Including dialogue in your writing, even for nonfiction pieces, is a powerful way to move your story or article forward and keep the reader’s interest.
The appeal of including conversation is that it brings the level of your writing down to a human level. While you can always be obtuse and convoluted in your conversations, it is probably not your natural way of speaking. When you talk with someone, you leave out 90% of the wild, descriptive phrases and get to the point.
Compare “Hey, Mom, I’m going to the store!” to the writer’s penchant for superfluous information.
Most dialogue consists of short sentences sandwiched in between longer ones. So, adding dialogue not only makes your article more active and stimulated but also gives it variety. That’s a good thing. Plus, dialogue can add a measure of warmth, passion and even humor.
“Want to give it a try?”
That one sentence has only six words, but it gets the point across in an easy and conversational tone. You can sprinkle dialogue throughout an article like seasoning on a bland dish and immediately get an increase in readability and appeal.
Try adding a few sentences of conversation to your writing and see if it creates interest for your readers.
Most newspaper articles will often include at least one quote in the article. This tends to bring greater credibility to a story, rather than simply stating facts one after the other.
Conversation, dialogue and quotes can be just the ingredient you need to improve your next article.
