Let’s quickly dissect a line of dialogue from the Jeannette Walls excerpt we read in the previous video:

“I’m worried about you,” I said.

Dialogue comprises open and closing quotation marks to enclose the spoken words. It conveys a statement or question, such as “I’m worried about you.”

The attribution (e.g., I said) identifies the speaker and is separated from the quotation by a comma.

These components constitute a dialogue structure.

We’ll delve deeper into mastering dialogue with valuable tips and punctuation guidelines in future mini-courses.

For now, know that crafting dialogue may seem daunting at first, but the transformative impact it can have on your stories is undeniably worth the effort. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the difference it makes.