11. Workshop #7 - Dialogue That Moves Us (Sheryl Dunn)

• Dialogue is more than the words the character says…it includes interior monologue, body language and setting.
• You’ve been recording dialogue on that flash drive in your brain since birth, yet when you put the character’s words on the page, they’re unnatural, stilted, even boring.
• What’s holding you back? It might be FEAR PARALYSIS.

Get your dialogue . . . and your novel . . . moving:

• Learn the basic do’s and don’t’s and say, “Goodnight” to ‘Good Mornings’ . . . and to your fear.
• Use body language to fill in the ‘Beats,’ increase conflict, and deepen your characters.
• Avoid ‘Cartoon Balloons’ by grounding your dialogue.
• Make your dialogue go somewhere important . . . and go there fast.
• Play ping-pong inside your Characters’ Cubes.
• Learn how people really talk . . . in a novel and in a movie.