How do you write an argument?
“How can I write an effective argument between characters? ”
Few things get me excited reading a novel more than a well-written argument between characters. Like other parts of a story, an argument is riddled with conflict and opportunity to open a dramatic can of worms of potential action, a character’s downfall, internal strife, and so much more. And who doesn’t love drama? That’s why we love immersing ourselves in stories across all mediums!
For writers, however, dialogue is already a writing method we have a love-hate relationship with. Some people can write dialogue for days, while others are too intimidated to start a conversation with a simple “hello.” But to dig further and turn a conversation into a meaningful argument? Where does one even start?
But not to worry! Like everything else in your story, there are ways to plot and write an argument to make sure it serves you and your project. I have a few key points to dive into, so let’s get started!
Define your dialogue’s purpose
Before we completely dive into the specifics of how to write an argument, it helps to go over a basic principle of writing dialogue. That way, you have a solid foundation to start with.
The most important thing to do with your dialogue, just like your scenes and chapters, is to identify its purpose. Essentially, what’s the point of writing this argument in the first place?
Dialogue can serve a multitude of functions, and typically more than one at a time. It can advance plot, add character depth (i.e. voice, beliefs, personality, inner struggles, etc.), establish your story’s theme, the list goes on.
So you first need to determine what purpose or need your argument is supposed to fulfill in your scene beyond simply creating conflict for conflict’s sake. Are you setting the mood of your genre? Are you raising the stakes in your plot? Or are you introducing a character’s arc, internally and/or externally?
Notice how these questions are a big-picture look at your story. Even though it’s part of one specific scene, your dialogue’s purpose should serve your overarching story, and not just a single scene or chapter.
Another way to determine your argument’s purpose is to ask what your readers are supposed to learn from it. Do they learn a clue to a mystery? Do they see how two characters react differently to a new problem? What is relevant and necessary for them to gain from this?
Ultimately, knowing this purpose allows you to determine whether the argument is worth writing in the first place and adds value to your story. Then, you can go further into the nitty-gritty details.
Dialogue conflict = conflicting character goals
It’s one thing to know the purpose of your dialogue, but it’s another level–and a deeper one–to get your characters involved.
When writing a scene, there are at least two things that happen that drive a story: a character will have a goal (big or small) they want to accomplish, and conflict via a challenge arises for that character to confront (sometimes more than once in a scene). This is the same concept for an argument. So your next question to ask is: What is each character’s goal in the argument, and how does this create conflict?
And to answer this, you need to get behind the “why” of the argument: why your characters are in it and doing what they’re doing. Doing so helps establish the core set-up of your dialogue–kind of like plotting a scene!
You also need to ensure, for the sake of a realistic argument, that at least one of your character’s goals interferes with the goal of another. Otherwise, you don’t have conflict.
For example: you can have a character who was wronged by another and seeks answers, while that other character dislikes the confrontation and wants to avoid it. And things get tense when neither get what they want because they’re not cooperating with each other’s desires.
See how the different goals interfere and create conflict? For the sake of purposeful dialogue and for meaningful conflict in a scene, there must be a valid reason the characters are arguing. And not to argue “because drama.” That’s how your writing falls flat.
Know your characters
When an argument opens up conflict between characters, it’s really important to know your characters inside and out.
Let’s use the above example again, with one character confronting the other. Their goals are conflicting. So what happens then? Do they change their goals? Is one character aggressive enough to start a fight? Does a character give up?
All of those answers depend on who your characters are in the argument. Knowing your characters helps determine how they act and react with the motivations behind their goals; from the start of conflict to resolution.
Does a character change their voice to take on a more diplomatic tone, or do they get so angry they drop all proper speech and start cursing? Do they hate conflict so much, they would rather tell the other character they’re right, even though they’re wrong? Some characters, like some people in real life, will even try to avoid an argument altogether and just hide!
Arguments are also far from black and white. “Winning” and “losing” one is entirely subjective, and a character can do either while still getting their point across (or perhaps, meet their goal).
Let’s say you have a couple in a romance story yelling at each other. One character starts the argument by mentioning another character’s flaw, and in the next heated moment, makes a rude comment that hurts them. The other character could be so distraught by the comment that it triggers an internal struggle, and they walk away.
For the first character it could look like they have “won” the argument by getting their point across with their rude remark and having the last say. For the second character, it can seem like they have “lost” the argument, but to them making their point by walking away counts as a “win.” It can also affect their goals, as if this argument was the last straw, their goal has now changed to going upstairs to pack their bags and move out.
If you feel you don’t know your characters enough for writing your argument–or any type of dialogue–on a deep, effective level, I highly recommend pausing and discovering more about them. Getting to know your characters is a journey in itself, and there are tons of ways to do so. Below are some extra resources to get started.
- How to Create a Compelling Character in Minutes
- 5 Writing Games to Help You Get to Know Your Characters
- A Foolproof Character Cheat Sheet (With Downloadable Template)
Pace and sentence structure
Keep in mind that arguments are typically tense, heated situations, if not downright explosive. That means your writing should be fast-paced. There’s no room for a character to dump their backstory into paragraph upon paragraph. The actions and events in your situation should be go-go-go, with your characters mostly reacting to what’s happening to them, and with very little time to think.
This is also the same with your sentence structure. An argument is going to have short, snappy prose that is to the point. Again, there’s no realistic way to suddenly have a character rattle on with long-winded sentences. Sometimes you may even have your characters interrupt each other instead.
Having said all this, just because your writing should be fast-paced, it doesn’t mean you disregard character interiority altogether. Readers will still want to know what your characters are thinking internally as they react, and the short prose will help break up your dialogue so you don’t have a full page of quoted lines.
Allow brief pauses; either by literally writing a pause or adding a sentence of character interiority in the scene. This works especially well if a character just got hurt by an impactful line of dialogue, or if you wrote an important line of dialogue that both characters (and the reader) need a moment to process. But don’t pause for too long, or too often. Keep the pressure on your characters to act quickly!
As you can see, writing an effective argument is a mix of establishing scene conflict, interfering goals, purposeful dialogue, and having in-depth knowledge of your characters. That can be a lot to keep track of, and I know we covered quite a bit in this post! So, to help, I have a checklist of questions below to help set up your argument, and figure out the basics of your characters’ actions in a pressured setting.
As a final word: when in doubt, remember conflict. Conflict is not just the driver of an argument, but the story entirely. If you’re in the drafting/fast-drafting phase and don’t have the time or capacity to get stuck in the weeds, then at least focus on the conflict within the argument–based on your characters’ goals–and your dialogue’s purpose for the story itself. You can always solidify the rest later.
Go forth, create conflict, and happy writing!
A checklist to write an argument:
- What is the purpose of my argument that benefits my story overall?
- What causes the argument and why?
- What is each character’s goal at the beginning of the argument? Do the goals conflict with each other?
- What is the main point each character wants to get across while arguing?
- How willing is each character to get their point across (whether they win or lose the argument)?
- How willing is each character to win their side of the argument?
- Is each character willing to hurt another character physically or mentally?
- How are your characters actively acting and reacting to the pressure and argument? Why?
- Does each character’s goal change during the argument? If so, to what and why?
- What is the end outcome of the argument? Did a character “win?” Did each character get their point across? Did each character achieve their goal(s)? Why or why not? How does each character feel now after the argument?
