GlossaryCraft technique
Monologue
Also: speech · soliloquy
A monologue is a long speech by one character while others listen. It is a big moment: use it when a character finally says what they have been holding back, or tells a story that changes the scene.
Most screen dialogue is short and goes back and forth. A monologue breaks that pattern, so the audience leans in. That only works if the speech is earned and something changes by the end of it.
Keep it moving: give it a clear goal, a turn in the middle, and break it up with small actions if it runs long. A speech a character gives alone, out loud, to no one, is often called a soliloquy.
SAM
You want to know why I left? Every
night for ten years I set the table
for two, and every night I ate alone.
So one night I set it for one.
That's the whole story.