” at the end. It’s dialog, not dialogue… Oops. (Actually, now I'm really confused. Because it can have the "ue" at the end. But Firefox does flag it as being misspelled.)
   

2. Tags are BAAAAAAAD!! A “tag” is something like “he said,” “she yelled,” “he whispered,” etc. You want your text to infer these sorts of statements without having to spell it out for the reader. Use them only under extreme duress!
   

3. Beats are GOOOOOOD! A “beat” is another action or description that gets stuck alongside a line of dialog:

“Hurray!” She jumped up and down, clapping.

She raised an eyebrow. “You want to do what?”

“Well, just be careful.” He grinned. “I hear it gets dark in Texas.”

4. People rarely say what they mean. Think about it. You’re mad at your best friend, but it’s over something silly. Maybe she has the cutest haircut ever, and even your boyfriend commented on it. But you don’t want to ruin her day over that, so you try to be cheery. But you don’t feel so cheery inside. The words of the dialog should sound chipper. But the text around them should convey the conflict you’re feeling.

5. In real life, there’s LOTS of dialog with little purpose. In a book… every word counts. Every line should be accomplishing something. Deepening the reader’s understanding of the character, taking the story to its next point, heightening the conflict. One of my favorite exchanges comes from the movie Oceans 11, starring George Clooney as Danny Ocean. Danny sits down at a table with Tess, his former lover. He tries to put down her current relationship by asking, “Does he make you laugh?”

Tess responds: “He doesn’t make me cry.”

Two little lines of dialog, yet it reveals volumes about their history. You can picture it all. Danny loves the excitement of a life on the run. Tess can’t handle the danger, even though being with Danny makes her happy. She left him for a “safer” person, traded a chance at happiness for the security of someone much more stable. All that condensed into those ten words.