Dialogue

Elements of Fiction Writing

by Lewis Turco

Dialogue is perhaps the most powerful element in fiction. Whether writing novels, short stories, or scripts, you will learn how to utilize dialogue to dramatize conflict, the most effective balance between dialogue and other story elements as well as the difference between effective dialogue and real speech.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Crafts, Research, Theory

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 1989

About the author

Lewis Putnam Turco was an American poet, teacher, and writer of fiction and non-fiction. Turco was an advocate for Formalist poetry (or New Formalism) in the United States.

Reviews

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book we learn how to write dialogue by reading dialogue. The author uses the Socratic dialogue with dialogue examples to demonstrate the difference between dialogue and real conversation. We learn formating, pace, dialect, narration, diction, theme, plot, atmosphere, tone, types of speech and genre dialogue. A good book for beginning writers.

[Nannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty decent.

I thought the book didn't really deliver what it promised on the cover (i.e. "How to get your characters talking to each other in a way that vividly reveals who they are, what they're doing, and what's coming next in your story"), even if it did have some useful information. Most of the formatting/grammatical issues that it covered I already knew about, which is why I didn't pick out a book on dialogue's structure and where to put quotation marks, etc.

I was very glad that it covered things like adverbs and unnecessary words that mark out a newbie writer. There were some concepts and issues very well-explained here, and I was grateful to have read this for those reasons, like how the use of dialect in dialogue has changed over time, and about what's acceptable nowadays. That was so interesting.

And I loved that that the book was written using dialogue. So clever! It was a bit unnerving at first, but I grew to love it, actually. I didn't like the book's slightly sexist tone, though, or its tendency to accentuate stereotypes--especially gender, cultural, and classist stereotypes. That's something you really shouldn't do in your writing . . . maybe he should've mentioned that. Or explained that the book was an example of that as well.

Anyway, it was interesting at times, but I don't think I'd necessarily recommend it.

[Justyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dialogue reads fast and so does this book. Written in Socratic dialogue, Turco and his fictional buddy Fred Foyle discuss dialogue. The book's five chapters cover: Definitions, speech in narration, diction, types of speech, and genre dialogue. The book didn't offer much than I already know aside from the occasional tidbit like British formatting using single quotes. I've learned more about dialogue from other writing books dealing with other elements of fiction, and online resources. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have no idea about how dialogue works or have a burning desire to read every single Writer's Digest book on Fiction Writing. As for dialogue tips: dialogue is conflict and serves more than one function.

[Susinok · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is written in dialogue, and bad dialogue at that. Not very helpful.

[DougInNC · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author creatively writes nearly the entire book in dialogue with a goal to explain writing dialogue for fiction. His goal is only loosely met.

Significant time is spent on aspects of story telling other than dialogue, such as subject, theme, narration, exhibition, scene setting, pacing, etc. Further, it seems that "explanation" is not the preponderance of this work when the focus is turned to dialogue. Some time is spent in idle chat between the characters conversing, which earns credit for creativity but does little to advance the craft for the reader. Meanwhile, a great deal of text consists of examples drawn from stories and books written by a range of writers, including some of the author's own work.

I believe a reader would grow more from a treatise on this topic that is less "showing" and more "telling." The methods employed in this book are akin to the challenges of some textbooks on algebra or geometry, which show that a problem can indeed be solved with those tools, but, "the proof is left to the reader."

The aspiring writer most likely to gain from this book would be one who is ready, willing, and able to carefully dissect each example and learn from detailed inspection of the components. The person wanting a quick reference will not find it here, in my humble opinion.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved that the entire book teaches how write dialogue by dialogue. Very entertaining and clear.

[pianogal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. Parts of this book were really helpful. Initially I thought having the whole book as a dialogue would be good, but it got annoying by the end. Especially b/c the author and his Foyle fought. A lot. Sigh. So annoying. I also agree with his editor that his examples were too long. We don't need 4 pages of someone else's story to illustrate one example about a dialogue.

[Devon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turco has plenty of solid advice on dialogue here, more than you can pick up from a generalized "how to write fiction" book. The written format is entirely in Socratic dialogue, which is a bit unusual...some thoughts on that:

PROS: The format makes it more entertaining and faster reading. There are plenty of examples of applying his lessons to dialogue, since the book is literally 100% dialogue.

CONS: About half the book is conversational filler, so in that sense it's not faster reading at all. The back-and-forth dialogue means you have to pay close attention to catch all of the author's advice, since he's working it into a conversation. In terms of usefulness as a reference on the bookshelf, the Socratic technique seems to obscure the author's lessons from quick skimming.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care for it. The whole thing was written as a Socratic dialogue between the author and his foil (named Fred Foyle). His editor plays a small role when she "visits" and tells him the whole idea is dumb and he should scrap it.

He should have listened.

It was painful and annoying to read. The author appeared more interested in being clever (and smarter than the reader) than actually trying to teach the reader how to be a better writer.

Pass this one by.

[Mark Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book on how to write dialogue, written in dialogue format. It was a novel idea that worked fairly well. My only reservation is that many of the examples were not clearly defined for me, and I found myself not quite getting the author's point. It is a very short book, and perhaps not the best book on dialogue out there.

[Kevin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't make it through more than 10 pages. The whole thing is written as a dialogue between the author and some fictional guy with questions about how to write dialogue. The gimmick just didn't work, and the failed attempts at humor and cleverness obscured whatever wisdom the author may have had to impart. I guess I'll have to keep looking for a good book on how to write dialogue.

[Hilary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible! The author attempts to explain how dialogue works... in the form od a book-length dialogue. Barf. Do not read this book. If I could give this book negative stars I would.

[David Fortier · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book on writing fiction. Apparently there are better ones out there. Still, helpful to a beginner.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older but very engaging guide to the basics of dialogue for beginning writers. Covers all the basics and for most that's enough. I enjoyed the Socratic dialogue approach to the text.

[Joel Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very short book, perfect to learn the basics of writing good fiction dialogue.

[Winston Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great informative book.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good reference

[Love of Hopeless Causes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creative how it's written as a giant dialogue, but I was hoping for a typical reference book.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the tone of the book so obnoxious that I didn't finish. Not at all helpful.

[Richard Skolek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly disappointing, especially when compared to other books from the "Elements of Fiction Writing" series - Plot, by Ansen Dibell, was awesome, for instance. But where others open your mind and inspire you, Turco just provides definitions. In an amusing and creative way, granted, but for a book on dialogue, it is certainly too little.

[Michael K.]

I always wanted to be a writer, of some sort. This is one of many books on the craft of writing that I read. Quite helpful and insightful in the piecing together a dialogue between people.

[Kaylee Condos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book. 🙂

[Cori Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun way to teach dialogue with dialogue!! It made it an interesting read for a technical book.

[Lada]

Turco thought it would be cute to deliver the material on how to write dialogue as dialogue, because if Plato did it, why not he? It was too irritating though.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hokey--the entire book is dialogue between the author, an imaginary character, and occasionally the author's editor--but quite effective.

[Valery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of weird to explain dialogue this way, but also kind of ingenious.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit dated and not a lot of information. There are better books and workshops out there. Find them.

[Sariah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of two characters talking about dialogue for the whole book. Also, just skip the first chapter or two. It's mostly uncessary definitions.

[Nizar · Rating 1 out of 5]

A really bad book. very messy and not enough examples. I felt lost and couldn't wait to put it down.

[P.G. Sundling · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would rate this as the least helpful writing book in my entire collection (about 40 books).