# Dialogue Writing Exercises

Free exercises and worked examples: https://www.geekart.ai/en/blog/how-to-write-natural-dialogue

Use one exercise at a time. Replace the answer space with your own writing.
You can work in any text editor or copy the prompts into your draft.

## 1. Write the request underneath the words

Choose six lines of dialogue from your own draft.

Name what each speaker wants the other to do. Rewrite two lines as a request, refusal or delay, then write the response.

Your version:

[Write here]

Check: Does the next reply now have something specific to respond to?

## 2. Keep one fact and remove the explanation

Starter: "I'm angry because you took the letter, and now I can't trust you."

Keep the fact that a letter was taken. Write a line and its reply without angry, because or trust. Try a request such as: Put it back where you found it.

Your version:

[Write here]

Check: Is the exchange understandable without the emotional explanation?

## 3. Give three people the same problem

A room must be emptied before someone arrives.

Write one line each for a careful clerk, an impatient sibling and a shopkeeper protecting a friend. Give them different tactics.

Your version:

[Write here]

Check: After hiding the roles, what distinguishes the voices beyond synonyms for leave?

## 4. Interrupt at the point of resistance

Someone asks for an apology and receives practical instructions instead.

Write four lines. Add one physical event only where it changes what can be said next. Compare with the version without the event.

Your version:

[Write here]

Check: Does the interruption force a choice, or simply delay the conversation?

## 5. Restore one line after a polishing pass

Choose a rough exchange and revise it for clarity.

Compare the original with the polished version. Restore one line whose awkwardness belongs to the character. Explain the cost and benefit.

Your version:

[Write here]

Check: What useful difference did the polish remove? Keep enough clarity for the reader.

## Keep one change

Passage to revise:

Change to try:

Facts and voice choices to preserve: