How to Write Dazzling Dialogue: The Fastest Way to Improve Any Manuscript

Most of this I already knew, but there were a couple sections on writing dialogue I had not considered. It was worth a read.

I listened to this audiobook twice and will give it a third listen. It’s absolutely full of good advice and is easy to listen to.

I enjoyed reading/listening to this book. I plan on reading it again with a notebook next to me for note-taking.It gave many ideas for my menior.

This book offers a few great tips, exercises, and ideas. Overall I’m glad I picked it up. But I feel a bit like we weren’t let in on the deeper secrets; that somehow how more elevating ideas were left off the page. Yes, I’m glad I read it, but I wish there were more - or at least I come away feeling like there was more, we just weren’t privy.Like writing itself, dialog is a skill, but also an intuitive exercise. For some it seems to come naturally (I can only imagine the inside of Aaron Sorkin’s mind) flowing like water over the falls, while for others, work, practice, and skills come in handy, but are earned. Some will take their work, effort, and accumulated knowledge and develop their skills to workable, even admirable levels. Others still can only beat out words with blood, sweat, and tears the vehicle on while they are delivered.In reading this book I felt as if it were the basics and we’d get to a higher level, eventually.But we never got there.Again, I am glad I got it, have it for future reference, but I come away feeling not completely wowed nor guided. Writing and writing dialog come to each of us differently. This was a nice step along the path of professional development.

This book changed the way that I view dialogue in fiction. The examples he gives are great. I would recommend this book to any fiction writer.

I am writing this from the perspective of a fairly new author.This book had some very useful tips. In particular, I found many good pointers in the chapter talking about how to actually structure dialogue as far as punctuation and attribution goes. Other chapters were not incredibly useful for me. It seemed that the book was aimed towards a certain genre, which is fine, but it was not the genre that I enjoy. That is, the dialogue proposed by the author seemed to fit best in literature and general fiction, and not the science fiction and fantasy that I enjoy reading and writing. I found myself disagreeing with the author at several points about what sounded good and what did not. As with any sort of writing tips, you will need to take the writer's tips with a grain of salt and apply them as they fit your own style rather than seeing them as hard-set rules. With that in mind, this book helped me to iron out many flaws in my dialogue that I noticed but could not quite put my finger on.I give this book four stars because I found much of its content useful while at the same time finding much of the content unimportant or unhelpful. It is a short read, and I would recommend it, especially if you write in the same genre as the author. For science fiction and fantasy writers, I feel that it will be less useful, but I cannot recommend an alternative that is any better.

I have two bookshelves of writing craft books. This doesn't include the shelf with my dictionaries, style manuals, thesauri, and grammar books. I've also taken many writing classes. I've made a conscious effort in the past couple of years to not take any more classes, not buy any more books because most of them don't have anything new to teach me.This book is different.It's really a booklet or pamphlet, not a whole book, but it focuses specifically on writing dialogue and goes deeper than most general books. James Scott Bell provides specific techniques for adding tension to dialogue, for avoiding the boring chit-chat while still keeping the essentials of what you want your characters to say. There are several suggestions for exercises you can try to improve the way you write dialogue, some of which were new-to-me. With the number of writing books I've read, I'd assume they would be new to others as well.It does include most of the standard advice for writing dialogue as well, but Bell was smart enough to put this at the back rather than the beginning where it might make the reader assume you were just getting tips you already knew.Most of all, I like the tone of this book. It doesn't present the information as rules you must follow. Instead, it says these are things I've learned about dialogue, things you might want to incorporate in what you do when you write it, but if you want to do something different, that's okay, too. That's very refreshing to see in a writing craft book.

I write a lot of reviews and also write pulp fiction.So, I look at books a wee bit differently than mostother readers do.I don't give 5 stars, because people tend to skip over them,and read the 3-4 star reviews, for reasons you can probably figure out. I gave, How to Write Dazzling Dialogue, 4 stars for the wayMr. Bell packed this relatively short book with page after pageof usable information. Character dialogue will indeed change your story into onethat will grab and keep a reader's attention.And, yes, it is fun to experiment with each character's "voice". Don't have any of your characters say things like: "How do youdo Mrs. Why--lie. No tea or coffee for me, thanks." If they come remotely close to that, you need this book, yesterday. Unless, your character is a half crazy mountain man.See, the fun you can have when you create different voices? Mr. Bell will show you how to make your character's soundreal.

As an author, I am always being asked tips on writing: 'How to make a story more gripping?', 'How to keep the reader on the edge of their seats? 'How to write prose that flows?'I advise those people, often when I'm taking a coffee break from writing my stuff, to include and improve their story's dialogue.Jame Scott Bell's book 'How to write dazzling dialogue- the fastest way to improve any manuscript' is an excellent and enjoyable book that will improve ANY writers dialogue skills.Not only do I recommend it to those people who ask me for advice, but I also dip in and out of the book for some helpful reminders on spicing up the 'chat' in my writing.I have turned the corners on many of the pages (even though I was taught as a child NEVER TO DO THIS), but one page, in particular, keeps me coming back: page 84, 'Don't Forget about silene,'. Brilliant. I applied this trick immediately in my own novel.

I want to first commend the author for not inflating this book into a massive tome, which is the way many instructional books are these days. I was able to get the benefits with minimal time, I really appreciate that, because as any writer would agree, there are still so many books that need reading.The information was given in a light hearted, humorous and non-judgemental way. I think Mr. Bell would have been the best kind of teacher, supportive, gently prodding, firm and concise.My one gripe would be the examples used are somewhat dated and perhaps slightly too American White Male. There are so many other diverse and scintillating examples out there. I think that it's important to update the book for what readers are reading nowadays because that is what publishers are looking for as well. The single piece of advice that I get from publishers is read what is being published NOW. e.g. The Hate U GiveAll in all a highly effective and efficient book to read for improving your dialogue skills.

This is a great book on the art of writing but one minor comment.I am an Englishman and the saying, "Don't get your knickers in a twist" is not exactly as Americans think of it. Knickers are not knickers as you know knickers. In England "knickers" refers to ladies underwear but the term is used often to refer to all underwear. So, the saying means, "don't get your underwear in a twist." I believe that most modern humans wear underwear, not the short pants of Americans - and, by the way, "pants" in England also refers to underwear.

Having read a couple of his other books on writing I was surprised to find that this was a much slimmer tome than the others- however- I discovered that contained within the 132 pages was nugget after nugget of pure gold. JSB really is a good writer is his own right and he knows his stuff.Beware! Books that are about the craft of writing that are written suspiciously by otherwise unpublished authors. This is a wonderful book I heartily recommend.

This book is a life saver, it doesn't just go into ideas for dialogue but WHY dialogue occurs (every conversation ever is based on conflict, what does that person want from you and how are they going to get it), how to keep dialogue from going stale and when to use it and when not too. I have several books on dialogue including Robert Mckee's but i found this book easier to digest and Robert Mckee's has wrote bulky and bloated paragraphs on something that can be easily summarised in this book. Get this book .