So I’m writing a non cliche high school story (at least, I’m trying) with a black MC (I’m a black girl, so I know what’s true about my ethnicity and what’s not). When it comes to me writing, I want to write character dialogue that is believable, relatable to others, and relevant to their personality (but sometimes I have a hard time with this). When it comes to narrating however, I struggle A LOT with finding the right words, and in the end, I use my phone to search synonyms/strong verbs or adjectives or end up using the same words without knowing until I proofread, and I feel dumb doing both! 
So I have [multiple] of questions to ask you guys!
- What kind of (give me a quoted example) dialogue (or strong adjectives/verbs) describes:
- Sarcasm
- Intelligence/sounding smart
- Anger
- Sadness
- Shock
- Excitement
- Happiness
- No emotion (just neutral)
- Sadness
- Loudness
- Want
- Need
And more?
- What words should I avoid using often?
- Any other words to use besides said, asked, and confused?
- What’s the difference between using quotes inside a punctuation mark and outside a punctuation mark?
- I’m writing my story on paper, so is there any way to emphasize my dialogue? I.E. All caps, cursive handwriting (which I can’t do btw), bold.
That’s all for now. Feel free to add answers to my questions related to what I need help with! And you don’t have to answer all these questions. Thanks for reading! 
@Discussions
@Writers
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Oooh, a black MC. Sounds lovely. What’s the story about?
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It’s about a smart black girl in her senior year of high school. She goes through a lot of drama and meets a black muslim from Egypt (well, that’s what I plan to make her from) and two black twins from Georgia. She also runs into a group of mean girls who I have planned to try and seem more than just mean girls. There’s also another mean girl, but she runs on her own. This all takes place in Aurora, Illinois. She also has a childhood best friend named Joshua. There’s some tropes and cliches here and there, but I’m trying to make it original too.
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Hmm, ok…
And what exactly do you need help with?? Curious.
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A lot of things, but my main concern is dialogue–everything I asked up above. I literally can’t stop using Google as my source for better, stronger words. (The worst part is that I use tbe same words over and over again 
). I’ve only ever been able to get to chapter 4 of my final draft of this story, thanks to planning out my characters later on!
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Oooh, I struggle with dialogue. What words are you struggling with?
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Narrating dialogue the most. Everytime I quote a character, it’s hard to express how they were saying it. I always end up using she said, she questioned in fear, she asked, she inquired (even though that word makes no sense in some cases). I want to try to use strong verbs to replace these words and even try express anger, sadness, or emptiness (no emotion) without saying, she said in anger.
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Ohh yeah cut off those tags!
(I’m no expert btw I’m just a highschool student lol)
I’m not an expert or really good at doing this but I’d use words I’m familiar with. When I describe a character in an emotion I try to describe what the character is feeling…
Also when people talk there’s a certain tone to their voice when they’re saying different stuff… Also reactions other people have to that person. It’s not like we use strong words when we talk unless that’s a certain person’s personality.
Like if your char is angry, you can tell that they’re angry if they’re talking to another person and that person reacts yk…
idk how to describe it but yeah.
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Yeah, I know what you mean. 
That’s a good point.
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I guess I don’t like it when authors make it entirely obvious what they’re doing or what their characters are doing… I like to be the one to figure it out XD.
It makes me feel smart lol
So like that’s the one advice thingy I have. If you’re gonna do it… perhaps it doesn’t have to be done in a bold obvious way?
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I may use reactions to dialogue more than how a character describes how they acted with that tone. It may be more interesting that way…
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@Writers Can someone offer more help and suggestions here?
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