Write Better Dialogue with Rhetoric

Someone recently asked me how they could write better dialogue, so I made this video. Instead of remembering all the rules that fiction writers use for writing dialogue, you can use your rhetorical knowledge to write better dialogue more intuitively.

0:00 Introduction
1:29 Dialogue Is Rhetoric
3:03 Writing Rhetorical Dialogue
6:00 Why It Works
11:01 Conclusion

[xzyeee]

The emphasis on specificity is so on point. I find the formalist concept of defamiliarisation - using language, and specifically literary devices to remake an ordinary experience into something strange, new, or odd - a really effective way to capture attention-grabbing specificity.

[purple_orchid]

Thank you so much. I was stuck with my writing and I noticed a few things that I kept doing wrong and I scoured YouTube trying to learn how to fix them but all the advice I came across either didn't make sense or if did and I juat didn't know how to apply it. I came across your channel just as I was about to give up and I couldn't be more thankful I didn't. You taught me not only the concepts but ways I could apply those concepts and left me with ideas of my own of bhow I could alter and edit my works to make them better. And if only took 3 videos! Tha k you very much. You have my deepest gratitude and respect. I hope you keep teaching and inspiring others as you did me.

Your newly inducted fan❤

[futurestoryteller]

I have never once thought to myself "How can I write better dialogue?" Just built different, I guess. Having said that this is practically the only video I've seen that I can picture possibly being helpful to people who are struggling with it - although they'd probably have to know enough about rhetoric first. But either way that's impressive to me because dialogue feels too intuitive to teach. It's certainly not very technical.

[curtismmichaels]

I only discovered your channel a month or so ago. I enjoy your presentation, the lessons, and Mr. Bonehead. I would like to make a suggestion. In some of your later videos (Fall 2023 for reference) you have a low frequency variable tone playing when Mr. Bonehead talks. I cannot listen to you while that sound is playing. My brain won't process your voice and that sound. My personal preference is when you stop talking and let Mr. Bonehead talk, like you do in this video. I have no expectations regarding my input, and I expect I'll be around, learning from you for a while.