Good dialogue lets a character pursue something through another person. A line might stall, flatter, accuse, bargain or change the subject. Start there: give each speaker a different immediate want, let the exchange change their options, and read it aloud before polishing its sound.
These seven exercises work with a scene you already have or the original example below. Each produces a small piece of writing you can compare with the first attempt. You can do the whole sequence alone, or use the 45-minute group agenda near the end. You need paper or a document and a timer; no account or specialist software is required.
Start with two people who want different thingsLink to this section
Mara and Eli share an apartment. Rent is due tomorrow. Mara has learned that Eli is leaving, but Eli does not know she knows. Mara wants him to admit it. Eli wants to leave tonight without a confrontation.
The first attempt states the situation:
Nothing about these lines is grammatically wrong. The problem is that both people explain the conflict instead of trying to win it. Try an exchange built around what they do with that knowledge:
Eli drags a suitcase past the kitchen.
MARA: Taking that to work?
ELI: The wheel's broken. I'm getting it fixed.
Mara sets an envelope on the suitcase.
MARA: Take this too. Your half.
ELI: I'll transfer it Friday.
MARA: From where?
The second version gives Mara a way to test Eli's story. Eli's answer buys time but makes the money problem worse. The envelope makes the exchange physical. “From where?” can be a practical question and an accusation at once: that gap is subtext.
Understatement is one available tool. Some scenes need an explicit accusation, a speech or a character who says exactly what they think. Judge the choice by what changes between the people, rather than treating indirect speech as a rule.
1. Give every line a verb — 5 minutesLink to this section
Write a playable action beside each line: probe, deflect, corner, soothe, threaten, recruit. Avoid emotion labels such as “sad.” A speaker can feel sad while attempting to reassure someone.
Rewrite one line whose action you cannot name. Then ask whether the listener's reply makes the speaker change tactics. If Mara probes three times and Eli deflects three times, try letting her stop asking and put the envelope in his hand.
Keep: a six-line exchange with a change of tactic. Listen for: whether the second half adds pressure rather than restating the first half.
2. Ban the obvious subject — 7 minutesLink to this section
Write the apartment scene without the words moving, leaving, rent, money or angry. Let Mara and Eli talk about the suitcase, a spare key or whose name is on the broadband account. Give the objects consequences; a random conversation about coffee will only hide the scene.
Then restore one banned word at the point where someone can no longer avoid it. Compare that moment with the version that named everything in the opening line.
Keep: two versions, one indirect and one with a deliberate direct line. Listen for: the moment a listener understands what is at stake. If nobody can follow the exchange, restore context earlier.
3. Swap the speakers — 5 minutesLink to this section
Hide the character names and read the lines to a partner. Ask who said each one and what clue they used. You are testing how the people think, not whether one has a catchphrase.
Give each speaker a different conversational habit. Mara asks precise questions and waits. Eli answers the question he wishes she had asked. Rewrite an exchange around that difference, then swap their lines. Notice which lines no longer make sense for the person pursuing that goal.
Keep: one voice choice for each character. Listen for: different strategies and attention, without relying on accent spelling or stereotypes. The character worksheet can help connect those choices to a person's fears and loyalties.
4. Remove the answer — 5 minutesLink to this section
Circle every direct question and answer. Replace one answer with an action, a question, a partial answer or silence. Make the replacement change the situation.
The key gives Mara an answer without Eli saying “yes.” It also lets her move to the next question. A pause that changes nothing is dead time; an unanswered question can be an event when somebody understands what the avoidance means.
Keep: one exchange in which behavior carries the answer. Listen for: whether the next line follows from what the listener just learned.
5. Put the exposition under pressure — 7 minutesLink to this section
Give a reader three facts they must understand: rent is due tomorrow, Eli owes half, and Mara cannot cover it alone. First write the clumsy version in which the characters explain all three facts. Then put one of them in a practical task.
Mara might be on hold with the landlord while Eli tries to get through the door. She hands him the phone when the hold music stops. Now the information has a reason to surface, and each person has a reason to edit it.
Keep: a version in which a fact costs someone something to say. Listen for: whether a person would still say the line if an audience were not listening. See exposition for the distinction between necessary information and a scene that stops to deliver it.
6. Change who has the leverage — 7 minutesLink to this section
Write the same conversation twice. In the first version, Mara has the deposit receipt Eli needs. In the second, Eli has already paid next month's rent and is afraid to explain why he is leaving.
Keep the setting and basic subject. Change who can end the conversation, who can refuse a request and who risks the greater loss. This tests the scene's power arrangement without demanding a louder argument.
Keep: two different endings to the same exchange. Listen for: a change in requests, interruptions, concessions or silence. A character can gain leverage and choose to give it up; that choice may be the scene's turn.
7. Read it without acting — 5 minutesLink to this section
Ask two readers to use their ordinary voices. Skip expressive instructions on the first read. Mark where they stumble, where a sentence needs an unnatural breath, and where the listener predicts the next line.
Read it again after changing only three lines. Do not revise everything between reads: you need to hear which change helped. A speech that sounds good may still leave the scene in the same place. Ask the listeners what each person wanted at the start and what became possible or impossible by the end.
Keep: three changes and the reason for each. Listen for: clarity, rhythm and a turn. A table-read plan helps when you need to assign roles and collect notes across a longer script.
Run a 45-minute dialogue workshopLink to this section
Use groups of three: two readers and one listener. Participants can use the apartment premise if they do not want to share personal work. Agree that feedback describes an observed effect before offering a rewrite.
- Minutes 0–5: Read the premise. Each writer chooses what Mara and Eli want and writes six lines.
- Minutes 5–12: Do exercise 2, banning the obvious subject. Share one line that gained a second meaning.
- Minutes 12–22: Rotate reader and listener roles. The listener names the moment they understood the conflict and one moment they lost it.
- Minutes 22–32: Do exercise 6, changing who holds the leverage. Rewrite the last three lines.
- Minutes 32–40: Read the revised scene. Ask what changed between the people.
- Minutes 40–45: Each writer chooses one change to keep and one question to test in the next draft.
Keep the notes specific: “I thought Eli had already left when you mentioned the spare key” gives the writer something to test. “Make Eli more likable” needs a follow-up question before it can become a useful revision.
Take the exercise into a full sceneLink to this section
Choose one exercise that exposed a problem in your own pages. Apply it to a scene where someone needs a response from another person, then stop and read that scene again. Seven simultaneous rewrite instructions make it difficult to tell what improved.
For screenplay layout, use the dialogue formatting reference. For a character who talks fluently but wants nothing, try the character development questions. If you need a premise for the next session, choose a constraint from the short film ideas workshop.
When you are ready to revise a screenplay, Plot lets you keep a save point before the pass and compare what changed afterward. Start with the scene's problem; let the tool support the decision you made by listening.
Further practiceLink to this section
The BBC Writers resource library brings together scriptwriting essentials, writer interviews, format guidance and a script library. Read a produced scene, then identify what a speaker is trying to do with each line.