Part of Series
Do you want to write fast-paced, exciting, sizzling dialogue? This book reveals professional dialogue technique to characterise the speaker, carry the plot forward and entertain your readers. This is not a beginner's guide. I assume that you have mastered the basics of fiction writing, and you don't need an explanation what dialogue is and why it matters for your story. But your dialogue isn't as strong as your story deserves. Perhaps it drags, perhaps the characters all sound the same, and perhaps it lacks tension, wit or sparkle. I'll offer you a toolbox filled with techniques. These are not 'rules' every writer must follow, but tricks you can try. Pick, mix and match them to suit your characters and your story. Some of these tools work for all kinds of dialogue, others solve specific problems - how to create male and female voices, how to present foreign languages and accents, how to present historical dialogue and flirtatious banter, how to write dialogue for alpha characters, for children and for liars. I suggest you read once through the whole book to discover the tools in this kit, then return to the specific chapters which address the challenges of your current project. You can apply the techniques to write new dialogue scenes, or to revise sections you've already written. When revising, you may want to compare the 'before' and 'after' versions. You'll be amazed how your dialogue scenes come to life. I won't weigh this book down with literary theory. Sometimes I'll use examples - mostly from my own books, for copyright reasons - but in essence, this is about your writing, your stories, your dialogue. If you like you can use this book as an advanced dialogue writing course, working your way through each chapter, doing the exercises in the chapter and the assignments at the end of each chapter. or you can simply read the whole book to get a feel for what's in it, then choose the techniques you want to study and apply for the chapter you want to write or revise.
Author
Rayne Hall writes fantasy and horror fiction, some of it quirky, most of it dark. She is the author of over sixty books in different genres and under different pen names, published by twelve publishers in six countries, translated into several languages. Her short stories have been published in magazines, e-zines and anthologies. After living in Germany, China, Mongolia and Nepal, she has settled in a small Victorian seaside town in southern England. Rayne holds a college degree in publishing management and a masters degree in creative writing. Over three decades, she has worked in the publishing industry as a trainee, investigative journalist, feature writer, magazine editor, production editor, page designer, concept editor for non-fiction book series, anthology editor, editorial consultant and more. Outside publishing, she worked as a museum guide, apple picker, tarot reader, adult education teacher, trade fair hostess, translator and belly dancer. Currently, Rayne Hall writes fantasy and horror fiction and tries to regain the rights to her out-of-print books so she can republish them as e-books. Her books on the writing craft (Writing Fight Scenes, Writing Scary Scenes, The Word-Loss Diet, Writing Dark Stories, Writing About Villains, Writing Short Stories to Promote Your Novel, Writing About Magic, Twitter for Writers) are bestsellers. Rayne Hall is the editor of the Ten Tales anthologies: "Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires" "Scared: Ten Tales of Horror" "Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts" "Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates" "Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft" "Spells: Ten Tales of Magic" "Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies" "Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance" "Dragon: Ten Tales of Fiery Beasts" "Cogwheels: Ten Tales of Steampunk" with more titles coming soon. The stories in her Six Scary Tales series and the Thirty Scary Tales collection are subtle horror: suspenseful, creepy atmospheric, unsettling. Although they contain little violence and gore, they may not be suitable for young readers. Many of these stories have been previously published in other books or magazines. British English: All Rayne Hall's books use British words, spellings, grammar and punctuation. If you're allergic to British English, avoid them. ;-) Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/boqJzD Website: http://sites.google.com/site/raynehal... YouTube "Ten Random Facts about Rayne Hall" (2 minute video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXR4T... Contact Rayne Hall on Twitter @RayneHall follows back writers and readers. http://twitter.com/RayneHall
