| Title | : | How to Write Dialogue (Busy Writer's Guides, #3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 126 |
| Publication | : | First published December 1, 2013 |
You know the benefits strong dialogue can bring to a story—a faster pace, greater believability, increased tension, and even humor.
But you might not know how to achieve it.
In Dialogue: A Busy Writer’s Guide, writing instructor and fiction editor Marcy Kennedy brings her years of experience into showing you how to write dialogue that grabs readers and keeps them turning pages.
Inside you’ll discover…
• how to format your dialogue to keep it clear and easy to follow,
• tricks to avoid the dreaded As-You-Know-Bob Syndrome,
• how to use dialogue to manage your pace, increase tension, and bring your characters to life,
• the secrets to dealing with dialogue challenges such as dialect, starting a chapter with dialogue, and using contractions in historical fiction and fantasy, and
• much more.
Each book in the Busy Writer’s Guides series is intended to give you enough theory so that you can understand why things work and why they don’t, but also enough examples to see how that theory looks in practice. In addition, they provide tips and exercises to help you take it to the pages of your own story with an editor's-eye view.
**This is an updated version. The mysterious blue box issue when the previous version was read on the Cloud Reader has been fixed!**
How to Write Dialogue (Busy Writer's Guides, #3) Reviews
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Considering its short length this book sure packs a lot in. I've previously read about many of the topics on writing dialogue that Marcy covers, but it's great to find so much in one place. It sure beats trekking through the wilds of webland hoping to find someone you can rely on to tell it to you straight.
The John said or said John issue was something of a dilemma for me as I couldn't work out what looked and sounded right in my writing. I now have a post-it stuck to my screen with the correct method, with another next to it saying "break the rules now and then!"
The F-A-D thing is a fabulous method to bear in mind too. I thought I was well aware of the beat and tag thing but now I'll be reading through my writing project to correct the misuse of too many tags getting mixed up with beats!
The Take it to the Page exercises are damn good, I never thought of doing something like that. I love writing dialogue and feel more confident about how to make my characters dance after reading this.
It's strange to come across this guide as I'm currently reading Terminus by Adam Baker. I loved his novel, Outpost, but I'm struggling with this sequel for various reason, one being the strange dialogue. Too many people launching in overly long monologues, followed by another character doing the exact same thing to the point where it feels very far from organic.
Guides like this are an excellent way of prompting your inner writer to sit up and take notes when reading, then tuck them away to use when you're writing.
Whether you're a seasoned writer or just dipping your toe in the wonderful world of fiction writing, I recommend you read and study this guide because it might just surprise you with something new to add to your writing toolbox. -
Dialogue is a non-fiction book for writers about dialogue as the title suggests. There are some good tips and advice about dialogue, both how to format/ edit it and also ideas for writing it. Unfortunately this one didn't really click with me, some of the advice was worded a bit too much as a must do rule instead of recommendations. Maybe it's just my current reading mood, but I never got that aha feeling or that insight about what makes great dialogue that I was hoping for.
And I would've liked more examples when she was explaining something. There are some examples were the author just refers to the book and you have to read the sample to find out what she's talking about, which didn't work for me as I want the examples in the text.
There are some exercises at the end of each chapter to implement what the chapter is about, which can be handy when you want to put things in practice.
To summarize: This book wasn't really for me as it never really licked with me and gave me that insight that I was hoping for. There are some good tips and tricks and questions to ask yourself when writing dialogue as well as exercises at the end of each chapter. There aren't as many examples as I would've liked. -
Informative!
Not all situations applied, but this was an excellent reference guide. This author makes learning engaging and quick. I might just end up reading all of her Busy Writer’s Guides! -
One of the best, specific, detailed books I have ever read about how to handle dialogue. Excellent resource.
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This was supposed to be my #ReadWithFey book for the month of July, but hey, life happens. At least I got to it in August. It was worth the wait.
I have not been let down by this author yet. These practical guides are so helpful. The description of the book is spot on and, as always, I appreciate the appendix. This will definitely be a reference book I keep at the ready.
Highly recommended to aspiring writers and published authors at any level seeking to hone their dialogue writing skills. -
Great insights.
To the point for a how-to book. Marcy has instructions on aspects of writing I hadn't considered and sensible approaches to those I have. I'm glad she's taken the time to write this series. -
A great book about writing dialogue that you could read in a couple of hours. The exercises are a big plus and very helpful.
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Great book. Give valuable information for new writers like me. Great examples and it is fun to read.
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A great reference book. I especially used the sections on formatting dialogue and adding variety to your dialogue. The take it to the page sections, were also very helpful. Overall, a great resource!
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Love all her books
Great book on dialogue with many great tips. I’m reading all Marcy Kennedy books because it’s like a master class on writing. -
5 stars! I would recommend most of this series for the new writer as it’s packed with a lot of useful information!
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A must-have for writing realistic, effective dialogue...
As writers, we're told to make every word count. Writing dialogue is no exception. We must make interactions between characters interesting while continuing to move the story forward. Sluggish dialogue can weigh an otherwise good story down and make our readers hesitant to turn the page, much less finish the book (or proceed on to the next).
In How to Write Dialogue, Marcy Kennedy shows us how to write clean, concise dialogue, starting with the basics (e.g. proper formatting of dialogue and the difference between tags and beats), then moves on to using it to reveal our characters' personalities and their relationships to other characters and to build tension in the story, etc.—all while advancing the plot.
Kennedy provides relevant examples along the way, along with a "Take It to the Page" section at the end of each chapter for applying the principles she's outlined, which is especially handy for writers starting rewrites or edits (and my favorite takeaway).
Another favorite? How to Write Dialogue can be read quickly and implemented immediately. If you're writing any form of dialogue, make sure Kennedy's book is part of your reference library. -
In the Introduction, Marcy Kennedy writes that the goal of this ebook is to quickly give a writer an overview of how to write dialogue well, so that no unnecessary time is taken away from actually writing their WIPs. I think she achieved this goal admirably! Every point, from dialogue basics to more advanced techniques, is made clearly and well-illustrated with sample mini-dialogues.
Of particular interest to me were the revision exercises at the end of each section which I am going to use when I start revising my first draft. Links are also provided at the end of the book to download worksheets from her site.
All in all, I would definitely recommend this resource to writers as a great place to begin crafting dialogue or as a refresher or reminder of what to be on the lookout for when revising. -
Often when I read writing advice, I find myself feeling lost after a while. There's so much good advice, how do I make sure I remembered to address each point in my whole manuscript? Some writing books come with practice exercises, but I don't have the patience in any area of my life to do things purely for the sake of practice.
Well, in this book, every chapter ends with a checklist. It's sort of a recap of the chapter, but in bullet form, and rephrased as something much more tangible that you can apply directly to your specific manuscript. -
Another great book in the series!
An informative, quick read. This is a good reference for any new writer. It shows examples of how to incorporate feeling and action with dialogue in a way that won't be repetitive or awkward. And, like the rest of the series, it has a link to a downloadable checklist to help with the editing process. I've read four of the seven books in this series and so far they are all great books. Highly recommended to brush up on skills. -
Rock-solid primer on writing dialogue for (genre)fiction.
I didn't learn tons of new, but that's maybe because I read a lot of how-to writing guides.
The writing style is simple and straight forward.
The concentration on dialogue alone makes this a niched focuses, which I welcome.
Recommended especially for beginners. -
This is a gem for new authors. Everything you wanted to know about writing dialogue but were afraid to ask. Or didn't find. It's now in one great e-book.
If you ride the writing bike for a while, you might know the nuts and bolts of a good dialogue, but you still may learn a few tricks. -
I kinda figured out how to write dialogue by copying the format of my favorite novels but I never really understood how to make it up without imitating. After using this book I can now feel confident that I know a little more than before.
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A nice concise guide. Easy to read and to understand.
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Just a really amazing book on dialogue. Tells you everything you need to know.
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A must buy for fiction writers.
I've read several of the busy writer's guide books. They're very useful for editing my work because it helps me pick out the less obvious mistakes.
