Dialogue Masterclass

December 16, 2009 in Revision | 17 comments

I feel like you’re all pretty thoroughly sick of me by the midpoint of Revision-o-Rama, and rightfully so. I’ve been blabbing my mouth off for quite some time. So instead of bloviating about dialogue, I’ll let writers who actually write excellent dialogue do it for me! (I’ll also compile a link or two from what I’ve previously written on the subject… anything new I try to write will start to feel redundant and, as we all know, redundancy is one big thing to get rid of during revision!)

Without further ado, I present some excellent thoughts on dialogue!

A lot of tips on writing dialogue can still apply as tips on revising dialogue. If anyone has great posts from other blogs that I’m missing (and there are a lot, I’d wager), leave them in the comments and I’ll add them to the list so that this can become a resource for the future.

Related posts:

  1. Tag, You’re It! How To Write Excellent Dialogue Tags
  2. The Name Game
  3. Revision Is a State of Mind
  4. How Much Revision Is Normal?

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  1. Deb’s avatar

    Deb on December 16, 2009 at 8:09 am

    Keep on blabbing. Love what you are doing this month! I’m going to add this link:

    http://www.darcypattison.com/revision/novel-diagnosis-dialogue/

    It may be a repeat of what is in the links you shared (off to work, going to read them later)-I like the suggestion Darcy has of getting two people to read your dialogue out loud, if possible. Plus her example is great…

    Happy Holidays!

  2. Susan James’s avatar

    Susan James on December 16, 2009 at 8:21 am

    I agree with Deb. I’m not sick of you at all. The posts have been very helpful.

  4. Anna’s avatar

    Anna on December 16, 2009 at 9:37 am

    I’ve been really enjoying your posts. Keep ‘em coming! :-)

  5. Melissa’s avatar

    Melissa on December 16, 2009 at 10:22 am

    I’m definitely not sick of you either. Thanks so much for the list of resources. It’ll be fun to read through them all.

    Melissa

  6. Lindsey Himmler’s avatar

    Lindsey Himmler on December 16, 2009 at 10:42 am

    Thank you for the links! I love finding new posts and writers to follow!

  7. Siski Green’s avatar

    Siski Green on December 16, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    There is a lot of verbal diarrhea in cyberspace but your website is sparkly clean! Thanks for these great links, they sent me off on a journey through several sites I’d not come across before. Now I just need some time to digest the information I found (and stop typing before this metaphor gets any yuckier).

  8. bjanderson’s avatar

    bjanderson on December 16, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Thanks for the links! I’m running over to check them out now.

  9. Kristi’s avatar

    Kristi on December 16, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    Great post, great links. Thanks.

  10. Christina’s avatar

    Christina on December 16, 2009 at 10:46 pm

    Keep it up. I look forward to reading your posts.

  11. Anita’s avatar

    Anita on December 17, 2009 at 5:37 am

    Seriously, you’ve been a huge help! Can’t wait to check out the links. Happy Holidays!

  12. Stina’s avatar

    Stina on December 17, 2009 at 8:38 am

    Great post! Thanks for the links. I love writing dialogue. I just wish in real life I was as witty and quick as some of my characters.

  13. Ashley Cook’s avatar

    Ashley Cook on December 17, 2009 at 10:38 am

    I love your posts! they are so helpful to me right now since I’m in the final stage of editing my YA mystery novel. Thanks so much : )

  14. Lynn Rush’s avatar

    Lynn Rush on December 17, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Sweet. Thanks for the links. I’m big into dialogue and love books with smart and snappy dialogue. Great posts. Lovin’ the series.

    Merry Christmas.

  15. Jackee’s avatar

    Jackee on December 17, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Most (good) writing and publishing advice is redundant. I just like the way you put it–succinct and fun. So please, keep it up.

    And have a great holiday season!

  16. Mary’s avatar

    Mary on December 17, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    All — Aww, thanks for the kind words! I really wasn’t having a moment or fishing for compliments, but they’re nice to hear. :) Glad you’re enjoying Revision-o-Rama!

  17. Karen Cioffi’s avatar

    Karen Cioffi on December 18, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    Great articles; thanks for the links.

    It’s a fine line between too much dialogue and too much description.