Dialogue is one of the trickiest elements in prose because it has such a dramatic effect on how a reader perceives a story. Well-written dialogue can immerse a reader in a scene, while an unrealistic conversation will make a reader tune out quickly. It can be easy to fall victim to the fear of writing and let anxiety catch hold, but these tips will make it easier to turn dialogue into a strength.

1. Know your setting

If your story is set in the 1900s the characters will speak much differently than a character from today. An argument in London or Japan is going to be much different than one in the southern states. It won’t always be possible, but going to the area you base your character will help you gain an understanding of the way they should speak. Go to a bar, mall, or sporting event and listen in on the conversations. Eavesdropping not only lets you hear ways people speak, but can spark some of the most interesting story ideas out there. (Above illustration shows rooms being eavesdropped on with special bugging device.) 

2. Read

Explore books from the era your story is set in. Read Hemingway or David Foster Wallace to get a sense of the numerous ways dialogue can be effective. You’re a strong enough reader to judge what works best. Steal words or styles of conversation. Go to readings around your area. Rain Taxi has a great literary calendar for readings around the Twin Cities. Find a similar resource for your area and hear the ways that writers tell their stories out loud. It will give you a sense of what to look for when you write your own dialogue.

3. Harness the differences

Characters that travel to different cities or countries won’t know the language exactly as the people who live there. Right away you have conflict and tension in a story that you can use to your advantage. One of my favorite dialogue moments is when Butters from South Park becomes a pimp. The writers of the show use his third grade white background to humorously show his pronunciation of every syllable in a phrase. The clip also can show the pitfalls of dialogue: if Butters was meant to be taken seriously, everyone would disregard him immediately.

4. Start slanging

An easy way to elevate dialogue to the next level is incorporate the proper slang in the character’s words. If your character is a drug dealer, they aren’t going to say crack cocaine or methamphetamine. Unless they’re a really bad dealer who wants to get caught, they’ll use code words and nicknames. The same concept applies to regulars at a restaurant or best friends who know everything about each other.

There are loads of basic Slang Dictionaries available online, including the well known, Urban Dictionary; but here are some others to get you started:
Prison Slang
Sixties Slang and Surfer Slang
Drug Slang
Crime Slang
British Slang
Medical Slang

5. Leave out the bores

You’ve heard it before, but saying “hi” and “hello” before each conversation in a story is cumbersome and unnecessary. Use dialogue for the powerful moments where characters finally spill their secrets or explode with rage. These more unique moments will give your story an added flair that makes it stand out. As a nonfiction writer, saving dialogue for the sad or humorous moments has led to some of the best feedback I’ve received.

Continue the conversation on Facebook: What tricks do you have for writing dialogue?

Starting Your First Workshop Group Outside of Class

Every writer needs to spend time in revision, and one of the best ways to do that can be in a workshop group. Workshopping might seem a little scary, especially when there isn’t a classroom or a professor to help structure it, so here are some tips to help you get started:

Pick people wisely

You’re going to be reading and having your works-in-progress read in this workshop group, so you want to find people whose writing and opinions you respect. The easiest way I’ve found is to approach your classmates, particularly people whose company and writing style you enjoy. If there are people in the group who you don’t respect, you’re not going to take their criticism seriously. That being said, you should also keep in mind whether or not you respect their writing. If you don’t, you probably won’t be able to provide them with good feedback.

Stick to one genre

Like many writers today I like to play around with genre, and while I’m mostly a fiction writer I like to dabble in poetry. My workshop group is entirely made up of fiction writers because we don’t know how to critique other genres like we do our own. Playing with form is awesome, but when you’re forming a group you want to keep genre in mind. Your best friend might be a great poet, but if you only write creative nonfiction you might not be getting the most out of your workshop.

Keep the group manageable

One of the reasons my first workshop group fell apart was too many people.

My ideal workshop group is between 4 to 6 people—anymore than that and it gets a little crazy. You don’t want to be overwhelmed with too many things to read, and sometimes too many people means too many voices. I also found that once our group had grown, people were less likely to show up on a regular basis. Ideally, you want to have a small group of people who will show up dependably.

Set a workshop schedule and stick to it

You’ll want to set a schedule for workshop days, that way everyone in the group knows what they’re expected to have read by a certain time. My writing group now does 10 pages of one person’s work every week. If there isn’t a schedule you may have one person reading one story and everyone else reading another. It gets to be confusing really fast.

Once you have a schedule, make sure you stick to it. It’s so easy to say you’ll participate in a workshop, but after a while people stop sending out their work (or writing altogether) and it turns into social hour. You’re there to have fun, but to also keep each other accountable.

Have fun!

If you’re not having fun you’re not going to want to show up.

Pick a fun name to call your group, and think up crazy writing prompt ideas.
I always try to do something crazy once a month to stir up my writing and keep it interesting—last month we all wrote random things on slips of paper and had a character who could read minds. Every time the character was going to read someone’s mind we had to draw from the pile of written thoughts. While you’re having fun, remember that you’re still working.

Four Journals That Will Respond to Your Submission This Week

Few things are more daunting to writers than the blank page, and what’s an empty email inbox if not a blank page? For those of us without much experience in submitting and publishing our own work in journals, the mere thought of never hearing back can instill paralyzing fear. Luckily, there are journals who will rip the Band-Aid off, so to speak, and let you know before next week if you’ve made it in or not.

Hermeneutic Chaos Journal publishes an online journal 6 times a year, so there are plenty of chances to get your name out there. One quickly gets the sense that this is a journal that really thinks about their writers. They offer “a friendly habitation” for authors. They are reassuring that all submissions and authors are treated with respect. The journal publishes fiction and poetry that do not subscribe “to the rules imposed by the safe and limited aesthetics of the various genres.” The works push topics or innovate form in new ways. Hermeneutic is enthusiastic about the work they publish and assures authors they will respond within ten days. 
Stats (from Duotrope) : 4% acceptance, response in avg. 1 day.

Star 82 Review calls for writers and visual artists to “tell us who you are. Someone will answer.” What a reassuring thought! The online and print journal is open to a wide variety of genres, with a quiet underlying theme of humanity. The work featured  “highlights words and images in gemlike forms.” Short works (under 1,000 words) can be fiction or CNF. Poems are capped at 50 lines, with a minimum line count of only two lines to be considered. Visual art published in Star 82 Review includes painting, collage, erasure, and postcard lit. You can expect to hear back from Star 82 Review in a week. 
Stats: 5% acceptance, response in avg. 2 days.

After The Pause is an online literary journal located right next door to Runestone in Minneapolis, MN. The journal is published in a beautiful online format that makes me feel like I’m reading a physical book. The poems and short stories range from a little weird, to a little funny, to a little gross. Visual art included in the journal comes from many genres as well, including painting, digital art, and photography. The journal showcases fresh work, and specifically encourages new writers to submit. After the Pause has a very friendly submission policy, aiming to respond to submitters within one week.
Stats: 6% acceptance, response in avg. 3 days.

Eunoia Review publishes new poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction every day. With nearly 8,000 followers and two pieces published daily, this journal may be just the place to get your name out there as soon as possible. Eunoia also allows writers to submit work that has been published elsewhere. With an acceptance rate well above average and a very quick turnaround time, Eunoia Review is a great fit for a writer who wants to publish work immediately. Reading the authors’ bios will prove that anyone is welcome, from self-proclaimed “cubicle drones,” to 50 year veterans of literary publishing. 
Stats: 22% acceptance, response in avg. less than one day.

Ready to Submit?

When preparing to submit to these (or any other) journals, there are a few things you should have ready:

• First, you will need high quality writing. Just because they reply quickly, does not mean they’re accepting everything that comes across the desk. Take a look at fellow student editor Sandra Youngs’ post for more pointers: Secrets Behind Successful Submissions.
• Any work you submit should be something you are proud to have your name on. In the event that you do get published and you aren’t happy with your work, there’s not much you can do about it. In the age of the internet, things live forever. But you knew that right?
• Have a short bio prepared, written in the third person. These often appear alongside your work and are a part of your presence as a writer. Think about what you want readers to know about you as an author.

Submit to journals that reflect who you are and your style of writing. If you’re lucky, you’ll hear back in the time it takes to binge watch a season of “Game of Thrones”!

Oh, hey: speaking of submissions…. don’t forget Runestone‘s submissions for volume 3 are now open! Undergrads Submit Here.

Recently I made an impromptu trip to Barnes & Noble because… well, do I really need a good reason? As an avid reader of all things literary/pioneer, I’m always on the lookout for new types of fiction novels. Anyone who loves reading would agree when I say that often times you can’t pass a bookstore like Barnes & Noble without getting that warm and fuzzy feeling inside. That, and sometimes you’re just seriously overdue for a new read.

When I arrived I went straight for the New Fiction release section, eager to glance at new covers and see if any authors I knew had come out with a new book. I was about to round the corner of the stack when a book caught my attention: a decent sized paperback, with a vintage black and white noir photo of Carole Lombard draped in a silk gown.

The title read: A Touch of Stardust. I was instantly engaged. I didn’t know much about Carole Lombard, except that both of my grandmothers spoke highly of her short but crucial acting career.

All things old-fashioned interest me, especially Old Hollywood. So, knowing I could already relate on some level, I decided to buy it. And as I waited in the checkout line I began to think about why, according to fiction sales, historical fiction is so popular.  

Why do people respond so well to it?
Is it because they like to be swept away to another time and place? 
To learn something new?
Or because people enjoy the passion and drama that almost (but not always) seems to trump our contemporary lives today?

Here are some things I know to be true about historical fiction: a profound and intriguing genre that perhaps all book lovers can learn from.

It’s Just as Engaging as Modern Day Fiction

Most readers don’t want the bone-dry facts of a past time period; they want to be engaged and fully immersed in the period and the event happening in the story, which a lot of historical fiction works do today. Do you think only things in today’s day and age are compelling? Think again. People want to see how historical fiction aims to show readers how the lives of people were shaped by circumstances that we think of today as epic or unbelievable.

The Past Can Serve as a Reminder

A lot of historical fiction novels are considered as being “historical” at least fifty years into the past (generally the reader’s past). Whether it be a warning to not repeat a generation’s mistakes (such as the stock market crash of 1929) or how people who lived long ago are similar to how we are now in terms of passions, needs, and drives—that their wants and hopes are not so different from ours. Sometimes, we all need a reminder of that we are not all so different from our predecessors.

Human Nature Is a Constant

Cultural issues, though more talked about now than ever, have always been ingrained in the history of the world—from the Egyptians to England’s monarchy. Death is also a fact of life and no matter what culture, religion, or time period it remains the same; it is part of human nature and it happens to everyone and everything.

Another large constant is love; whether you want to call it an act or a feeling or even a state of mind or being, love has been transcendent over a multitude of centuries. In fiction and in life, these themes make us all—present or past—a special species as we share these experiences across time.

Do you have any favorite subjects or books? Head over to our Facebook page and share them in the comments. If not, pick up some historical fiction and see where it leads you! 

So you’re looking to submit your work for the first time ever, but keep finding reasons to put it off. I get it. I’m in that same boat right now. A cover letter won’t take much time to draft but you have other things to do, or maybe you have so many usernames and passwords already that you don’t want to sign up for a Submittable account.

Maybe you’re not ready for that first rejection letter. Perhaps you double majored in Procrastination during your college career. Whatever the reason, here’s your boot to the butt to get your work out there—with a few quick tips below to increase your work’s chances of getting into the “Maybe” pile once you do.

Everyone has different preferences when it comes to what they like to see in submitted work. Certain literary magazines tell you outright what they’re looking for—White Stag, for example, is looking for poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction strictly from women for the second issue of their third volume. In the past their themes have revolved around the human psyche and, of course, the journal’s namesake: a white stag.

But it’s not always so clear what a journal is looking for. Obviously, the best way to figure it out is to read whichever publications you’re most interested in and get a feel for the kind of work they accept.

To help your writing stand out from the submission pile, here’s what I’ve noticed during my work with Poetry City, USA:

CONTENT

Use a common font. Let your work speak for itself. Content is more important than fancy or large lettering. This is not to say everything has to be left-aligned and can’t have any italics anywhere—but make sure your formatting choices add to the content of the poem rather than distract from it.

VOICE

Your poem or story does something different. You can write about trees in a way no one has before and make something meaningful. Same for tsunamis, stars, or how visceral heartbreak really is. They say no idea is original, but that doesn’t mean you can’t show the world how you perceive it—and there will be a place for you and your voice. It’s just a matter of finding it.

POLISH

The work itself feels finished. Every choice you’ve made, from words to punctuation to line breaks, feels intentional. The imagery and metaphors aren’t random, but deliberate. The voice of the work has authority: it stands for what it says.

SUBMIT

Start now! A magazine can’t accept your work if it isn’t in their submission pile. If you’re busy with school, take ten minutes to compile some work and send it out so you have weekly coursework and final projects to keep you occupied while you wait (fingers crossed) to hear back from the editors.

Don’t let perfectionism hold you back.

It’s so easy to get caught in that endless cycle of workshop and revise, workshop and revise, workshop and revise as you strive to make your poem its very best.  

Eventually, you’re not making any real breakthroughs, just rearranging a piece that is already in its best form. Step back and look at your piece objectively. Learn to recognize when a poem is ready to be sent out into the world.

I’m going to be completely honest, when I started writing this blog post, I still hadn’t submitted anything—despite the amount of completed poems sitting on my computer. But this is the best time to do it!

This is my call to action for you: Compile your best pieces and start looking for literary magazines. There are so many options out there, and the list is ever growing. Recently I sat down and did exactly this (White Stag was one of the literary magazines I chose to submit to), and I realized a really neat thing: submitting is easy.

The hard part—and the most exciting—is waiting to hear back.