Dialogue drives both narrative and character development. The key for creative writers is including just enough dialogue to meet those needs and no more. The last thing you want is to have your characters talking too much. Many novelists approach a scene by writing until they feel they have included sufficient dialogue to meet their […]
July 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment DialogueThe Four Different Types of Conflict in Dialogue
Today, I’m guest posting over on Jane Friedman’s blog, with the post “The Four Different Types of Conflict in Dialogue.” Here’s an excerpt: Conflict in dialogue provides authors with one of their best opportunities for jazzing up their stories and powering their plots. Slow scene? No problemo. Just throw in a nice, heated little argument. What […]
February 12, 2014 by 60 Comments DialogueThe Sneaky Secret Life of “As You Know, Bob…”
Just a quick heads up: I’m going to be taking a break from videoing for a month or two, due to some minor health issues. I’ll still be posting the text posts on Wednesdays, and you should be seeing the videos return by mid-spring. Cheers! *** Among writers, the “as you know, Bob” trope has […]
November 6, 2013 by 12 Comments DialogueAre Your Characters Bantering or Bickering?
This week’s video explains the important difference between characters who are bantering and characters who are bickering—and how to write both. Video Transcript: I love witty banter. I mean, really, who doesn’t, right? A little playful, quick-witted dialogue can season up any scene. Tell me there’s bantering in a book or movie, and I’m going […]
June 26, 2013 by 16 Comments DialogueAn Insanely Simple Trick for Tightening Your Dialogue
This week’s video talks about one of the cons of trying to mimic real-life conversations. Video Transcript: I adore good dialogue. Funny, snappy, insightful, punchy—love it. Nothing makes a book come to life faster. And it’s also a ton of fun to write. Whenever I finish a day’s writing session with a comparatively massive word count, you can pretty […]
June 23, 2013 by 22 Comments DialogueExclusive Dialogue: When Readers Don’t Know What Your Characters Are Talking About
A good story will always be a balance between providing readers necessary information—and keeping them curious by not giving them all the info. Nowhere is this more true than in dialogue. Make no mistake. This is a tough wire on which to balance. Give readers too much juice, and they’ll not only grow bored, they may also feel […]
May 5, 2013 by 73 Comments DialogueMost Common Writing Mistakes: The Do’s and Don’ts of Dialect
Who doesn’t love a good accent? British, Indian, French, Spanish, Irish, Australian, South African, and Japanese actors, among many others, all bring added spice to their roles on the American big screen. And I suspect the same holds true in reverse (when I visited Australia several years ago, someone told me she loved my accent, which was a […]
April 5, 2013 by 18 Comments Dialogue8 Tips for Awesome Dialogue
Dialogue is one of the most important and also one of the most difficult aspects of a story. That is because dialogue is such a common occurrence in readers’ lives. Just as badly done animation of people is creepy, badly written dialogue comes off as fake and vaguely menacing. There is nothing worse to read than a […]
March 29, 2013 by 20 Comments Dialogue2 Steps to Streamlining Your Dialogue
This post is by Don McNair. Not long ago I was a guest at a writing group’s critiquing session. Five members distributed pages they wanted critiqued and, one by one, read their submissions. When the third reader started, I glanced over her pages. Every piece of dialogue was at least eight to ten lines long, and some reached a […]
August 1, 2012 by 21 Comments DialogueDon’t Forget the Dialogue
For many of us, dialogue is one of the most enjoyable parts to write in any story—which makes it kind of surprising that we can sometimes end up neglecting it to a story’s detriment. Today, I’d like to use as an example one of C.S. Forester’s little-known works, Rifleman Dodd. This is a tiny book […]
