Dialogue rules for children’s books don’t have to be hard. In fact, they can be so much fun to apply.
Using dialogue in our stories can make such a big difference, especially if we do it in a creative, enriching, and colorful way.
Below are the main rules. And to learn how you can make your dialogue in your beautiful book even more effective, make sure you watch the video above that shares 5 THINGS we can do to INSTANTLY improve your dialogue.
In this video, we’ll look at
- how to use dialogue properly,
- how to use dialogue more effectively,
- and how we can take our dialogue to the next level so our little readers can connect and identify with our characters even more.
A dialogue is a conversation between two or more people, and consists of usually two parts:
- DIALOGUE = the conversation part itself of what is being said or spoken
- DIALOGUE TAG = a small phrase or attribution that indicates WHO the speaker is and that lets our readers know that something is being said
Let’s look at the main dialogue rules next.
DIALOGUE RULES for Children’s Books – Tag in the BEGINNING
Here, our dialogue tag is placed at the beginning of our dialogue.
DIALOGUE RULES – Tag in the END
Here, our dialogue tag is placed at the end of our dialogue.
DIALOGUE RULES – Tag in the MIDDLE
Here, our dialogue tag is wedged between a beginning and ending dialogue.
If you would like a handy printout to help you remember these dialogue rules for children’s books, and if you would like 50+ fun ideas on how to create your own descriptive DIALOGUE TAGS, make sure to download your cheat sheets, so you’re ready and prepared next time you dive into the writing of the dialogue for your beautiful children’s book:
- Dialogue Rules – Cheat Sheet
- Weaving-Dialogue Method Cheat Sheet
