Effective Dialogue
Dialogue revealing characters and advancing story simultaneously
The five levels
Each anchor describes what separates one level from the next — not a general description of quality. This is the text the evaluator itself reads.
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Level 1 Below Standard
Artificial dialogue for information transfer
Example Characters speaking as if presenting a report
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Level 2 Approaching
Natural sometimes but functional mostly
Example Dialogue seems real in some scenes
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Level 3 At Standard
Convincing dialogue revealing character and serving story
Example Characters seem real in their dialogue
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Level 4 Above Standard
Dialogue carrying subtext and meaning beneath surface
Example What's unsaid is stronger than what's said
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Level 5 Exemplary
Dialogue readable on two levels — surface and hidden
Example Reader notices in second reading what they missed in first
Where does your own work sit on these levels?
Submit one work to be read against this criterion alone: your position across the five levels, why you are not higher and why not lower, three literal quotes from your own work, and one exercise with its success check. Your first card is free.
Price: 7 SAR · Included in Pro & Artist Plus · First one free — Pricing details
Read my work by this criterionOther criteria in the same art
Building story according to: setup, confrontation, resolution
The five levels →Separating what the character outwardly pursues (want) from what they inwardly need, and the tension between them.
The five levels →Building main character with motivations, problems, and transformation
The five levels →Creating anticipation making reader want to know what happens
The five levels →Building external and internal conflicts that intertwine to enrich the drama
The five levels →Moments that shift the story's course and raise its stakes irreversibly
The five levels →The ending's ability to close the story and leave a lasting impression
The five levels →Does each scene turn a dramatic value (+ to − or vice versa)? A scene that changes nothing is a dead scene.
The five levels →