Writing Co-Lab

Dialogue is a key element of compelling narrative in both fiction and non-fiction, energizing scenes, propelling conflict, and revealing character dynamics. Some writers have a natural facility for dialogue while others struggle to hear and articulate their characters’ voices on the page. Regardless of where you fall in that spectrum, the ability to grasp and express the nuances of dialogue is a powerful advantage for any writer.

In this one-session generative workshop, we’ll begin with a craft discussion citing examples from contemporary works that address these topics: dialogue vs. exposition; deciding who gets to speak; dialogue that feels truthful to your characters; naturalistic dialogue; internal dialogue; dialogue as indicator of mood; dialogue tags and formatting; and finally, when and how to break the rules.

We’ll spend the remainder of the workshop on a prompt-based writing session followed by sharing (optional) and feedback.

For writers at all levels working on dialogue-centered projects.

About the Instructor

Chin-Sun Lee is the author of the debut novel Upcountry (Unnamed Press 2023), listed in Publishers Weekly’s Big Indie Books of Fall 2023. She’s also a contributor to the New York Times bestselling anthology Women in Clothes (Blue Rider Press/Penguin 2014). Her work has appeared in Electric Literature, The Georgia Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Joyland, and The Believer Logger, among other publications. She has worked as an educator for Writers.com, as a moderator for Academic Coaching & Writing, and as a developmental editor for The Reading List Editorial. Learn more about her at www.chinsunlee.com.