This ditty about dialogue can be
sung to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I am the Very Model of a
Modern Major General”, from their comic opera “Pirates of Penzance”. If
you are not familiar with the tune, find it here. I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General Guaranteed to get stuck in your head!
A Ditty About Dialogue
When words are scribed to illustrate a story conversational
they bounce from one to t’other in a manner dialogical.
Inverted commas there to show us that they are quotational
from Tom to Dick to Jane to Sue, in order categorical.
Avoid he said-she said, instead paint pictures anectodical
Avoid he said-she said, instead paint pictures anectodical
of who is saying what in tones so they are recognizable.
Words spoken tell the reader things not spelled out biographical.
In short, if characters are bad or good or egotistical.
Between what’s said use action lines for interest prototypical
Between what’s said use action lines for interest prototypical
to keep the story moving for a reader idealogical.
Have characters speak normally, keep what they say realistical
so when the story ends, the dialogue is commonsensical.
