How to Write Riveting Dialogue

October 25, 2007

Falmouth, MA

Sea Crest Oceanfront Resort

Executive Summary

All good novelists write good dialogue; there is no good fiction without it. It is one of the writer’s most potent and versatile tools, and it is perhaps surprising that so many writers use it to such mediocre effect. How to Write Riveting Dialogue will teach you how to write dialogue that moves your story, reveals character, and delights the reader. Attendees are encouraged to bring excerpts of their work for reading aloud, comment and critique. Questions will be welcomed throughout.

Faculty

John Hough, Jr. is the author of the novels A Two Car Funeral, The Guardian, The Conduct of the Game, and The Last Summer. He is also the author the nonfiction works A Peck of Salt, A Dream Season, and A Player For a Moment. He is a former speech writer for United States Senator Charles Mathias and a former writer for the New York Times while serving as the assistant to James Reston. John is an experienced writing teacher. He resides on Martha’s Vineyard.

Tuition

The $495.00 tuition includes a continental breakfast, breaks, lunch with faculty, a detailed manual which can be retained as a bookshelf reference, and a dynamic learning experience.

Click here for registration information.

Schedule

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Thursday, October 25, 2007

7:00-8:00Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00-9:00The Watergate Tapes: How Art Does Not Imitate Life, and Vice Versa
The difference between real life dialogue and the dialogue in good fiction, and how real life dialogue can lead the writer astray.

9:00-10:00Lean, Tight, Shapely: The Beauty of Good Dialogues
When we say “the art of writing dialogue,” we mean just that. Attendees will learn how to write dialogue with your eye as well as your ear, and to uncover its edgy music, how to avoid repetition and redundancy, and to maintain the essential brisk pace.

10:00-10:15BREAK AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY

10:15-11:00Action is Character, Dialogue is Action
Attendees will learn the fine art of using dialogue to define and reveal character.

11:00-12:00Dissonance: The Sine Qua Non of Good Dialogue
No tension, no drama. Attendees will learn how to sustain tension in your dialogue in all scenes, at all times. Yes, all scenes: even the most cordial and affectionate.

12:00-1:00LUNCH PROVIDED WITH FACULTY

1:00-2:00Staying Focused: Surprise in Every Line
It is easy, in writing dialogue, to become careless. People speak carelessly, after all, and that same natural carelessness tends to creep into the dialogue we write. The antidote is to focus on every line, to test it to yourself to make sure it works for you. Attendees will learn the different ways in which it does so.

2:00-3:00"I despise you, " she said, glaring at me, and what is wrong with this sentence
How dialogue is used to evoke gesture and facial expression, and why writing fiction is harder than writing for the movies.

3:00-3:15BREAK AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY

3:15-4:15The Biggest Decision Of All: When to Write a Character From The Inside and When Not To
There’s no easy answer to this question and, often, no categorical one. The decision is yours. Attendees will learn how to make it, and what to consider as you do.

4:15-4:30Conclusion and Takeaways