Dialogue Structure Examples
• Simple dialogue “I’m leaving.”
• Dialogue with a tag after “I’m leaving,” she said.
• Dialogue with a tag before She said, “I’m leaving.”
• Dialogue with an action beat after “I’m leaving.” She grabbed her jacket.
• Dialogue with an action beat before She grabbed her jacket. “I’m leaving.”
• Dialogue split by a tag “I’m leaving,” she said, “and I’m not coming back.”
• Dialogue split by action “I’m leaving.” She hesitated. “Don’t try to stop me.”
• Dialogue followed by description “I’m leaving,” she said, staring at the door.
• Dialogue with interruption “I thought you said—” “I changed my mind.”
• Dialogue trailing off “I just thought maybe…”
• Dialogue with a question “Where are you going?”
• Dialogue with multiple sentences “I’m leaving. Don’t follow me.”
• Dialogue with a question tag “You’re coming with me, right?”
• Dialogue followed by internal thought “I’m fine,” he said. I’m definitely not fine.
• Dialogue embedded in action She leaned closer. “You didn’t tell them, did you?”
• Dialogue that continues after narration “I told you,” she said. “This was a bad idea.”
• Dialogue that begins mid-action Opening the door, she said, “You shouldn’t be here.”
• Dialogue with an em dash interruption “I was going to tell you but—” “But you didn’t.”
• Dialogue with ellipses inside “I thought… maybe you knew.”
• Dialogue across multiple paragraphs (same speaker) “I tried to warn you.
“But you never listen.”
• Dialogue with emphasis “I said leave.”
• Dialogue with a beat replacing a tag “I’m not scared.” He folded his arms.
• Dialogue embedded within narration He looked at her and said, “We’re out of time.”
• Dialogue with a tag in the middle of action “I’m leaving,” she said, pulling the door open.
