The Art of Storytelling

January 11, 2010 on 4:11 am | By | In Reference | Comments Off

A tale without dialogue is a weak form of storytelling. Dialogue is one of the truly effective ways to develop a scene and reveal character. Most kinds of writing will accommodate—and be enhanced by—some dialogue. As Anne Lamott writes in Bird by Bird: “Dialogue is the way to nail character . . . In the right hands, dialogue can move things along in a way that will leave you breathless.” In other words, what your character says . . . says a lot about your character. Moreover, dialogue offers readers a break from your narrator. Narration tends to tell; dialogue tends to show.

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