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When you have finished reading this article, you will have a good idea on how to write believable dialogue and know when you can break the rules.

Using effective dialog is a main part of any story. Good dialog moves the story forward whiles it brings life to the characters. Dialogue will engage your readers as you reveal your characters to them.

Per the Encarta World English Dictionary, dialog is defined as "the words spoken by characters in a book... or a section of a work that contains spoken words.

Dialogue has several functions:

? To express through conversations what the reader must know so they can understand the character's actions, motivations and thoughts.

To convey character that will demonstrate what kind of people live in your story.

To effectively give the reader a sense of time and place by the use of rhythmic vocabulary, dialect, and speech patterns of various people.

And, lastly, it develops conflict.

When you write a natural flowing conversation, you have written good dialog. Sticking to the rules of grammar will make your character's speech stilted and dry. Dialog must flow easily, like two friends discussing a problem.

Some simple guidelines are.

? Spoken words are not always complete sentences.

People speak in familar terminology, and not always with the best grammar.

Use words that will reveal things such as a character's ethnicity, historical time period, age and gender.

Give your characters hidden personality through dialog.

Take notes as you hear real-life conversations. Unlike real life, too much dialog is distracting. To avoid this over zealousness, keep it simple.

Let's look at the scene between Mammy and Miss Scarlett in chapter five of Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

Mammy's tone became wheedling.

"Now, Miss Scarlett, you be good an' come eat jes'a lil. Miss Carreen an' Miss Suellen done eat all dey'n."

When you watch this kind of scene in a movie, it is one thing, but when a reader has to wade through pages of it, it's altogether another. Have you ever tried to read "Brer Rabbit"!

Far and few between are the times that an experienced author should try to write this type of language. For example, an Irish brogue is a monster to read. Your readers will thank you if you stay in the well-defined terms of plain dialog.

Although people do talk for hours on end without stopping to admire scenery, it won't work that way in writing dialog. As a general rule of thumb, you should insert a break that describes scenery or setting every three or four paragraphs of dialogue.

Use good taste in your dialogue. Don't use long scenes with people arguing; this is one way that dialog can be overbearing. It takes time to learn to write believable dialog.

To write believable dialogue, sit in train stations, buses, or a restaurant and listen to people talk. Take notes when possible.

Go to http://bestjoanne.info/2009/blogs-and-sites-i've-seen/blogs-that-have-contributed-an-article/believable-dialog-secrets/

Creative writers and journalists sometimes have the problem of smoothly transitioning from one paragraph to the other, especially when they are changing the subject. This is a learned skill that is not hard to master. By the time you read this article, you will fully understand the trick to it.

When we writers hop from one topic to another without a transition sentence, we "jar" our readers. While sentence transitions may be the last line in a paragraph, they are more commonly used as the first line in a new paragraph. Think of it as bridge that connects two things.

A reader doesn't forget a character with warts. The reader will remember the characters that have warts.

Huh? Where did the discusson on transition sentences go? Did you wonder about that? If so, now you know how a "jarred" reader feels. Warts don't relate to transition sentences at all, but we can make them relate by connecting the topics like this: (repeat)

"While sentence transitions can be in the last line of a paragraph, it is more common to put it in the first line of the following paragraph. Think of it as bridge that connects two things.

[transition sentence]

We could compare sentence transitions to 'warts' on characters. In the same way that a "wart" blends readers minds with character's identifications, transition sentences blend readers minds with a change of topic."

(Notice that we can use more than one transition sentence to help the reader follow our train of thought.)

Here is another example from a camping article. We are picking up near the end now. The issue was the preparation for vacation and the use of a credit card to purchase gasoline. It will now blend into an after-vacation recap of never paying interest. Now it's your turn to find the transition.

"Every $1,000 charged on a Flying J credit card (per month) will earn you a $10 coupon, which you can spend in Flying J.

If you combine these methods with this system, you are not likely to run out of money or have to use an ATM machine; you won't owe interest, you'll never have to make a physical payment, and you will never have a balance."

What were the transition words? So - "By combining... also the word "further". Those three words ended the discussion of financing a vacation and it carried into an after vacation recap.

Certain words are better for transitions than others. Some of them are: further, besides, in addition to, instead of, specifically, to sum up, although, beyond, close, for instance, again, moreover, accordingly, as a result, during, to illustrate, finally, on the contrary, to compare, consequently, if, then, meanwhile, but, nevertheless, therefore, subsequently, otherwise, so, formerly.

Now you are equipped to go read a magazine and find all the transition words. You will almost always find them in the first sentence of the following paragraph. After you have tried this a few times, check your own work for transitions you can improve on.

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