Good dialogue gives each line a purpose for the speaker. Exposition tells the audience something, while intention makes the speaker try to change the listener. The best lines do both together.
This lesson is part of SPM subjects and learning resources. It follows developing conflict and progression in a short scene.
How do you tell the difference?
For each line, ask: what does the speaker want the listener to do or feel? If the only answer is “to let the audience know”, the line is exposition without intention.
Mark the two kinds of line with different letters, then look at the balance.
Worked example: an invented bus-stop scene
Draft one. Mei and her brother Daniel wait for a bus after school.
MEI: Daniel, as you know, our mother is working late tonight because the clinic is short of staff.
DANIEL: Yes, and that is why we are taking the bus, because Father has the car at the workshop.
MEI: Since I am your older sister, I will make dinner.
Every line tells the audience a fact that both characters already know. Nobody wants anything from the other.
Finding the intention
Give each character a want. Mei wants Daniel to stop complaining and help with dinner. Daniel wants to go to his friend’s house instead.
| Line | Intention | Information carried |
|---|---|---|
| Mei: “Mum’s late again. You’re on rice tonight.” | Give Daniel a job | Mother is working late |
| Daniel: “I told Faiz I’d come round.” | Get out of the job | He has other plans |
| Mei: “Faiz can wait. The bus takes forty minutes and Dad has the car.” | Shut down his excuse | No car, long journey |
The facts have not vanished. They are now carried by lines where one character is pushing and the other is pushing back.
Why the revision works
In the revision, the audience learns about the mother, the car and the bus because they matter to the argument. No line is there only to brief the audience.
Readers can also hear two different voices. Mei is short and bossy, Daniel offers reasons, and both sound like siblings.
The mistake to avoid
The common slip is “as you know” dialogue, in which a character tells another what both already know. A quick test is to ask whether the listener could reply “I know”.
Fix it by asking what the speaker wants from the listener and rewriting the line as an attempt to get it.
Check yourself
Revise this line so it carries intention: “As you know, Dad’s shop closes at nine, and that is why I must collect the keys from him now.” Write a version where the speaker wants something.
Answer
One version: “Dad’s shop shuts at nine. Give me the keys now, or we are locked out.”
The speaker now wants the keys, and the closing time becomes pressure. The fact is kept, but it is used to get something from the listener.
What to study next
Read your revised dialogue aloud and check it with the structured-answer self-review tool. For a teacher to go through your lines with you, see online one-to-one Scriptwriting tuition.