As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the creative fiction world has much to thank the US for, because it is credited as the home of the short story. The name of the guy who made it so was one Nathaniel Hawthorne, of Salem, Massachusetts, whose book Twice-Told Tales was published in America in 1837 and is seen by many as the birth of the modern short story.

What much American writing has is one of the most important elements of short story writing, of any writing, indeed, that of getting the dialogue right.

I talk to many writers who say: ‘I can write but I can’t do dialogue.’ For those struggling, here’s an experiment. It’ll make you feel self-conscious but it could be worth the embarrassment. Sit down with a group of friends and chat about whatever you fancy. Get one of you to take notes and come up with the rules of dialogue.

You will find, when you analyse those findings, that a lot of the time, we do not speak in correct sentences, using short, sharp phrases instead, that we interrupt each other, we assume the listener knows a lot about us, we use dialogue to impart information, we can tell a lot about a person in a short snap of conversation and we use body language, talking with our hands, the shape of our body etc. And our dialogue tends to be in character - a person who swears a lot will, by and large, always swear a lot, a person who uses timid non-assertive language will tend to do that in most situations. When they divert from that, the impact could be all the greater.

If you bear in mind those rules, then writing dialogue should become easier. There is another rule, one which relates to the biggest mistake writers make when it comes to dialogue. Do not pack it with extraneous information eg “Good Tuesday morning, William, although everyone calls you Bill, my neighbour of ten years in Acacia Avenue, London, are you your normal glum self, to which we - that is my wife, Gladys, and I - have grown accustomed over the years since your wife, 29-year-old Ellen, left you for a younger man and filed for divorce or has the darkness which seems to routinely enveigle you over the last few days lifted at last, may I ask?”

Ok, over-the-top but it makes the point. If you need to slot in information, find a way of doing it in a subtle way. Back to poor old Bill again: “Saw Bill this morning. His usual gloomy self. The divorce really has knocked him backwards.”

I once taught a class when a writer was trying out radio - a very difficult medium - and the scene was one in which one sister telephoned another to tell her that she had murdered her husband and he was lying on the floor, covered in blood. What opening line would you go for: “I’ve killed him!’ “Something terrible has happened!’? She went for ‘Hello, this is your oldest sister, Hazel.” People do not talk like that. Best make sure that your characters do not do so either.

John Dean