Understanding these concepts can help you write AND read more effectively!
I. Overview of Tools for Developing Scenes (This is a great checklist for creative writers)
II. And Now Some Specific Techniques
A. Showing rather than telling
When you're writing, it can be tempting to simply tell your readers how you want them to feel and react. However, part of the fun of reading is getting caught up in a story and seeing what happening with your mind’s eye. To help your readers have this experience, try to show them how you want them to feel so that they feel it too. For example, if I were writing a story set in Minnesota, I could begin a description this way:
I stepped outside. It was very cold.
OK, so now my reader knows that it's cold. Big deal. But suppose I write it this way:
As I stepped outside, the wind slapped my face, and pain seared my lungs. Where my scarf covered my mouth my breath froze. Each time I blinked my ice-crusted eyelashes scraped together.
Notice that I never come right out and say, "Hey reader - it's cold outside." Instead, I try to show the reader how it really feels to be in Minnesota in January.
B. Sensory details
A good way to draw in your reader is to use sensory details. Sensory details are details that appeal to the five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Try to use images and descriptions that make the reader think of what it would actually feel like to be in your story. For instance, in the description above I used sensory details relating to the sense of touch - what it felt like when the wind blew across me or when I blinked my eyes.
C. Word Choice
A. Use active verbs
Passive verbs describe things that happen to the subject of the sentence: My hand was bitten by the dog.
Active verbs describe what the subject does: The dog bit my hand.
Passive verbs distance the subject from the action; if your goal is to write lively, engaging prose, try pulling your reader into the story with active verbs.
B. Use vivid verbs
Remember that verbs can be as important to a description as adjectives and adverbs. Consider the sentence "The weasel bit my hand." By using a more vivid verb than bit, I can add more punch to the image: try replacing bit with nipped, nibbled, gobbled, chewed, chomped, punctured, or devoured. Are "The dog nipped my hand" and "The dog devoured my hand" more vivid?
D. Using Dialogue (see other links on dialogue for more insights)
1. Place the spoken words in quotation marks. Punctuate it as you would normally, using a question mark, for instance, to indicate a question.
"I'm going to the store now. Do you want to come?"
Note that the whole of what is said is in one set of quotation marks.
2. You can indicate who said what using tags, which are attached to a sentence using commas:
Sally said, "I'm going to the store now. Do you want to come?"
3. Tags can appear in the middle of what is spoken. In this case, close the quotation marks before the tag, as in the example:
"I'm going to the store now," Sally said. "Do you want to come?"
Of course, you can indicate how someone spoke by using tags,
Sally whispered, "What's wrong with you?" Sally demanded, “What's wrong with you?"
You can also break up what was said to give an indication of how something might have been said:
"I'm going to the store now." Sally looked at me quizzically. "Do you want to come?"
4. Start a new paragraph whenever a new speaker starts - even if it's one word:
"I'm going to the store now," Sally said. "Do you want to come?"
"Naa," I replied
"Are you sure, because you're welcome to join me and..."
"Didn’t you hear me. Look, I'm tired and I got a headache."
You might notice, too, that you don't need to use a tag on every occasion of speaking. Once the speakers are identified, you can get away with leaving the tags off - as long as it doesn't become confusing.
Finally, when people speak, they aren’t always grammatically correct. Sometimes, they don’t even finish their sentences.
Adapted from: http://cal.bemidji.msus.edu/english/morgan/courses/eng101/Assignments/PunctuatingDialogue.html