How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue? I’ve been there a thousand times in my own stories.
You want to show a natural pause in the middle of your dialogue, but maybe you don’t know how to do it. Maybe you are even asking yourself, how do I write a pause? How do I punctuate a pause?
There are 7 crazy effective ways.
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Table of Contents
Before we jump into the 7 answers to “How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue?”, it’s important to first point out that there are actually two categories and several different types of pauses.
Each of the 7 ways to fill pauses in dialogue work for every type, but you may want to give some thought to what’s the best strategy for your particular pause in your particular story.
There are two major categories of pauses. They are the “meta” types into which all of the other pause types fit. You’ll get it when you read the two categories.
As you can see, the two categories are based on pause length. Any type of pause can be short or long so experiment with what works best in your dialogue.
Each type of pause serves a purpose in your scene, sometimes multiple purposes. Pauses are overlooked opportunities to show (not tell) internal thoughts, emotions, relationship dynamics, goals, conflicts and characterization.
How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue? The most common way writers fill pauses is with punctuation.
That brings up another question: how to punctuate a pause?
One popular method is to use ellipses, those three little dots (…) signifying a trailing off of a sentence or thought.
The Harbrace College Handbook says of the Ellipsis: ‘Ellipsis points mark an omission form a quoted passage or a reflective pause or hesitation.” (emphasis mine)
It’s the “reflective pause or hesitation” that we are most concerned with here in this article.
Here are a few examples from popular books so that you can see exactly how professionally published authors handle natural pauses in dialogue.
Here is a starter list of character gestures to fill pauses in fictional conversations:
You can find a comprehensive list of gestures in this Reedsy.com article: Defining Your Characters: 150+ Character Mannerisms
The BEST gestures not only fill empty spaces but reveal layers of character while injecting tension into a scene.
Check out the video below for even more insight into gestures. Yes, it’s about gestures in acting. But don’t scroll over it without giving it a fair shot. Some of the best strategies about writing I’ve ever learned weren’t from writers.
Go ahead, watch the video. You might be surprised at how much you learn.
How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue? More gestures!How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue?
Internal thoughts can be an excellent way to fill pauses in dialogue. Like gestures, internal thoughts express and reveal character.
They also add variety to an otherwise dialogue or action-heavy scene.
You can easily slip short internal thoughts between spoken words in your dialogue. One tip is to only use internal thoughts that add new information instead of repeating what the character just said.
Here is an example:
“So you want to go out sometimes?” John asked
“Maybe,” I said. In your dreams.
Notice how, in that example, the internal thoughts contradicted her spoken words. Contrast and contradiction are powerful tools in dialogue and in fiction.
Here is another example:
One of the cool things about inner thoughts or internal dialogue is that you can use it for tension, humor, characterization, conflict and more.
You can also show a character’s emotional response to fill a natural pause in dialogue.
In a way, this is a slight variation on a character gesture. When you show a character’s feeling response, you fill a pause and reveal a deeper meaning in the conversation or scene.
How do you show a feeling response?
Check out these examples:
To help you write your character’s feelings, here is a list of the 6 primary emotions described in a Psychology Today article:
Watch the video below for how to convey emotions in your stories without resorting to melodrama or clichés. This can be extremely useful so that your pause fillers help your fiction instead of h urting it.
How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue? – An 11-minute videoIf you have tried the first six methods and you still wonder, “How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue?”, I have one final writing hack for you.
This secret of professional authors is to shift focus.
What does that mean?
As the author, you can shift focus describing the setting. You can comment on an animal nearby, the sunset, the clouds, other people in the vicinity, a kite, anything.
Many times the object of focus signifies a deeper meaning, adding subtext and symbolism to the scene.
Here’s an example:
“Do you really want to end this way, after all this time?”
The turtle heaved its dusty shell over the fallen tree branch, collapsing onto the other side.
“Yes,” she said.
If you think about it, all of the first six methods are all ways to shift focus, at least momentarily. All of these strategies are super versatile.
I hope you have found value in this article. I hope that you have found your answer to “How do writers fill a natural pause in dialogue?”
Now you have 7 crazy effective ways to write pauses in your story dialogue. Remember to mix up the methods so that you don’t overuse any one strategy.
The best way to learn this, any any, fiction-writing strategy is to read widely and intentionally.
For more writing tips, tricks and secrets, check out these articles:
Hello, I’m Christopher Kokoski, the creator of this site. Read more
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