Morgan Talty

A Crash Course on Using Dialogue. Or, how to avoid “Hi, how are you?” / “I’m fine, thanks. And yourself?” / “Just wonderful.” / “That’s great to hear. Have a nice day.” / “You as well!”

Wednesday, June 21, 2023 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Morgan Talty

“Don’t ever start a story with dialogue,” an undergraduate professor once said to me in workshop. I didn’t listen to him, and the revision I submitted began with the very dialogue he encouraged me to move. Was he right? Should I have not started my piece with dialogue? 

Yes and no.

Dialogue is an important part of storytelling, yet so many writers either shy away from it or overindulge in it in such a way that it either impedes a story’s narrative momentum or comes across as too “unrealistic.” In this seminar, we will examine writers whose use of dialogue is masterful, in order to strengthen our understanding of dialogue, particularly when and how to use it. After exploring the “rules” that tend to dictate dialogue’s usage, we will then put our discoveries to the test by revising our own work. 

*Please bring to this seminar a one-to-two-page excerpt of your own writing with or without dialogue.

Required Reading (in Reader):

Backer, Andy. Bread. 25 Ten-Minute Plays From The Actors Theater of Louisville, edited by 

Beaver, Jim, et al., Samuel French Inc Plays, 1985, pp. 20-23.

Carver, Raymond. “Put Yourself in My Shoes.” Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, 

McGraw-Hill, 1976, pp. 94-112.

Sedaris, David. “Jesus Shaves.” Me Talk Pretty One Day, Little, Brown and Company, 2000.