Dialogue is the heart of fiction. It’s the best way to show character, move plot, and develop tension. Cynthia has conducted many workshops in dialogue for both children and adults, beginners and advanced students. For more information on this workshop, please contact Cynthia.
Only lunatics say what they really think. Dialogue should not be about what is really going on. Tension is the key. What is NOT said is more important than what IS said. Dialogue must move the story and should raise more questions, not answer them. A character, who reveals not enough, reveals much. SUB TEXT.
Dialogue should:
Dialogue workshop for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance
- be brief
- add to knowledge, not repeat it
- eliminate routine exchanges of ordinary conversation
- keep the story moving forward
- reveals the speaker’s character
- reveals what is NOT said
- be adversarial
- be illogical – non-sequiturs are good
- be full of tension
- avoid dialect
- not impart knowledge for reader’s benefit
- not repeat what the reader already knows
- not always tell the truth
