Robert McKee, an American screenwriter and one of the most famous and authoritative teachers of the craft of screenwriting, the author of the well-known bestseller “Story,” reveals the secrets of creating dramatic dialogue by looking at its function, content, form, and the speech technique of the characters.
You’ll learn how, by putting words into the mouths of heroes, to make them feel alive—how to give them voices that the viewer and reader will follow without fail. You’ll learn the art of connecting “two silent domains: the hero’s inner life and the inner life of the viewer-reader.” This is a textbook-research: it examines both the most effective techniques of “dialogue writing” and the mistakes lurking for the author during the work process—including clichés, verbosity, and implausibility. If you’re only beginning your literary experiments, the book will show you the path to mastery; for a professional writer, it will help take an important step toward perfection.