Oops, I've gotten caught up in my CASA/LSAT studies and have once again fallen behind in my weekly helpful site postings.
Forgive me? ;-)
I've decided to dedicate this post to helpful tips on writing dialogue. I've read books where I could hear the characters speaking in my mind (Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Saga is top of that list. Hot guys with Scottish accents - need I say more?). And I've also read books where the dialogue is so stilted and/or outdated for the storyline it made me cringe (ok, maybe I didn't actually finish them). Writing realistic, engaging dialogue takes practice and intuition as well as an "ear" for it. In short, it's a skill that doesn't come easily for most. Yet fear not - help has arrived. :-)
First, some tips on writing dialogue from one of the most popular middle grade authors in the world - Rick Riordan of Percy Jackson and the Olympians fame. As any good author should, he keeps his advice short and to the point. Riordan has an entire section of advice for aspiring writers, including some information on how to navigate the wiles of the road to publication. His advice is sound, and at times stark, but well worth perusing.
The next site, AutoCrit.com, is not only a good resource for dialogue tips but on writing tips in general - the left sidebar has a variety of topics to choose from. However, for the purposes of this week's topic, check out two articles by Sandy Tritt - Avoid Creative Dialogue Tag Syndrome and its sequel, Breathing Life into Dialogue.
So, for those of you striving to find the delicate balance between realistic dialogue and mind-numbing tyrades that make your readers' eye glaze over - read on. ;-)
2 comments:
I still haven't read the Outlander series even though I keep meaning to. I'll get round to it one of these days.
Jai
Those look like good sites. Thanks for sharing.
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