Part
Dialogue
You might say: speech, conversation
What characters say to each other. Burroway: good dialogue reveals character, gives information, creates conflict and moves the story on.
- What it does
- Becomes action when the conversation can change something.
- Ask
- What does each speaker want from this exchange?
- Trouble
- Characters tell each other things they both already know.
What to look for
- Words that reveal character or information
- A conversation that creates conflict or moves the story
Parts
- Dialogue tags: The words that show who is speaking.
Sources
- Lee Child, Writing Popular Fiction, course notes PDF
The exchange propels the chapter, characterises Reacher, and does all the things it should do
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Dialogue" (dialogue) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
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