Making Dialogue Come Alive

 

In Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, who embarks on a hero’s journey armed only with her bow, arrows, and her wits, must survive a televised death match. However, in order for Katniss to truly triumph she must embody the type of female heroine: smart, tough as nails and yet compassionate, and do so in the face of the ultimate adversity – kill or be killed.

In one scene, when Katniss is interviewed about Peeta, her words build hope and incite a rush of emotions for our heroine.

“When he whispers…You love me, real or not real, I whisper. . .real.”

The audience feels the emotion in this scene because Katniss is smack-dab in the middle of a living nightmare and must find some semblance of sanity and a reason for hope. This small exchange reveals a lot about her character and the way she feels about Peeta.

In Gone With the Wind, Rhett tells Scarlet,“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” It’s a classic moment and one that is hard to match in any film. Lines like these are what turns a piece of fiction into an enduring classic that people remember for years to come.

In the Godfather, Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, in 1979, uttered the forthcoming line, and there probably isn’t an adult alive who doesn’t know it: “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” That one line is still as strong as it was 30+ years ago.

These are some of the lines that make movies epic. You should want as many of your lines as possible, such as lines that evoke great emotion, to be real. Dialogue is crucial to any kind of story. Bad dialogue can sink a movie and its characters like a hurricane, while good dialogue makes a story glide through the plot beats and into the hearts and minds of its captive audience.

This course is geared towards:

  • Novice writers who want to learn how to write original and interesting dialogue
  • Experienced writers who want a refresher on engaging speech between characters
  • Writers with a finished story or screenplay looking to ‘punch up’ their story

If these traits apply to you, this writing course can and will help you.

Writing great dialogue is tricky. In the Making Dialogue Come Alive Writing Course, you’ll learn to write dialogue that sounds like real life but is carefully constructed so that every line resonates and makes a point that might take much longer otherwise. One of the most important writing tricks to remember is that each line should have meaning, and this course is designed to teach you how to accomplish this.

Making Dialogue Come Alive Course Content

  • Tips on how to bring characters to life using precise and powerful dialogue
  • Discovering what dialogue is important and what can be cut
  • Tips on how to show character and personality in each line
  • Tips to shorten what you believe is important content
  • Lessons on how to recognize stereotypes and mistakes and revising stories with new and intriguing dialogue.
  • Tips on how to use profanity and slang sparingly (if not used correctly, these risk distracting or alienating your reader)
  • Lessons on how to keep your reader in the fictional world you’re creating

This is a cross-genre course, applicable to any kind of writing that contains dialogue, including fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

Goal of the Class

The skills acquired aren’t just useful for aspiring creative writers, script writers, poets screenwriters and authors; creative writing is a great skill to develop business and personal writing, along with communication skills and confidence. Learning to hone your craft will help leave a lasting impression that is important in all aspects of life, personal and business. At the end of this course, you will have written a few pages of dialogue based around key moments in any story, ready to be placed in a novel or screenplay.


Hello fellow writers,

Creative writing classes are not just about learning ways to get our ideas and stories on paper; they are instrumental in establishing a link to a community of writers.

Writers spend a lot of time alone. The best way to grow as a writer and not fall victim to blocks and isolation, as well as to build a support group, is to seek out others in the writing and creative arts community. We are a family of creative artists and we thrive in the synergistic environment of our peers.

I hope you will sign up for one of our creative writing courses and join our family. We look forward to meeting you!

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Class Schedule

Group Classes

Due to a Too Terribly Busy Schedule, these classes are not available until 2018.

$350 (members)         $550 non-members.
Wednesday nights      6:30-9pm    4 weeks

Individual Instruction

N/A at this time.

$700 (members)        $1,000 non-members
(arranged privately)                       4 weeks

On-going Class schedule for 2018 will be updated in the new year. To find out when these classes will be available, sign up for our mailing list.

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