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Feb 18, 2023–TPS workshop–Revealing Character Through Dialogue: Secrets, Lies, and Innermost Thoughts, presented by Amy Bernstein
February 18, 2023 @ 9:30 am - 12:00 pm EST
You’ve plotted your novel, mapped your main character’s arc of change, and set your story in motion. Now for the hardest part of all: Figuring out what all these people should say to one another—and to themselves. The writer and poet Elizabeth Bowen once said, “Dialogue is what characters do to each another.” We’ll examine the role of action beats, reactivity, and the mental, physical, and verbal components that establish context and generate the conflict your story needs. You’ll examine how “Voice is not a choice. It’s a result,” as author Robert McKee says.
Presenter Bio
Amy L. Bernstein writes stories that let readers feel while asking them to think. Her novels include The Potrero Complex (finalist for the Petrichor Prize), The Nighthawkers (Book Fest award winner), Dreams of Song Times, and Fran, The Second Time Around (winner, best YA book, Maryland Writers Association). Amy is an award-winning journalist, speechwriter, playwright, and certified nonfiction book coach. Amy’s poetry has in Yellow Arrow Journal, Loch Raven Review, Lost Boys Press, Parliament Literary Journal, Passaic-Voluspa, She is Kindred, and elsewhere. In addition, Amy has published numerous nonfiction essays about arts and culture through Medium and has written about the craft of writing for Publishers Weekly’s BookLife and other outlets. She is a frequent guest on podcasts to discuss books, publishing, and creativity.