405 Speaking of Dialogue: Finding the Right Voice for Each Character (ENGLISH)

Next to action, dialogue is the best way to reveal your characters’ personalities and intentions. Once they start speaking, we find out more about them and what they want, what they need and what they are willing to do to get it.In this 90-minute workshop, award-winning author Howard Shrier shows you how to give each character a unique voice that reflects their background, education, profession and situation. Drawing on his experience as the author of seven books of fiction hailed for their masterful dialogue Howard will show you how to write dialogue that sounds real and conveys emotion. He’ll also draw on his experience as a trained theater actor to share techniques used by playwrights and screenwriters who rely on dialogue to reveal character and move stories.You’ll learn how to avoid stagey dialogue and give each character a unique voice that reveals their personality, state of mind and intentions. You’ll consider every element that affects a person’s speech: their regional background, level of education and ethnicity; whether they are telling the truth or lying; getting to the point or stalling for time; drunk or sober; at rest or under stress; speaking to a friend or enemy, a superior or subordinate. You’ll discover ways to develop your ear for dialogue and test-drive the results. Exercises will help you see where your dialogue can improve and where it can replace exposition. You’ll come away with a better understanding of how your dialogue can come alive in every situation, no matter who is speaking.

Instructor

Howard Shrier