Dialogue: A Socratic Dialogue on the Art of Writing Dialogue in Fiction (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Dialogue is perhaps the most powerful element in fiction. Whether writing novels, short stories, or scripts, you will learn how to utilize dialogue to dramatize conflict, the most effective balance between dialogue and other story elements as well as the difference between effective dialogue and real speech. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Lewis Turco travels widely, giving readings and workshops while contributing programs to writers' conferences, schools, and community centers. His short stories and criticism have appeared in The New Yorker, the Newsday magazine, The Sewanee Review, The Nation, The New Republic, Ploughshares, and many others. He lives in Massachusetts. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 118 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books; 1St Edition edition (May 15, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0898793491
• ISBN-13: 978-0898793499
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,089,135 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hideous! [sputter], April 2, 2002

By	Erin K. Darling "naive cynic" (olympia, wa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dialogue (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Paperback)

"This book was awful," I said to Lily.
"I know!" she replied empathetically. "It's horrible! It is, without question, the worst 'how to write' book I have ever read."

This book is an unmitigated disaster, start to finish. I don't even know where to begin!

The biggest annoyance was the author's unskilled use of the Socratic Method; the entire book is one giant dialogue between a fictionalized author and his foi, with bits of a fictionalized editor thrown into a few places. At one point, Turco's fictional editor says, "your strategy in this book is certainly unusual and imaginative ... however, I don't believe it has precisely the effect you intended." Unless, of course, his intent was to bore the bejeezus out of his audience...

Throughout the dialogue, the Author (always capitalized in the book) comes across as egotistical, condescending and impatient. Speaking of "impatient," I found myself incredibly bored throughout the book, and often sighed with exasperation. I wished it would either have moved more quickly or covered the points more thoroughly - one or the other. Instead, it lives in some frustrating middle land, neither informative and interesting nor quick and light. It's vexing and leaves soooo much to be desired. At many points, my brain shrieked "why can't this just END?!" and yet I kept reading, hoping to glean something useful, hoping the author would have something good to offer. I searched in vain.

The Socratic dialogue would have been useful in places, to show examples and illustrate do's and don'ts; however, as a style for the entire book, it just drove me like oxen. The story is not interesting enough to read as a storoy, and it's not informative enough to read to learn anything. Turco could have either used a different style, or he could have made Fred Foyle (ha, ha - get it? "Foyle," "foil?" Oh, wackiness!) a more interesting and sympathetic character. As it stands, he was a whiny, frustrated, completely uninteresting nuisance.

Worse, Turco frequently makes comments which lead me to believe he understood that this book doesn't work - and yet he forged ahead, seemingly oblivious to his editor's and his own misgivings. Argh! Passages such as this are sprinkled throughout:

"I thought he'd never leave," Fred writes. "Sure I can type. Whatever he can do, I can do as well or better. This business of being Fred Foyle is a drag. Why could it have been I whom am the author instead? I could have invented him instead ... no, I'd have invented someone else, just to get even ... only, if I were the author and he weren't invented, how could I get even with him? Man, this is getting too philosophical for a book on how to write dialogue in fiction. Let's keep it simple."

Ah, if only Turco had taken his own advice!

He also uses the same example of a dialogue involving a secretary and a teacher over and over and over again, despite his own admission that it's *boring* and painful. ARGH! He uses stereotypes and many places, and one of his example stories, "Savants," was so incredibly offensive that I was tempted to put the book down right then.

I truly cannot convey how awful this book was - the *entire* time I was reading it, I had this huge, impatient tightness in my chest, pleading with me to stop. But, as I said, I kept going in hopes of learning something.

To be fair, there are a few handy tidbits in here (don't use too many adjectives and adverbs in tag lines, don't go on and on, and don't use overly-complex tag lines as an excuse to avoid writing the dialogue itself,) but there's nothing that can't be learned elsewhere with less torment.

My advice? DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! If you happen across any copies of it, back away slowly without making any sudden movements. It is EVIL!

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Rating the Elements of Fiction Writing series, April 21, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Dialogue (Elements of Fiction Writing) (Paperback)

I've read all the books in the Elements of Fiction Writing series and this is how I'd rank them.

"Scene & Structure" "Characters & Viewpoint" "Beginnings, Middles & Ends"

The above three books are invaluable -- must reads. They are the best of the series, in my opinion, and are packed with good information on every page. Well-done.

"Conflict, Action & Suspense" "Description" "Plot" "Manuscript Submission" "Setting"

The above five books are good, solid reads. Again, they contain good information and cover the subject decently.

"Voice & Style" "Dialogue"

To me, the last two books need to be rewritten. They are by far the weakest of the series. Both suffer from an annoying style, particularly Dialogue, and both are very skimpy on real information. Neither one is very helpful.

This is the order in which I'd recommend reading them.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Interesting? slightly. Helpful? not particularly., March 14, 1999

By A Customer

I'm sure there must be good books on dialogue out there, but this doesn't seem to be one of them. This is good for the absolute novice, but not for someone looking for more meat. The device of creating a "person to talk to" in the Socratic method falls flat on its face -- very boring dialog between the two "main characters" (of the author and his created counterpart) kills the lessons of the book: how to keep dialogue interesting.

Instead of this tripe, look up the book "Stein on Writing" by Sol Stein. Chapter 11, The Secrets of Good Dialog, lasts 12 pages and is worth infinitely more than this book, and bonus! there are 34 other chapters to learn additional writing techniques as well. Get that instead of this... you'll spend your money wisely.