Creative Writing: Dialogue

Creating good dialogue is one of the hardest skills in fiction writing. It has to feel natural, even though it’s artificial. It has to sound like people talking, while still being cleaner, sharper, and more purposeful than real speech. In this practical, hands-on workshop, Iain McKinnon breaks down what dialogue is really doing in a story — and how to make it carry character, conflict, subtext, humour, and momentum without turning into exposition or filler. You’ll look at the technical conventions of writing dialogue on the page, but you’ll go further than punctuation rules. This session focuses on the craft tricks that make dialogue feel alive: voice, rhythm, implication, interruption, power dynamics, and the hidden “meaning underneath” that creates tension. Whether you write novels, short stories, memoir, or genre fiction, this workshop will help you write dialogue that feels authentic, stays in character, and earns its place in the scene. In This Workshop, You’ll: • Learn the core conventions of dialogue formatting — punctuation, paragraphing, and attribution that stays invisible • Understand what dialogue must do (reveal character, advance plot, build tension) — and what it must avoid (info-dumps and filler chat) • Explore voice: diction, rhythm, sentence length, and how characters become identifiable without heavy tags • Practise writing subtext — how characters don’t say what they mean, and why that creates compelling tension • Use conflict and power dynamics to create energetic exchanges that don’t feel flat or “two people agreeing” • Learn how to weave action beats and body language into dialogue so scenes feel physical and alive • Spot and fix common problems: on-the-nose lines, identical voices, “explaining the plot”, and overuse of adverbs • Build sharper conversations with practical exercises you can immediately apply to your own scenes By the end, you’ll have a toolkit for writing dialogue that sounds natural, reflects character, and drives story — with more tension, clarity, and reader pull. Resources & Continued Learning All dialogue guides, examples, and writing exercises are available at: www.iain-mckinnon.com This session can be attended as a standalone workshop or as part of the full modular creative writing course. No prior modules are required. Part of the Modular Creative Writing Course: Module 1: Introduction to Creative Writing, Rules & PURPOSE Module 2: Metrics, Motivation & Productivity Module 3: What is a Novel & Genre Module 4: Plot Module 5: Character Module 6: Theme Module 7: Word Choice Module 8: Writing Scenes – SORCA Module 9: Dialogue Module 10: World Building Module 11: Language Building Module 12: Narrative Positioning & Description over Exposition Module 13: Concept Mapping Module 14: Constraint and Creativity Module 15: Defamiliarization & N Module 16: Suspense, Tension, Hooks & Cliffhangers & LOCK Module 17: Editing Module 18: Drafting your Novel with ChatGPT Module 19: From Hook to Inbox: Blurbs, Synopses & Query Letters for Novelists Module 20: Author Function – Social Media Guide Secure your spot today and let’s level up your dialogue — line by line, voice by voice.