If I had to describe myself, it would be in a word that has many meanings with a complexity which falls off the tongue.
A word made up of many elements, is deceptive in appearance, and creates an illusion from the imagination.
My word would be Phantasmagoric. ~Summer Ross

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Writer Conference continued

As promised here is more from the Writers conference I attended. 

Pam Houston said "Don't waste the reader's time." Compress your piece as tight as possible. 

Her advice on dialogue (and note this is her own experience and advice) 
* Use dialogue to show character.
* Use Dialogue to create tension.

She said that your agenda should be to engage the reader by keeping dialogue on the verge of understanding. Every relationship has its own dialogue rules. Couples speak differently to each other than they do to family or close friends. 

This distinction should be made in your writing. For example people who have been married for five years will have baggage in their dialogue- hence fighting over toilet paper, when really they are fighting over some underlying meaning- something different than what they say. This is the kind of tension dialogue should strive for. 

Another writing exercise she gave was to create a story that is compromised of a list in some way.

I will be reading one of her books and writing a review on this blog for it in a couple of weeks- be on the watch for it.

Happy writing!

7 comments:

Jules said...

Yeah I had that dialog about toilet paper just the other day... with the lady who used it all. :)

Stopping by to say hello!
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Angela said...

Dialogue is hard, huh? I'm hoping if I keeping working at it that one of these days it will get easier.

Cherie Reich said...

Such great advice, Summer! It sounds like you learned a lot at the Conference. :)

Stina said...

Oh, is that why my husband and I fight over the toilet paper. :)

Great post, Summer.

Old Kitty said...

Thanks for the very helpful writerly info! Take care
x

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I like using dialogue to do that!

Bethany Elizabeth said...

Dialogue can be super frustrating. :( Great post, though!

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