Last Updated
Oct 2024
Level
Students
Course includes:
Who is this course for?
Authors who write fiction and their characters talk to each other
Authors who want their readers to get invested in their characters
Authors who want clear, concise ways to truly make their dialogue more immersive
Overview
Your dialogue is what’s going to do the heavy lifting when it comes to getting readers invested in your characters. Give it all the resources it needs to get the job done, because that means saying goodbye to casual readers and hello to superfans.
You want readers who are eager for your next story and ready to put you on autobuy, right?
Right! And these tips and tricks are what will get you there. Your readers will love your work and start following you on social media, subscribing to your newsletter, and leaving rave reviews. The key to all those things is dialogue, and this course will help you take yours up a notch (several notches, in fact)!
What You'll Learn
The one action beat you can almost always get rid of and how to put it to work
How to fix redundant action beats that aren't doing your story any favors
How to tighten your dialogue and clarifying your speakers without overusing speech tags
What the heck a said-bookism is and more importantly how to give them the heave-ho!
How to eliminate unnecessary adverbs and stage direction
How to avoiding infodumps in your dialogue. Infodumps in dialogue are just as bad—sometimes worse!—as infodumps in narrative
How to use your dialogue to push the narrative forward rather than just throwing details at your reader
How to cut out filter words and which speech tags you can often cut out
Tricks to make your dialogue sound more natural
Dialogue mechanics
Course Content
Learn the lay of the land and where everything is in the course platform.
Quit worrying about how to punctuate dialogue and get this down pat. From speech tags to action beats, from ellipses to em dashes, we're going to cover it all, but quickly and painlessly. I promise.
Punctuation and format of speech tags.
Punctuation and format of action beats.
Punctuation and format of action beats and speech tags when you combine them.
The uses and format of the em dash.
The uses and format of the ellipsis.
There is one action beat that you can almost always get rid of, and I'd bet money that you have this slacker in your manuscript. Find out what it is and how to put it to work.
Speaking of slackers… Redundant action beats aren't doing your story any favors. Recognize where you can trim them out and make your story more immersive while you're at it.
It's never a good thing if your readers are wondering who's talking. But you can keep everyone on the same page (ha!) without overusing speech tags, and I'll show you how.
About the instructor
Anne Victory
You may be wondering why the hell you should listen to Anne Victory or what she could possibly teach you. That's fair. ???? Anne has been editing for over a decade. She edits for NY Times and USA Today best-selling authors, including Dannika Dark, Dianne Duvall, Elizabeth Hunter, Gena Showalter, Ilona Andrews, Lynn Raye Harris, Nalini Singh, and Thea Harrison. To date, she’s edited almost 500 books. Anne is also the cofounder of the Association of Independent Publishing Professionals. And, finally, she’s the chief cook and bottle washer for her husband, a boisterous spaniel who loves to wear dresses, two cats, and two birds.
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About the instructor
Anne Victory
You may be wondering why the hell you should listen to Anne Victory or what she could possibly teach you. That's fair. ???? Anne has been editing for over a decade. She edits for NY Times and USA Today best-selling authors, including Dannika Dark, Dianne Duvall, Elizabeth Hunter, Gena Showalter, Ilona Andrews, Lynn Raye Harris, Nalini Singh, and Thea Harrison. To date, she’s edited almost 500 books. Anne is also the cofounder of the Association of Independent Publishing Professionals. And, finally, she’s the chief cook and bottle washer for her husband, a boisterous spaniel who loves to wear dresses, two cats, and two birds.
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