Agile Writers Conference

It's only 12 days until the Agile Writers Conference, being held at the Holiday Inn at the Richmond Airport.

Agile Writers helps beginning writers create their first-draft novel, memoir, autobiography, or screenplay. I will be giving the seminar on The Importance of Dialogue.

Here is my description:

The spoken word preceded the written word. It is possible to write a story – at least at short lengths – in all dialogue. Man’s first storytellers regaling colleagues around a campfire used dialogue, and when the story was passed along, it became all dialogue – until it was written down after writing was invented.

The skills needed to listen and study dialogue will be reviewed, as well as the best ways to train your listening skills.

Participants will learn:

The difference between dialogue and simply using a transcript.

Things to avoid, such as excessive slang or phonetic spelling; and/or when to use them (sparingly).

Dialogue style to drive the plot, such as by showing social class or background.

When a paraphrase will do better than a direct quote.

How to avoid info dumps (“As you know, Bob.”

How to make dialogue sound realistic.

How to train your dialogue skills (Hint: Sit in on a trial).

The various points of view and how they related to dialogue (First Person, Second Person, Omniscient).

The related subject of internal dialogue, and train of thought.

Tricks you can use with dialogue (such as when the narrator knows less than the reader).

Here is a link so you can sign up.