Write a Short Scene With Effective Dialogue

Most beginner dialogue is two characters efficiently telling each other what they think and feel. Real dialogue is people not quite saying what they mean. This gives you a specific situation and three structural rules to practise writing the gap between what is said and what is happening beneath it.

Write a short scene of 200 to 300 words in which two characters have a conversation. The scene should:

- Show a conflict or difference in what the two characters want from this conversation
- Use dialogue to reveal character rather than just exchange information
- Include at least two beats where what is said and what is meant are different things
- End before the conflict is resolved

Format: plain prose with dialogue in quotation marks. No stage directions beyond what is necessary to place the reader. No character names that explain what the character is like.

[Situation: two people who know each other well are pretending an awkward thing is not happening. They are talking about something else entirely.]