The one that taught about talking

Book:  Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella

Version: Paperback – Primarily because this was one of my very first craftbooks, and thus I bought it before ebooks existed.

Description:  The title is pretty self-explanatory. The book breaks down dialogue into the elements that work and don’t work. It covers everything from dialects to dialogue tags, to rhythm, to tension.

When I use:  This is the book that really taught me how to stop writing stilted conversations and move over to more natural, tension filled conversations.  It really was a game changer.  I don’t use it as much anymore, but I still use the exercises, especially the five-word-only conversations (Chapter 4: Compression).  Nothing gets things moving on the page better than forcing a conversation down to the bare bones!