‘Lots of people really enjoy writing dialogue.’
‘And people love reading it.’
‘It’s hard to get it right though, isn’t it?’
‘Begorrah, it is, to be sure.’
‘For instance, in attempting to give someone an accent, you can fall into embarrassing stereotypes.’
‘Some writers allow the dialogue tag to carry more weight than the actual dialogue,’ she yelled furiously.
‘And others dump dull information into dialogue that either isn’t necessary or goes on far too long when dialogue should be short and snappy, you can’t write how people talk in real life or it comes out, er, like weird, uh, or something.’
‘I wish there was a weekend school where we could test out and hone our dialogue.’
Book your tickets for the improving dialogue workshop. It costs £40 for five hours' tuition.
The workshop will be led by Beth Miller. Beth is the author of six novels, including the bestselling The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright (2020). Her most recent novel, The Woman Who Came Back to Life (2022), will be published in seven languages. She has also published two non-fiction books about Shakespeare and the Archers. She is a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Brighton University and teaches creative writing at various places, including for Arvon.
The session will run from 10-4pm in central Brighton with an hour for lunch. The venue is wheelchair accessible and a three-minute walk to St James' Street with its array of shops and eateries. There are also coffee and tea making facilities at the venue, together with a fridge and microwave if you want to bring your own lunch. Book your ticket now.
The workshop is part of a series of four Weekend Schools held this autumn. They are open to existing students on the Creative Writing Programme and other writers looking to improve specific areas of their writing craft. Other workshops include:
• Friday 24th November: Creating Memorable Characters - Laura Wilkinson (in-person in Brighton) £40
• Saturday 25th November: Boosting your Creativity – Roy McFarlane – (in-person in Brighton) £40
• Sunday 3rd December: Imagery, Symbolism and Metaphor in Prose – John McCullough (online) £30
If you have any questions about this workshop, or any of the others, please email cathy@creativewritingprogramme.org.uk