How to write dialogue: give each speaker a different goal
Your characters exchange clear sentences, but the conversation feels flat. Before adding jokes, arguments or unusual words, ask what each speaker wants from the other right now. Use this short scene and a timed exercise to turn that answer into dialogue.
Give each person a job in the scene
Take paper and a pen, or open a document. Write two sentences: “A wants B to…” and “B wants A to…”. Choose something a person could do before the conversation ends: return a key, listen to a line, agree to a plan. “Be happy” may matter to the whole story, but it gives you less help choosing the next reply.
Different goals need not make the characters enemies. Two friends can want to help each other and still disagree about when to leave. This exercise uses a small mismatch to make their responses matter; quiet companionship, jokes and other kinds of dialogue need not follow this pattern.
The situation and a plain first draft
It is five minutes to six. Nora stands at the rehearsal-room door in her coat. She must return the room key to the caretaker by six; it lies on the piano beside Ilya’s script. She wants to take it and leave now. Ilya wants her to hear his revised final line before she goes.
“I changed the ending,” Ilya said.
“I need the key so I can leave,” Nora said.
“I want you to hear the last line first.”
“All right. One line.” Nora picked up the key and waited.
This draft is understandable. It states the two wants and reaches an agreement. Keep it if that quick exchange suits your story. If you want the reader to feel Nora’s reluctance and Ilya’s effort, let the agreement take a little more work.
The same exchange, with responses
“Key?” Nora asked.
“I’ve cut the last speech,” Ilya said.
“You can show me tomorrow.”
“It’s one line now.”
“Not from page one.”
Ilya folded the script so only its final line showed. “One line. You can keep your coat on.”
Nora crossed to the piano, picked up the key and returned to the doorway.
“Go on, then.”
Ilya first tries to attract her interest with news of his revision. When she postpones listening, he reduces the size of the request. Nora moves from leaving to setting a limit. His folded page backs up his promise; her key and position by the door keep her departure in view. They have reached a small compromise, not resolved their entire relationship.
Subtext needs something the reader can see
Subtext is meaning a reader can infer without a character stating it directly. “You can keep your coat on” concerns clothing on the surface. Here, it also offers reassurance: this will not become another long rehearsal. The deadline, doorway and request make that reading available.
You do not need a hidden meaning beneath every sentence. Nora can ask for the key plainly. Nor should the reader have to guess essential facts: keep the deadline in the setup. If an indirect line feels baffling, add the missing context or let the speaker be direct.
Notice that these actions do work. Folding the script makes a promise visible; taking the key protects Nora’s plan. Adding a shrug or a sip after every sentence would not automatically give the exchange more meaning.
Set aside 12 minutes to practise
These times are a starting point, not a deadline. Pause or take longer if you need to.
- Minutes 0–2: choose two people, one place and one small decision. Complete the two want-sentences. You can reuse the rehearsal room or invent a different situation. Keep the notes outside the dialogue.
- Minutes 2–6: write six to eight spoken turns. A turn is one person speaking until the other replies. Start with a request or an action. Let the second person respond from their own goal, then let the first person adjust. A refusal, reassurance, smaller request or offer can each change the next line.
- Minutes 6–9: add at most two short actions that affect the exchange. Finish with a visible choice: someone stays, leaves, hands something over or changes the arrangement. The answer can be no; agreement is not required.
- Minutes 9–12: read it aloud, or silently mouth the lines. Mark where you lose the speaker or stumble over a phrase. Revise one response and one unclear sentence. Keep a deliberate hesitation if it reveals something useful.
A short revision checklist
- Can you name what each person wants now? Underline one line or action that shows each goal.
- Does a reply connect to what came before? An evasion can respond to pressure; an unrelated sentence may simply lose the thread.
- Where does someone change their approach? If both repeat themselves, try one new offer, refusal or boundary.
- Is necessary information available? Do not make characters recite facts they both know solely to brief the reader; a short setup can carry those facts.
- Can you follow who speaks? Start a new paragraph when the speaker changes. Add a plain “said” or a clear action where needed; voice differences alone may not be enough.
- What is different at the end? Compare the final action with the opening. If only the wording changed, decide whether the scene has done the job you wanted.
About the exercise
Character goals and subtext are established writing tools. Teddy Wayne discusses changing tactics in The Center for Fiction’s dialogue advice; Florida State University offers exercises in subtext and action. Coru created the rehearsal-room scene, its two versions and this timed practice. Treat the checklist as questions for revision, not a test every conversation must pass.
Two speakers, two goals — worksheet (A4)
One page with goal prompts, eight writing lines and a revision checklist. Use plain paper or another sheet if you need more room.