dialogue

Dialogue and lines (dialogue)

Dialogue is the biggest giveaway of an "AI flavor" and also the core of a web novel's famous scenes. AI dialogue reads like written statements; web novel dialogue should feel like real people sparring.

When to use

• Write a passage of dialogue / revise a stiff passage of dialogue
• Design memorable quotes and famous-scene lines
• Write face-slapping/showing-off/villain/angsty/sweet romance lines
• "The dialogue is too literary/sounds like AI/every character has the same voice"
• Make different characters speak with distinct voices

Workflow

A. Write/revise dialogue

1. Clarify: who with whom, what scene, what it should achieve (advance the plot/reveal personality/create tension)
2. Write according to the 5 principles of good dialogue (see references/dialogue-library.md): colloquial, has subtext, matches the character's voice, leaves things unsaid, every line is useful
3. Remove the AI dialogue tone: delete restating/reciting settings, break up long sentences, delete "said angrily" and replace with action, give different characters different sentence patterns, add subtext

B. Design specialized lines

Take from the line library by type (face-slapping/showing-off/villain/angsty/sweet/everyday):

• Face-slapping: the shorter the harsher + bystander reactions ("That's it?")
• Showing off: no explanations, the calmer the more intimidating
• Villain: elegant threats are the most chilling
• Female-oriented emotion: restraint is more angsty than screaming; affection hides in the details

C. Memorable quote design

Must be "screenshot-shareable": short + harsh + contrast/philosophical. One or two per chapter is enough; don't force it.

D. Character voice differentiation (language fingerprint speech_profile)

Define one for each major characterLanguage fingerprint: style (crude/refined/sharp-tongued) + verbal tics + preferred sentence length + frequently used words + words they would never say. Ensure readers know who is speaking without seeing the name.

• Self-check every line: "Only this character would say it?"
• Before writing dialogue, first pull up that character's language fingerprintinject by comparison; save into 01_人物.md(format see references/project-memory.md Section 7), produced by the character skill.
• Especially important for long works: it's easiest for "everyone to degrade into a single tone" later on—every few volumes use continuity to spot-check whether the dialogue still keeps to each character's fingerprint.

Output

• Give the lines/dialogue directly, with a "before vs after" comparison when necessary
• When designing lines, explain: what subtext was used, what character design it reflects
• Don't rely on adverbs like "angrily/happily"; rely on the line itself + action
• Use curly double quotes "" for quotation marks(use curly single quotes '' only when nested),do not use corner brackets 「」『』(Hong Kong/Taiwan/Japanese style, not used in simplified Chinese web novels), and do not use English quotation marks

Principles

• Colloquial > literary: "That's it?" beats "Your strength is nothing more than this."
• Subtext > bluntness: there's tension only when there's something beneath the words.
• Leave blank > say it all: Don't explain the emotion completely.
• One person, one voice: Eliminate "everyone sounding the same."
• Punchy lines should be refined and few; too many feel contrived.

Counterexample contrast

• ❌"I feel extremely angry and disappointed about your betrayal." → ✅"...Fine." (turns away, the blank is harsher)
• ❌"My strength far exceeds yours." → ✅"That's it?"

Next step

Put dialogue into the main text → expand; if it still has an AI feel overall → deslop; for the face-slapping scene structure → shuangdian。