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    Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak
    Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak
    Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak
    Ebook158 pages1 hour

    Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak

    By WILLIAM BERNHARDT

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    About this ebook

    Dynamic dialogue can turn an otherwise ordinary novel into a delightful read, but dull, uninspired dialogue will cause readers to lose interest and try something else. In this book, bestselling author William Bernhardt, renowned for his handling of dialogue, explains his techniques for making characters come to life through their words. He explains the importance of matching character and dialogue, of avoiding dialogue that’s “on-the-nose,” and the value of using dialogue to suggest what no one will say aloud. Bernhardt explains how to enrich your story and quicken the pace with dramatic and clever dialogue exchanges, skillful use of dialogue beats, and subtext. The book also includes exercises designed to help writers apply these ideas to their own writing.

    William Bernhardt is the bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the blockbuster Ben Kincaid novels and Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness, currently in production as an NBC miniseries. Bernhardt is also one of the most sought-after writing instructors in the nation. He is the only person to have received the Southern Writers Gold Medal Award, the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award (U Penn) and the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award (OSU), which is given "in recognition of an outstanding body of work that has profoundly influenced the way in which we understand ourselves and American society at large."

    The Red Sneaker Writing Center is dedicated to helping writers achieve their literary goals. What is a red sneaker writer? A committed writer seeking useful instruction and guidance rather than obfuscation and attitude. Red sneakers get the job done and so do red sneaker writers, by paying close attention to their art and craft, committing to hard work, and never quitting. Are you a red sneaker writer? If so, this book is for you.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBabylon Books
    Release dateAug 10, 2017
    ISBN9780692337554
    Author

    WILLIAM BERNHARDT

    William Bernhardt (b. 1960), a former attorney, is a bestselling thriller author. Born in Oklahoma, he began writing as a child, submitting a poem about the Oklahoma Land Run to Highlights—and receiving his first rejection letter—when he was eleven years old. Twenty years later, he had his first success, with the publication of Primary Justice (1991), the first novel in the long-running Ben Kincaid series. The success of Primary Justice marked Bernhardt as a promising young talent, and he followed the book with seventeen more mysteries starring the idealistic defense attorney, including Murder One (2001) and Hate Crime (2004). Bernhardt’s other novels include Double Jeopardy (1995) and The Midnight Before Christmas (1998), a holiday-themed thriller. In 1999, Bernhardt founded Bernhardt Books (formerly HAWK Publishing Group) as a way to help boost the careers of struggling young writers. In addition to writing and publishing, Bernhardt teaches writing workshops around the country. He currently lives with his family in Oklahoma. 

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      Book preview

      Dynamic Dialogue - WILLIAM BERNHARDT

      Dynamic Dialogue

      Letting Your Story Speak

      Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak

      First Edition

      Copyright © 2014 William Bernhardt Writing

      Programs

      Published by Babylon Books

      ISBN: 978-0-692-33755-4

      All rights reserved

      No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without per-mission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

      Dynamic Dialogue

      Letting Your Story Speak

      William Bernhardt

      The Red Sneaker Writer Series

      Other Books by William Bernhardt

      The Red Sneaker Writer Series

      Story Structure: The Key to Successful Fiction

      Creating Character: Bringing Your Story to Life

      Perfect Plotting: Charting the Hero’s Journey

      Dynamic Dialogue: Letting Your Story Speak

      Powerful Premise: Writing the Irresistible

      Sizzling Style: Every Word Matters

      Excellent Editing: The Writing Process

      The Ben Kincaid Series

      Primary Justice

      Blind Justice

      Deadly Justice

      Perfect Justice

      Cruel Justice

      Naked Justice

      Extreme Justice

      Dark Justice

      Silent Justice

      Murder One

      Criminal Intent

      Hate Crime

      Death Row

      Capitol Murder

      Capitol Threat

      Capitol Conspiracy

      Capitol Offense

      Capitol Betrayal

      Justice Returns

      Other Novels

      The Code of Buddyhood

      Dark Eye

      The Midnight Before Christmas

      Final Round

      Double Jeopardy

      Strip Search

      Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness

      The Game Master

      Challengers of the Abyss

      Poetry

      The White Bird

      The Ocean’s Edge

      For Young Readers

      Equal Justice: The Courage of Ada Lois Sipuel (biography)

      Princess Alice and the Dreadful Dragon

      The Black Sentry

      Shine

      Edited by William Bernhardt

      Legal Briefs

      Natural Suspect

      Dedicated to all the Red Sneaker Writers:

      You can’t fail unless you quit.

      The world requires me to rewrite its wretched dialogue!

      Richard Greenberg

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Chapter One: Defining Dialogue

      Chapter Two: Dialogue Fundamentals

      Chapter Three: Dialogue Technique

      Chapter Four: Attributions

      Chapter Five: Dialogue Taboos

      Chapter Six: Dialogue Choreography

      Chapter Seven: Character Charisma

      Chapter Eight: Textured Dialogue

      Appendix A: Dialogue Checklist

      Appendix B: Subtext

      Appendix C: Dialogue Revision

      Appendix D: Commonly Confused Words

      Appendix E: Commonly Misspelled Words

      Appendix F: The Writer’s Reading List

      Note From the Author

      About the Author

      INTRODUCTION

      Welcome to the Red Sneaker Writers series. If you’ve read other Red Sneaker publications or attended Red Sneaker events, you can skip to Chapter One. If you’re new, let me take a moment to explain.

      I’ve been telling stories for many years, doing almost every kind of writing imaginable. I’ve been speaking at workshops and conferences almost as long. Every time I step behind the podium I see the same tableau staring back at me: long rows of talented people, most of whom have attended many of these events but are still frustrated by the fact that they haven’t sold any books. Yes, the market is tough and agents are hard to find and self-publishing can be frustrating. But when aspiring writers do the work, put it out there, but still don’t succeed…there’s usually a reason. Too often enormous potential is lost due to a lack of fundamental knowledge. Sometimes a little guidance is all that stands between an unknown writer and a satisfying writing career.

      I do my best to help at conferences, but the large auditorium/general information lecture is not terribly conducive to writing instruction. And sometimes the teaching I’ve heard offered is dubious at best. Too often speakers seemed more interested in appearing literary than in providing useful information. Sometimes I felt presenters did more to obfuscate the subject than to explain it, that they wanted to make writing as mysterious and incomprehensible as possible, either because that made them sound deeper or because they didn’t understand the subject themselves. How is that going to help anyone?

      After giving this some thought, I formulated the Red Sneaker Writing Center. Why Red Sneakers? Because I love my red sneakers. They’re practical, flexible, sturdy—and bursting with style and flair. In other words, exactly what I think writing instruction should be. Practical, flexible, resilient, useful, but still designed to unleash the creative spirit, to give the imagination a platform for creating wondrous work.

      I held the first Red Sneaker Writers conference in 2005. I invited the best speakers I knew, not only people who had published many books but people who could teach. Then I launched my small-group seminars—five intensive days with a handful of aspiring writers. This gave me the opportunity to read, edit, and work one-on-one with people so I could target their needs and make sure they got what would help them most. This approach worked extremely well and I’m proud to say a substantial number of writers have graduated from my seminars and placed work with major publishers. But I realized not everyone could attend my seminars. How could I help those people?

      This book, and the other books in this series, are designed to provide assistance to writers regardless of their location. The books are short, inexpensive, and targeted to specific areas where a writer might want help.

      Let me see if I can anticipate your questions:

      Why are these books so short? Because I’ve expunged the unnecessary and the unhelpful. I’ve pared it down to the essential information, practical and useful ideas that can improve the quality of your writing. Too many instructional books are padded with excerpts and repetition to fill word counts required by book contracts. That’s not the Red Sneaker way.

      Why are you writing so many different books instead of one big book? I encourage writers to commit to writing every day and to maintain a consistent writing schedule. You can read the Red Sneaker books without losing much writing time. In fact, each can be read in a single afternoon. Take one day off from your writing. Read and make notes in the margins. See if that doesn’t trigger ideas for improving your work.

      I bet it will. And the next day, you can get back to your work.

      You reference other books as examples, but you rarely quote excerpts from books (other than yours). Why?

      Two reasons. First, I’m trying to keep these books brief. I will cite a book as an example, and if you want to look up a particular passage, it’s easy enough to do. You don’t need me to cut and paste it for you. Second, if I quote from materials currently under copyright protection, I have to pay a fee, which means I’d need to raise the price of the books. I don’t want to do that. I think you can grasp my points without reading copyrighted excerpts. Too often, in my opinion, excessive excerpting in writing books is done to pad the page count.

      Why does each chapter end with exercises?

      The exercises are a completely integrated and essential part of this book, designed to simulate part of what happens in my small-group seminars. Samuel Johnson was correct when he wrote: Scribendo disces scribere. Meaning: You learn to write by writing. I can gab on and on, but these principles won’t be concretized in your brain until you put them into practice.

      So get the full benefit from this book. Take the time to complete the exercises. If you were in my seminar, this would be your homework. I won’t be hovering over your shoulder when you read this book—but you should do the exercises anyway.

      What else does the Red Sneaker Writers Center do?

      I send out a free e-newsletter filled with writing advice, market analysis, and other items of interest. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, then please visit: http://www.williambernhardt.com/red_sneaker_wc/. We hold an annual writing conference with a specific focus: providing the information you need to succeed. I lead small-group seminars every summer.

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