Technique

Dialogue series?

3 Comments

A while back I took a class on dialogue. While the instructor did give feedback on the dialogue itself in our assignments, it seemed like the things we were really learning wasn’t how to write actual dialogue, but how to paragraph (which is apparently all science, no art) and incorporate everything that’s not dialogue into a conversation. Useful skills, yes, but not what I expected from a class about dialogue. Oddly enough, I kind of thought things would focus more on what goes inside the quotation marks.

I know a lot of people already consider dialogue one of their strengths. But even if it’s one of your best skills (as I consider it to be), we can always learn more (as I am even now).

We could look at the basics of creating realistic and readable dialogue, more intermediate things like skipping the boring parts, and advanced techniques like “indirect” dialogue. And naturally, since I know so many of you guys are good at dialogue, I’d love to have guest posts with your favorite lessons, tips and techniques.

What do you think? Would you like a series on dialogue? Maybe an “advanced” series?

Photo by Peter Patau

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3 thoughts on “Dialogue series?”

  1. I’d love to read an advanced series on dialogue! I think many of us believe it’s our strength, but I suspect we are missing techniques to strengthen our stories.

  2. I’ve just pushed through a revision that focused on improving conversations and dialogue that needed to sound more like the speaker and less like me as the author! An advanced series could be very useful. BTW, loved your photo followed by the “advanced” comment! ::teehee::

  3. Definitely. I would appreciate anything you write about dialogue because it’s not my strength. BTW, where did you take your class, Jordan? (PS Thanks for the birthday wishes!)

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