Kairos on Substack

Kairos on Substack

Why Your Dialogue Sounds Stiff (One Edit Fixes It)

Brian Niemeier's avatar
Brian Niemeier
Apr 30, 2026
∙ Paid

New authors often suspect their dialogue needs improvement. They sense the rhythm is off, even when the grammar checks out and punctuation is in the right places. Somehow, characters’ lines still feel wooden.

Even more frustrating, the usual fixes often miss the mark. Trimming dialogue tags, swapping synonyms, and sprinkling in gestures doesn’t solve the…

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