by Darlene L. Turner Boring dialogue kills a story. Would you agree with this statement? We’ve probably all read those scenes where two characters chat and chat and chat about nothing. Oh hum. Our attention drifts, and we think about everything we need to get done around us. Cleaning, laundry, walking the dog, washing our hair. Right? Boring dialogue sounds …
The Runaway Character
By Joni M. Fisher @authorjonimfisher Did you ever have a character demand a bigger part in the story? Luigi Pirandello wrote a play titled Six Characters in Search of an Author in which characters, who were created but never used, barge into a rehearsal and demand to be included in a production. That reality-twisting, groundbreaking play premiered in 1921. While …
Make Your Metaphors Marvelous
by Leslie DeVooght Don’t waste a chance to make your writing flourish with weak metaphors or worse, clichés. As a writer of Southern Fiction, sometimes it’s hard for me to not use one of the tried and true phrases. I mean “bless your heart” and “she’s as pretty as a peach,” will work in a pinch, and they do scream …
What on Earth is This Thing Called Deep POV?
by Linda Glaz (Linda S. Glaz Literary Agency) I hear it all the time: at conferences, on social media, and from other authors, but what is it? And why should I care? What happens when you incorporate Deep POV into your novel? The READER becomes completely immersed in the character’s point of view/voice rather than the author’s voice. So much …
What If All We Had Was Dialogue?
By Cynthia Ruchti For three decades, I wrote scripts for a daily 15-minute radio broadcast. The first portion of the broadcast was a slice-of-life scene by two women walking through the kinds of things life can throw at any of us. Following that scene, a musical interlude segued into devotional thoughts related to that day’s theme. The scenes were all …
Dialog, The Fuel Of Your Story
by Rachel Hauck I’ve written a lot about dialog over the years but it’s a topic worth repeating. Dialog. Is. Key. Talking is how we learn about people. The words they use, the tone of his or her voice, as well as interpreting someone’s body language, is how we form our opinion of people. As authors, we have to resist …
When Characters Start Talking
by Ann H. Gabhart Several years ago I had a part time job that allowed me to work from home, one I hoped would give me more time to write. It was a bear of a job. As the substitute coordinator for my county’s school system, I spent hours on the phone scheduling replacements for absent teachers. Okay, so you’re …
Making Conversation
By Linda W. Yezak Ever since our vocabulary extended beyond “Mama” and “Dada,” most of us have been engaged in verbal communication, although true communication is rarely limited to voice alone. Human dialogue, human interaction, is a complex series of mechanisms that dictate how information is communicated and received. It isn’t as simple as one person talking and another listening. …
How Do You Talk?
By Bonnie S. Calhoun I have found a home in YA (Young Adult) and one of the important elements of writing successful young adult stories is the dialogue. They do not speak as we adults do! Listen to the kids, and how they talk, listen to your teens with the text speech…IDK. Dialogue is nothing more than having a conversation. …
Daily Dialogue
By Lynn Hobbs Conversations written with emotion are excellent page turners. When the reader is offered an in-depth look into two characters particular situation, I recommend having both characters point of view to consider, instead of skimming over the conflict as in many cookie-cutter novels. Dialogue can hold your attention as you learn both sides of the issue. Example: John …
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