Professional Documents
Culture Documents
While writing dialogue, use action and context to avoid the dreaded use of “he said, she said.” In
this scene, it is obvious who is speaking and responding.
Dr. Ashton leaned forward from behind his desk. His tortoise-rimmed glasses
that made him look even more like a Turtle.
“Jane.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Your chest x-ray and sputum tests
are not normal. Your right lung, well, you have–”
“The Great White Plague,” she finished his sentence. “Pithisus, Consumption,
whatever you call it.”
Her husband’s blue eyes focused intently upon Aston. “I didn’t know there were
two kinds of TB. What’s the difference?”
“People can have a latent TB infection without feeling sick or showing any
symptoms. And at that stage, they aren’t contagious.”
Jane let out the breath she had been holding. “Well, then, I am going home.”
She picked up her purse from her lap as if to leave.