Hannah asked Carol Goodman:

Firstly I thought your book was fantastic. Question one: Whats your process for creating successful dialogue that intrigues the reader? I want to write a book, but hewn it comes to dialogue, I dont know, it makes it weird, if that makes sense. Question two: What was your inspiration?

Carol Goodman Hi Hannah, Thank you for your kind words about my book (Blythewood?). Dialogue is tricky. I try to hear it in my head and read it aloud. I try to listen to people around me and notice the rhythms of real speech. I notice when dialogue is done well in other people's books and look at how they do it. For the characters in the Blythewood books I had to think about what people in 1911-1914 would sound like. I didn't want their speech to be too stilted, but I thought they'd be a little more formal then teenagers today. I tried not to use words they wouldn't know then. But mostly I tried to get to know my characters well enough that I could imagine what they would say next. Just keep trying it. It takes practice. Good luck!

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