Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 99

My Dream Dinner Party

 Q: You’re having a dinner party. Which four authors living or dead do you invite?

-from Susan 

Every Sunday in the New York Times Book Review section, some famous writer is asked a version of this question and I read them avidly. I weight their lists and imagine conversations. Now that I have the chance, I’m almost paralyzed.

 

I realize that inviting Will Shakespeare could be awkward if someone asked him if the Earl of Oxford really did the writing? I could see a sword fight breaking out. Of cours...

Don't Talk To Me Like That

 by Abir

“Dialogue is often hard to do right,” he said. Give us your tips for writing killer dialogue.

‘Hi Alan.’ I said.

‘Oh, hello Abir. How are you?’ He replied.

‘I’m fine, Alan. Musn’t grumble. Erm, how’s the family?’ I asked.

‘They’re good,’ he said. ‘Surviving. 2021 eh? What a year.’ 

‘Tell me about it,’ I said. ‘Also, why are you staring out of that window?’ 

‘I am waiting for the bookshop delivery guy,’ he said. ‘He’s bringing me a dozen copies of your new book, called The Shadows of Men, that’...

Speaking of Dialogue… by James W. Ziskin

“Dialogue is often hard to do right,” he said. Give us your tips for writing killer dialogue.

1.) Don’t make dialogue “realistic.” Rather, make it “seem realistic.” People do not speak in complete sentences. They often express themselves in an incoherent manner. They correct themselves, start over, get frustrated, and give up. Or they run on and on, talking as if they’re being paid by the word. Find a happy medium between Shakespeare’s dialogue (one speaker at a time, reeling off wonderfully cons...

Putting words in their mouths

“Dialogue is often hard to do right,” he said. Give us your tips for writing killer dialogue.

by Dietrich

I love writing dialogue, something that really brings the characters to life, revealing personality, and making them believable. Good dialogue can make a reader laugh or cry. Bad dialogue can too, but for different reasons.

I like to read aloud the exchanges between characters. Their words can be quippy, evasive, insinuating, funny, or even blatant lies. The only thing dialogue can’t be is bori...

What Did You Say?

 

Terry Shames here, with my tips for writing good dialogue. Every writer has aspects of craft that come naturally, and some they struggle with. Some writers make settings come alive with lyric prose. Others have an ability to get to the heart of their characters, through back story or narrative and still others do killer plots (pun intended). Dialogue can help with all of those. It helps the reader understand characters, further the plot, and even bring the setting to life. 
 For me, dialogue has...

Killing the Dialogue

"Dialogue is often hard to do right," he said. Give us your tips for writing killer dialogue.

 Brenda Chapman at the keyboard.

Writing killer dialogue is one of those skills that takes time and practice to perfect. One of the best bits of advice I ever received came from my friend and fellow Ottawa author, Mary Jane Maffini. She was giving a workshop on dialogue and said, "Leave out the usual bits of everyday conversation and pare down to the essential." In other words, don't have your characters ...

Evidence of My Duffusness - by Josh Stallings

 Q: Cringe – Is there any of your published writing that you’re not particularly proud of any more?

“No book is ever finished, it is ultimately abandoned.” Either Anaïs Nin or Gore Vidal or maybe Jean Cocteau said that, history is murky as to its author. Many years ago I heard it was George Lucas and about films not books, but it doesn’t matter who said it, it stuck in my memory, and I continue to feel its truth. There is always more that could be done with any creative work, but at some point yo...

Taking my Lumps, by Catriona

Cringe – Is there any of your published writing that you’re not particularly proud of any more? Give us an example of something you’ve written that made you cringe. Why does it make you feel that way and what have you learned since you wrote it?

There are two sides to this: the mistakes - mostly anachronisms - that will never stop bugging me but don't matter; and the decisions that I wouldn't make again but do matter. Here's one of the first and some of the other.

In Come To Harm I wrote a Japanes...

I am reviewing the situation... by Cathy Ace

Cringe – Is there any of your published writing that you’re not particularly proud of any more? Give us an example of something you’ve written that made you cringe. Why does it make you feel that way and what have you learned since you wrote it?

Okay – I’m just going to admit this is a dreadfully difficult question to answer. Why? To be honest I don’t go back and reread my books, unless I have to. I dare say I'm not the only author who'll admit they're heartily sick of a book by the time it’s pu...

No Looking Back (I Wish)

Cringe – Is there any of your published writing that you’re not particularly proud of any more? Give us an example of something you’ve written that made you cringe. Why does it make you feel that way and what have you learned since you wrote it?

From Frank

Cringe?

Strong verb, that.

A lot of us on this panel (perhaps all) have been writing a long time. My first novel was published in 2006. So, yes, when I look back at passages from that or other books written in the time surrounding it, I see things...