Talk Pretty to Me: Writing Dialogue

Member price:$65
Deadline to Register: March 13, 11:59 pm

Instructor: Brian Wood

Elmore Leonard once said, “Think of what you skip reading a novel: thick paragraphs of prose you can see have too many words in them…. I’ll bet you don’t skip dialogue.” Perhaps because it’s so important, many writers find dialogue the most intimidating part of writing. Not any more. In this dialogue master class we’ll learn and practice the tools and techniques to make your dialogue sing. First, we’ll develop three tools to craft effective speech: sound, tags, and weight. Then, through in-class exercises and workshopping participants’ dialogue passages, you’ll learn to hone your dialogue until it’s pitch perfect. 

Recommended Bibliography:

• “Shut up!” He Explained by William Noble
• Any Elmore Leonard Novel

Brian Wood is the author of Joytime Killbox, a collection of stories published by BOA Editions. He has served as the Managing Editor of Reed Magazineand the Fiction Editor for POST. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University, and his work earned him a Ludwig Scholarship for Excellence in Creative Writing, as well as the James Phelan Award for Short Fiction and Familiar Essays. He lives in Rochester, NY, where he is the co-host of the Two Month Review podcast produced by Open Letter Press. He can be found on Twitter at @BrianWood_.