Resources for Writers
Writing Dialogue
Period Speech and Dialogue in Historical Fiction: Blood’s Game by Angus Donald
One of the great joys of writing Blood’s Game, the first book in my new swashbuckling 17th-century series, was having access to the language of the time. This was an...
Dialogue: The Art of Keeping it On Point by Helen Fields
Crime writing lives or dies on the quality of its dialogue. It’s actually easier to forgive bad dialogue on TV or at the cinema because your senses have other things...
When More is Too Much: Family Business by Muriel Bolger
It is said that you can tell whether a book is going to be any good after the first eight or nine pages. And I have to agree you usually...
Just Listen: Writing Dialogue by Ann O’Loughlin
Just listen. Dialogue is one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s tool box, but to get it right you first have to do a lot of listening. Tune...
Writing Dialogue: The Battle of Conversation by Liz Lawlor
Happy Talkie, Talkie, Happy Talk. . . This is what I’m singing in my head as I begin to write about dialogue and dialogue, I do believe, is something that...
Dialogue: Say, Say, Say What You Want, Although …by Hannah McKinnon
Most writers would agree they love interacting with other writers. After all, who understands the trials, tribulations, crippling self-doubt and (at times elusive) euphoria better than a fellow author? But...
He Said, She Said; Sarah Webb’s 10 Tips on Dialogue
I love writing dialogue and it’s only taken me fifteen years to nail it! My first novel was called Three Times a Lady and it was published in 2000. The...
Writing Killer Dialogue by Louise Phillips
Many of us make the mistake of thinking that because we use dialogue every day, it should be easy to recreate. One of the things I learned early on was...
Mark O’Sullivan On Dialogue
There’s a growing consensus these days in the neuromusicological world that music is about anticipation. The well-worked composition, whatever the style or genre, satisfies the listener’s expectations for onward momentum,...
Getting the Words Right: Maria Duffy on Dialogue and The Letter
One of the things we’re renowned for here in Ireland is our chattiness. Give us a pot of tea (or bottle of wine), sit us down together and we’re off. ...
