Dialogue Formatting
How to format dialogue in a screenplay. Rhythm, subtext, character voice, and the indent rules Scene Forges handles for you.
What dialogue is
Dialogue is what a character says. It sits indented from the left margin, narrower than action, so it reads as a spoken block on the page.
How to format it
In Scene Forges, type a character name (or press Tab until you reach Character), press Enter, and you're in Dialogue. Type the line. Press Enter again and you go back to Action.
Keep it natural
Read dialogue out loud. If you stumble, the actor will too. Cut words that people don't actually say. "I am going to" becomes "I'm gonna." "Do not" becomes "Don't" unless the character is formal.
Less is more
A long speech can lose the reader. Break it up with action beats: a look, a gesture, a pause. Let the character do something while they talk.
Subtext
The best dialogue says one thing and means another. A character who says "I'm fine" while pouring a drink is more interesting than one who says "I'm struggling with this." Trust the audience to read between the lines.
Character voice
Every character should sound different. Word choice, rhythm, sentence length. A teenager and a professor don't talk the same way. If you can cover the character names and still tell who's speaking, you've done it right.
Try it yourself.
Open Scene Forges and practice this directly in the screenplay editor.