Go On Your Own Quest — Week 5: Dialogue

The 2013 version of The Quest starts Week 5 today. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by because you can Go On Your Own Quest by following the structure of The Quest to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s a 24-week immersion in the screenwriting process and you can do it here — for free!

Plus you can join The Black Board, the Official Online Writing Community of the Black List and Go Into The Story, another free resource to help keep you inspired and on target at you Go On Your Own Quest from FADE IN to FADE OUT on the first draft of your original screenplay.

This week, we are reflecting on the subject of Dialogue, mirroring the content the Questers are engaged with in Core V: Dialogue, working through six lectures I have written building off the 5th Essential Screenwriting Principle: Dialogue = Purpose. The lectures: Introduction to Dialogue, Finding Your Character’s Voice (Inward Journey), Finding Your Character’s Voice (Outward Expression), Subtext, What Is Not Said, and Realistic Dialogue [Idioms, Slang, Contractions, Declination].

For those of you who plan to Go On Your Own Quest, we began our week-long discussion on Dialogue Monday asking this question: Do you ‘hear’ your characters ‘talking’ to you? You can read that discussion here. Tuesday’s question: Does dialogue come easily or hard to you? That discussion is here. Wednesday’s question: What tips do you have for writing subtext? Discussion here. Yesterday’s question: How is dialogue different than conversation? Discussion here. Today’s question:

* What is the best way to handle exposition in dialogue?

If you plan to participate in the Go On Your Own Quest challenge, you have 4 weeks before we move into the Prep part of the process. Time to start getting in touch with your characters and discovering each of their distinctive voices as reflected in dialogue.

If you’d like to access the same Core content as the writers participating in The Quest, I will be teaching Core V: Dialogue starting Monday, September 30. More information on that 1-week online class here.

Why wait? You can have immediate access to the content of all eight Core classes by signing up for The Core Package. This enables you to go through all of the Core lectures (48 total, each written by me), tips, techniques and optional writing exercises on a self-paced basis as well as take any of the 1-week classes as I offer them. Plus The Core Package offers a nearly 50% savings compared to if you took each Core class separately. For more information on this unique offer, go here.

Meanwhile I encourage you to head to comments to discuss today’s questions. And for a related discussion on The Black Board, check out these topics:

• Characters talking to themselves (are a bad exposition choice)
• Good dialogue vs bad dialogue
• Andromeda Strain: a great example of handling exposition
• Flame and Citron: a great example of burying exposition

For more information on Go On Your Own Quest, go here.

Onward!

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