Athena Critique Services

Have you ever watched a romantic scene in a movie where the hero and heroine are talking then suddenly the musical score takes over and the dialogue disappears? The movie uses the visual of the couple staring into each other’s eyes while waves of violins proclaim their feelings. It’s a neat trick. It’s also a trick we CAN’T steal as writers because music is not going to sneak onto a page and save a sticky scene for us. We have to be clever and create interesting dialogue that can hold up without those tunes!

Dialogue is an important part of your work. Great dialogue can enhance characterization, further a plot line, and communicate back story. Bad dialogue can put readers to sleep or make editors and agents reach for the form rejection letter.

We’re starting a new year – so please join me in getting a new perspective with “Dialogue – It’s More than Just Talk.” This exciting workshop starts Jan. 7 and runs through Jan. 18th. Sign up by clicking on the Contact page or emailing us at info@athenacrits.com.

Flo Fitzpatrick

We are tinkering with a new look for our website. What do you think?

We’ve moved the sidebar up on the page so that our readers could take advantage of all the goodies there. You’ll notice links to blogs, podcasts and websites with items of interest to writers. Under “Categories” you’ll find a pull-down menu that lets you view our archive by category. For example, you can see a list of all “Writing Tips”, or just tips about “Revision”. We’ll be adding more subject-specific categories as our archive of writing tips increases.

If you want to stay up-to-date on our tips and news, just scroll down to the bottom and subscribe to an RSS feed of our entries. This allows you to get updated links to our entries in iGoogle, My Yahoo, Live Bookmarks and Bloglines. Try it!

Lets face it–this is one of the perks of the writing gig. You can do it in sweats. So, why not stay warm and proclaim your pride in your writing?

Yup. Romance writers do write real books. Available at our Cafe Press Store.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful . . . So, aren’t you glad you can get a quality writing workshop without leaving the comfort of your home computer?

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This from our good friend, author Irene Peterson.

Listen in on conversations, not for the content, but for the way the words flow or don’t flow. Listen to try to figure out accents, too. This will help when you’re writing dialogue.

Make a note of the way people move…especially men. They have ways of lifting, carrying, entering a room, even just walking (who couldn’t distinguish John Wayne from Gene Kelly?) so that you can describe movement in your own stories. (more…)