I want to study dialogue a bit since I am planning to write a script that relies on it.
If you could suggest any books with exceptional and natural dialogue, I would appreciate it!
Graham Greene is known for his knack for writing great dialogue. He also worked on a lot of film scripts and it shows in his novels. Pretty much any of them, but I’d go after *The Power and the Glory*, *The Quiet American, The Heart of the Matter* or *The End of the Affair*, as in these you can study his skill to play with dialogue in myriad of ways depending on his intent. There can be humour mixed with suspense, drama or great sadness and it always works beautifully. He could be considered a bit old timey in his storytelling and heroes, but his dialogues certainly aren’t.
MattAmylon on
There’s lots of different kinds of good dialogue! For a contemporary writer who writes lots of really engaging, fun repartée, I’d check out Sally Rooney, specifically Normal People.
For something a little more serious but still contemporary and simply written, I’d suggest Marilynne Robinson’s “Jack,” which has a long, long stretch of two characters discussing life and philosophy.
If you want to go back to some classics writers who write excellent dialogue, try Dostoevsky or Austen.
Edit: And since you’re writing a script, I’d also just suggest watching some waaaaay older movies! Try “His Girl Friday” or “The Apartment“ if you haven’t seen either. Movies used to be much more dialogue/script-driven than they are now, so you can learn a lot from the classics.
ebals18 on
People seemed to really dislike Come and Get It by Kiley Reid for reasons I cannot understand. There’s not a huge unifying plot line through the book, but the dialogue is extremely funny and also pretty realistic. I loved it for that reason specifically.
Alternative-Purple96 on
“JR” by William Gaddis
Responsible_Lake_804 on
Cyrano de Bergerac, the play. You can probably find a free PDF online 🙂
matthewphenix on
I’ll suggest Cormac McCarthy — try *No Country for Old Men*. Also, you can’t go wrong with Elmore Leonard — I love *Out of Sight* and *Get Shorty*.
theladyofshalott1956 on
Not a book, but The West Wing (tv show) has legendary dialogue. Aaron Sorkin’s like the king of snappy lines.
11 Comments
Graham Greene is known for his knack for writing great dialogue. He also worked on a lot of film scripts and it shows in his novels. Pretty much any of them, but I’d go after *The Power and the Glory*, *The Quiet American, The Heart of the Matter* or *The End of the Affair*, as in these you can study his skill to play with dialogue in myriad of ways depending on his intent. There can be humour mixed with suspense, drama or great sadness and it always works beautifully. He could be considered a bit old timey in his storytelling and heroes, but his dialogues certainly aren’t.
There’s lots of different kinds of good dialogue! For a contemporary writer who writes lots of really engaging, fun repartée, I’d check out Sally Rooney, specifically Normal People.
For something a little more serious but still contemporary and simply written, I’d suggest Marilynne Robinson’s “Jack,” which has a long, long stretch of two characters discussing life and philosophy.
If you want to go back to some classics writers who write excellent dialogue, try Dostoevsky or Austen.
Edit: And since you’re writing a script, I’d also just suggest watching some waaaaay older movies! Try “His Girl Friday” or “The Apartment“ if you haven’t seen either. Movies used to be much more dialogue/script-driven than they are now, so you can learn a lot from the classics.
People seemed to really dislike Come and Get It by Kiley Reid for reasons I cannot understand. There’s not a huge unifying plot line through the book, but the dialogue is extremely funny and also pretty realistic. I loved it for that reason specifically.
“JR” by William Gaddis
Cyrano de Bergerac, the play. You can probably find a free PDF online 🙂
I’ll suggest Cormac McCarthy — try *No Country for Old Men*. Also, you can’t go wrong with Elmore Leonard — I love *Out of Sight* and *Get Shorty*.
Not a book, but The West Wing (tv show) has legendary dialogue. Aaron Sorkin’s like the king of snappy lines.
Lonesome dove
A Game of Thrones
Plato’s, *Phaedo*.
Brothers Karamazov