Dialogue plays a unique part in bringing any creative writing alive. Dialogue slows down time. Dialogue happens in semi-real time. Dialogue is the only time that a reader “hears” what your characters have to say in their own voices in their own words.

But dialogue is not just “talk.” Dialogue has a very specific purpose. Every writer that wishes to master the craft of writing fiction will eventually have to master the art of writing dialogue. Dialogue must contain the following five elements to be effective.

• Characterization
• Tension
• Advancement of plot
• Echoes of the backstory
• Echoes of the theme