One way of understanding the place of dialogue in stories is by imagining a book that is entirely narrative. Another way of understanding the place of dialogue in stories is by imagining a book that is entirely dialogue. The artistry of dialogue doesn’t rest so much within the binary of good writing versus bad writing as it does within the binary of useful and not useful.

A story is a journey from point A to point B. And dialogue is such a dynamic aspect of storytelling that sometimes it is the vehicle we travel in and other times dialogue is the road we travel upon. Dialogue is both what is said and unsaid between characters. The building of a world as well as the inhabiting of it. And most frustratingly, strong dialogue can be outrageously subjective, cultural, and elusive. In this online class, Exploring Dialogue, we’ll examine samples of dialogue and discuss what does and doesn’t work, share our own experiences with writing dialogue, and consider popular lists of “do’s” and “don’ts” when trying to write effective dialogue and the pieces of advice from popular authors.