Creative Writing — Working Undercover

In writing (as in life?) the most interesting things are usually what lie just beneath the surface.  It’s the stuff you glimpse, that you have to work for in order to reach.  Anything that’s handed to you on a plate can feel as if it’s not...

It Ain’t What You Say…

…it’s the way that you say it, as the song says, and in this instance, the song is right.  To prove this to yourself, write a passage of dialogue between two people.  Keep the speech as neutral as you can and then inflect it with meaning by...

A Question of Attribution

When you’re writing dialogue, it’s easy to get bogged down in a he said / she said / he said / she said riff and although it can sometimes be used to stylistic effect, as with everything else, variety is the spice of life.  Here are a few ideas which...

It Ain’t What You Say, It’s The Way That You Say It…

Dialogue is fun – I really enjoy writing it.  It offers a chance to change tempo, it is more relaxed and, well, conversational than descriptive prose.  It is quick to do, you can be funny or dramatic and it’s a great way of really getting to...

F. Scott Fitzgerald (Did Somebody Say Something?)

As well as writing The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night, Scott Fitzgerald demonstrated his all-round brilliance with the following quotation:”One of the privileges of dialogue is silence.”This is deliciously counter-intuitive, because when you think...