Let’s Talk

“Never use a verb other ‘said’ to carry dialogue.”

“Never use an adverb to modify the verb ‘said.’”

—Elmore Leonard

Dialogue can be tricky in any kind of writing. Done well and your characters come to life, your reader is thrust in the midst of the scene. It can give momentum to your narrative and set tone. Done poorly and…the list of sins is so very long. Today’s writing exercise is meant to strengthen your dialogue-writing muscles.

Construct (or reconstruct) a scene from your current manuscript entirely out of dialogue. Only allow yourself a few words for set up, pauses, or important shifts in scene (my terribly mean goal here is to force you to insert breaks so you have to figure out how to restart the dialogue). Can you capture the different characters or subjects without the luxury of description? Can you make the conversation feel real and alive when it’s the whole narrative? I leave it to you to decide if you want to heed Mr. Leonard’s advice.