Reading Like a Writer, Continued; The Dialogue

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

Over the week, I've been going over this idea I had about what I notice in other people's writings, what I skim over unless I make an effort to pay attention, and what I'm automatically drawn to reading.

As I started to review some of the books that I've read over the years, there's a couple of items that I tend to skim over, such as extended descriptions of movements, like the setup of a battle or a location, and the physical description of some characters if they are extended. The one thing that always catches my interest, however, the thing that always inspires me as a writer, is dialogue.

The minute I start reading about people verbally interacting with each other, it starts to spark my imagination. This interplay between people tells me about who they are, how they relate to others, and the world they live in. Reading dialogue in a story immediately tells me whether the characters are going to be people I want to get to know.

As you might figure,…