The Preptober fun continues with another in-depth video on using dialogue as a tool in your fiction. Let me know what other topics you still want to see before November begins!!!
Hello, just found you today while prepping an infotalk to my writers group. I am the director of the Carrollton League of Writers. I look forward to seeing what perls of wisdom you have to share with other would be authors. -Best
Yay for this video! I absolutely LOVE writing dialog. It's one of my strengths as a writer. I LOVE to see that white space on the page. My heart sinks when I see blocks of text. I think this is why it's hard for me to write a novel. I like to read fast-moving stories with no slow parts.
I think there's a lot of desire for that, especially with so many feeling like their attention span is reduced due to social media. People will love your work!
This is one of the most helpful videos I have seen (and I’ve been binging writer videos for about ten months now). I have learned a ton from many authors on YT, but everything you’re explaining here is so clear; it’s all clicking. Thank you!
✒️ I love the in-depth videos!!! I also love how you shared your writing for examples. It's so helpful, and I love your books! Pacing and subplots would be awesome- I think I tried to squeeze too many subplots into my MS after reading Story Genius. I confused it all with backstory. Congratulations on 13 years! You're an inspiration to so many, and I'm so grateful you had the courage to put your books into the world❤
"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops." Stephen King - this is one of my favorite quotes. Loved his memoir novel on writing.
Thanks so much for this! I see another workbook in YOUR future…✍🏼📖 I’m ready to be an NaNo Rebel but I need to post my project!!!Congratulations on everything!!!🎉🎉🎉
⌨️ I feel like I have a lot to learn about writing dialogue, so this longer video, and especially the examples, was incredibly helpful. Thanks so much!
📖 So helpful, Sarra! I use the enneagram for all my characters - it's such a great tool for me and I'm so glad you mentioned it (even though you don't use it). I'm a 4 and I totally pegged you as a 3 just by watching your videos lol. While I've used motivation in my character profiles, I never thought to use them in my scenes... great idea! I think Harper as a 4 btw - that insatiable need to belong, feeling misunderstood and different; speaks her mind, no matter what. When she says something sassy, I'm like, "yes, Harper go!" I see so much of myself in her. I'm currently reading Bitter Demons so once I get to the end of the series, I'll see if I'm right :P
ChatGPT can be very helpful for interviewing your potential characters for your novel. Feed it their bio, and then tell the AI to act like that character, then ask it questions like you are doing to see how it responds. Depending on the quality of the AI you are using, this may be helpful. I know that I filtered out a few potential characters this way. Once I had it narrowed down, then I would take a more hands-on approach like you're doing with your notebook, so that I could really get inside the head of the character. Doing it in the notebook right away was just a little too hard for me, and this sped it up.
✒I really enjoyed this video! I often struggle with dialogue, especially the " he said, she said" and your advice really helped! I would love to see more in depth videos like this ❤
📝📚Thank you so much for this video. It was very helpful especially when you talked about weaving in both action and dialogue. It made me understand why my dialogue sections seem so stiff. Also thanks for the book recommendations.
There are 9 Enneagram types and I LOVE to use it to develop my characters! It helps me identify their wound, what motivates them, and even how they would speak. ✏
So excited to start NaNo. The novel I’m writing is just for me, because the copyrights would be a nightmare. It’s all B-plot, no villains or nasties. It’s the ultimate Disney vacation… what I’d do if I could afford it. I’ve been researching so I can make it as real as possible, so when I want a vacation, I will have one ready for the reading.
📖 I'd love to see a series on dialogue. I like to use TiP ToP when it comes to paragraphs. New paragraph when any of these change: Ti-me P-lace To-pic P-erson
Well, such a bummer - I just found your awesome channel. I used to teach creative writing to middle school when I lived in DFW. Now, I live in Colorado. I would have loved to work with you for my students. However, I will be teaching a creative writing class at the local community college here, and I'm linking your videos for my class. Such great info!!!
Wonderful! I've been waiting for this!! Thank you! And yes PLEASE make a series about dialogue! Cheering you on and sending you love and creative vibes
I LOVE what you read from your own story, thank you for being vulnerable with us all, se NEED to do that, be proud of your amazing work! I felt both the tension and the conflict and the differentiere voices of the girls. Because of ADHD I have a hard time reading, but I want to read your book now 😂 I NEED to know who he is!
I'd love to see a video on how to plan out your schedule before NaNoWrimo, and tips for planning and time management on a daily basis during November. Have you ever used time blocking, for example? P.S., I downloaded the first book of Beautiful Demons on my Kindle, and I'm preparing to binge the whole series after NaNo as one of my big rewards. Can't wait to finally read (and fangirl over) your work!
🎉🎉THANK YOU 🎉🎉 SUCH A GREAT VIDEO. I ESPECIALLY LOVED the part in reference to “he said/she said” and sharing a brilliant way of expressing this. I found I was using “replied”, “said”, etc constantly and became bored with my own story ! So thank you ! I have followed you since 2018/2019 😊. You are extremely generous with your time, knowledge, help, dedication and devotion with your followers. Your tips are jewels and have helped me and others move forward feeling the joy of writing instead of dread. 😊 Thank you so much !
I am going to be writing a rewrite of my novel during nanowrimo and dialogue heavy scenes or chapters are harder for me to write than action packed or internal thought heavy scenes and chapters. Thanks for the tips!
Another great Preptober video. Thank you Sarra. I was over on your Coven Channel and ordered one of your signed books as my 40,000 word reward. Which guess means I am doing Nano this year. I had been waffling back and forth. My hubby said that he would get it for me as one of my rewards if I did Nano with him this year (he never wants to NaNo when I am doing it). So there you go. And the book is TDOVS, super excited :)
You opened my eyes on a lot of things I used to struggle with. I felt like it is a writing analysis not just explaining dialogue. I hope you make short videos on analyzing the writing. Like when you talked about the motivations and the clash between them. Showing how things work. Similar to the minute 28:00 -29:10 🌸🌸
🖋I’m not very good at dialogue irl so the dialogue I’ve written probably isn’t very good. I feel like my biggest problem is learning to leave things unsaid (in writing and irl lol). I read way more than I talk to people, so maybe the way I write dialogue is okay for a book, though. 😅 I’ve tried to use personality tests like enneagram for my characters but honestly I think the best characters I’ve created were the ones who just lived in my head without me trying to put them into a box. I often find it hard to say that someone is a specific personality type, yet I still have a good feeling of who they are. Although I do enjoy trying to answer questions as my characters, I find that character questionnaires usually end up having a lot of questions that don’t really apply to my characters. I generally enjoy writing intuitively when it comes to characters and feel that I get to know my characters best by writing them.
I'm not really scared to use said, but I absolutely HATE it beyond all reason. I hear it so hard in audio that it kills all enjoyment for the story. Every time I hear said it makes my teeth grit. It's probably a me thing but to me said is never invisible. Granted, some people don't abuse it as much as others but there was a lit RPG that was 'said' every single time and my eye twitches wouldn't stop, and when I tried to listen to the audio it was so much worse. I kinda feel that particular one is a style thing. Though I agree warily/exalted/ or some really weird burst of language is just as eye twitching. But whispered, snapped, screamed those have a different feel to them However, I learned a lot from this. I think my dialogue is going to be a lot better in the future because of this video and understanding how to tighten it and focus only on the important stuff. I've got my outline fleshed out and ready to go 4k for the first time ever for NaNo, I have never prepped before and always pantsed it, which has made editing take MONTHS. So following your guides so far I'm all prepared and ready to go and I can't thank you enough for this series! As for another topic? Pacing please! And also possibly in the future writing a strong female character without defaulting to 'sassy'?
The Preptober fun continues with another in-depth video on using dialogue as a tool in your fiction. Let me know what other topics you still want to see before November begins!!!
📖
🖋️📝📖💻
🖊📔🗒✍
📝 Love these videos. Very helpful for ideas on how to construct my own stories. Thanks Sarra.
✏️ please do a series on dialogue. This video was so helpful!
📓 YES to pacing and subplots before Preptober please. I'm on the struggle bus with that.
📖Thank you, another great video.
✒️ I love the longer videos. Really makes me feel like they're worth the effort to break out a notebook for all the fun stuff I learn here. Thanks!
I also love taking notes on Sarra's videos! 📝
📕🖌 I find you videos inspiring and very helpful in my writing career!
I have a permanent seat on the struggle bus when it comes to dialog... I'm def going to have to watch this like 30 times
Hello, just found you today while prepping an infotalk to my writers group. I am the director of the Carrollton League of Writers. I look forward to seeing what perls of wisdom you have to share with other would be authors. -Best
Yay for this video! I absolutely LOVE writing dialog. It's one of my strengths as a writer. I LOVE to see that white space on the page. My heart sinks when I see blocks of text. I think this is why it's hard for me to write a novel. I like to read fast-moving stories with no slow parts.
I think there's a lot of desire for that, especially with so many feeling like their attention span is reduced due to social media. People will love your work!
This is one of the most helpful videos I have seen (and I’ve been binging writer videos for about ten months now). I have learned a ton from many authors on YT, but everything you’re explaining here is so clear; it’s all clicking. Thank you!
✒️ I love the in-depth videos!!! I also love how you shared your writing for examples. It's so helpful, and I love your books! Pacing and subplots would be awesome- I think I tried to squeeze too many subplots into my MS after reading Story Genius. I confused it all with backstory.
Congratulations on 13 years! You're an inspiration to so many, and I'm so grateful you had the courage to put your books into the world❤
Thank you so much. In my head, you are my personal writing coach and mentor. I've said this many times before and I stand by it.
📒love the longer writing info videos!!! 💜💜💜
"I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops." Stephen King - this is one of my favorite quotes. Loved his memoir novel on writing.
A whole series on Dialogue would be AMAZING! Thank you Sarra!
Thanks so much for this! I see another workbook in YOUR future…✍🏼📖
I’m ready to be an NaNo Rebel but I need to post my project!!!Congratulations on everything!!!🎉🎉🎉
🦉You're a wise owl, Sarra! Thanks!
Thank you!
⌨️ I feel like I have a lot to learn about writing dialogue, so this longer video, and especially the examples, was incredibly helpful. Thanks so much!
Thank you! I'm happy to hear it!
I love your necklace by the way
Thank you!!
📖 So helpful, Sarra! I use the enneagram for all my characters - it's such a great tool for me and I'm so glad you mentioned it (even though you don't use it).
I'm a 4 and I totally pegged you as a 3 just by watching your videos lol. While I've used motivation in my character profiles, I never thought to use them in my scenes... great idea!
I think Harper as a 4 btw - that insatiable need to belong, feeling misunderstood and different; speaks her mind, no matter what.
When she says something sassy, I'm like, "yes, Harper go!" I see so much of myself in her. I'm currently reading Bitter Demons so once I get to the end of the series, I'll see if I'm right :P
Love this view on Harper, thank you!
ChatGPT can be very helpful for interviewing your potential characters for your novel. Feed it their bio, and then tell the AI to act like that character, then ask it questions like you are doing to see how it responds. Depending on the quality of the AI you are using, this may be helpful. I know that I filtered out a few potential characters this way. Once I had it narrowed down, then I would take a more hands-on approach like you're doing with your notebook, so that I could really get inside the head of the character. Doing it in the notebook right away was just a little too hard for me, and this sped it up.
✏️Great tips of dialogue!
Hi, thank you for this interesting episode. Loved the exemples of your own work and I love long videos too.📖📚✒😊
🥰📖📚thank you, I love your long videos🫶
✍️ Longer videos are awesome! Love listening to you talk craft. Keep them coming, please! ❤️
✍️✍️✍️✍️ I love these long educational videos!
Loved this video! And that necklace and top you have on: perfection. They look great on you❤
Thank you so much!
Just the Video I've been Wartung for 🤩
This was so helpful and reinforced some things I was already doing but wasn't sure of. Also, I love the longer videos!
Yes please on the dialogue series. Thank you for all you do and share 🖋🖋📝
✍🏻💻☕ I vote for a video on pacing!
So helpful! Thank you ✍️🏼 📚
✒I really enjoyed this video! I often struggle with dialogue, especially the " he said, she said" and your advice really helped! I would love to see more in depth videos like this ❤
🖊 This was amazing! Thank you. It was so helpful.
📝📚Thank you so much for this video. It was very helpful especially when you talked about weaving in both action and dialogue. It made me understand why my dialogue sections seem so stiff. Also thanks for the book recommendations.
So much amazing help! Love your videos and books. Thanks for all the great tips.
Thanks!!!! ✍️⌨️📝✏️✒️🖋️
There are 9 Enneagram types and I LOVE to use it to develop my characters! It helps me identify their wound, what motivates them, and even how they would speak. ✏
Thank you! I could not for the life of me remember if it was 9 or 10 when I was recording! I appreciate it!
So excited to start NaNo. The novel I’m writing is just for me, because the copyrights would be a nightmare. It’s all B-plot, no villains or nasties. It’s the ultimate Disney vacation… what I’d do if I could afford it. I’ve been researching so I can make it as real as possible, so when I want a vacation, I will have one ready for the reading.
That sounds so fun!
Love these longer videos! Thank you for the great info. Enjoying all of these preprober videos! ✏️ 🥰
🖊 I love these videos and would love to see more.
📖 I'd love to see a series on dialogue.
I like to use TiP ToP when it comes to paragraphs. New paragraph when any of these change:
Ti-me
P-lace
To-pic
P-erson
Well, such a bummer - I just found your awesome channel. I used to teach creative writing to middle school when I lived in DFW. Now, I live in Colorado. I would have loved to work with you for my students. However, I will be teaching a creative writing class at the local community college here, and I'm linking your videos for my class. Such great info!!!
My 10-year-old daughter was in the room while I was listening to this and now she wants to read Witch's Key, lol.
Aww, I love that!
💻✍ Love this video! Your excerpts were perfect to help me with my current project. :D
Wonderful! I've been waiting for this!! Thank you! And yes PLEASE make a series about dialogue!
Cheering you on and sending you love and creative vibes
Super helpful! ✍️
I LOVE what you read from your own story, thank you for being vulnerable with us all, se NEED to do that, be proud of your amazing work! I felt both the tension and the conflict and the differentiere voices of the girls. Because of ADHD I have a hard time reading, but I want to read your book now 😂 I NEED to know who he is!
Great tips. Couple areas I had questions about when writing were answered here.
I love the long videos! ✍✍✍
Right on the money Sarra 🇺🇸🇬🇧
Thank you for watching!
I'd love to see a video on how to plan out your schedule before NaNoWrimo, and tips for planning and time management on a daily basis during November. Have you ever used time blocking, for example?
P.S., I downloaded the first book of Beautiful Demons on my Kindle, and I'm preparing to binge the whole series after NaNo as one of my big rewards. Can't wait to finally read (and fangirl over) your work!
Thank you for this. I always feel like I use "He said" and "She said" too much
🎉🎉THANK YOU 🎉🎉
SUCH A GREAT VIDEO.
I ESPECIALLY LOVED the part in reference to “he said/she said” and sharing a brilliant way of expressing this. I found I was using “replied”, “said”, etc constantly and became bored with my own story !
So thank you !
I have followed you since 2018/2019 😊. You are extremely generous with your time, knowledge, help, dedication and devotion with your followers. Your tips are jewels and have helped me and others move forward feeling the joy of writing instead of dread. 😊
Thank you so much !
📝So helpful as always. I'll be getting that book, The Art of Styling Sentences. 🙌
❤ would enjoy a series on dialogue
🖋 love the longer videos!
Great video!
💻📚🖋 I love all of your writing advice. It has been so helpful. Thanks!
Great video! Very helpful examples.📒📝
I love your long form content! 📝
Love your necklace! Perfect for the season
I’m so excited to write next time! Thank you !
📚📖 🖊️ 38:02
✒️📝 This helped especially the examples
great video. omg that one sample you read really intrigued me! great work!
Thank you!!! Always a bit vulnerable to read my own work, but this means a lot!
I am going to be writing a rewrite of my novel during nanowrimo and dialogue heavy scenes or chapters are harder for me to write than action packed or internal thought heavy scenes and chapters. Thanks for the tips!
Thank you 🙏
📖 Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge.
Another great Preptober video. Thank you Sarra. I was over on your Coven Channel and ordered one of your signed books as my 40,000 word reward. Which guess means I am doing Nano this year. I had been waffling back and forth. My hubby said that he would get it for me as one of my rewards if I did Nano with him this year (he never wants to NaNo when I am doing it). So there you go. And the book is TDOVS, super excited :)
Great video! Thank you 🖋📚👍
I loved the video
✏ Very helpful video. Thank you very much
Love this! I always learn so much!
You opened my eyes on a lot of things I used to struggle with. I felt like it is a writing analysis not just explaining dialogue. I hope you make short videos on analyzing the writing. Like when you talked about the motivations and the clash between them. Showing how things work. Similar to the minute 28:00 -29:10 🌸🌸
This video helped so much! Thank you! 🖊️
✍️ Yes, series abou dialogue and editing dialogue, please
So great! 📝✏
I love your necklace. So amazng
Love the in depth videos. 🖋
✍ Always love your videos!
Such useful information! 😊
I love this video, and it is really helpful, thank you for doing these
✏Good video. Thanks.
📝 Thank you!!
Really useful. Thanks!
📚
✒This helped a lot.
Thank you!
💻 thanks!
📖
🖊️🖋️📝✒️📖
🖋I’m not very good at dialogue irl so the dialogue I’ve written probably isn’t very good. I feel like my biggest problem is learning to leave things unsaid (in writing and irl lol). I read way more than I talk to people, so maybe the way I write dialogue is okay for a book, though. 😅
I’ve tried to use personality tests like enneagram for my characters but honestly I think the best characters I’ve created were the ones who just lived in my head without me trying to put them into a box. I often find it hard to say that someone is a specific personality type, yet I still have a good feeling of who they are. Although I do enjoy trying to answer questions as my characters, I find that character questionnaires usually end up having a lot of questions that don’t really apply to my characters. I generally enjoy writing intuitively when it comes to characters and feel that I get to know my characters best by writing them.
🖊📝✏
🖊️ ❤🎉
🖊
🖋
I'm not really scared to use said, but I absolutely HATE it beyond all reason. I hear it so hard in audio that it kills all enjoyment for the story. Every time I hear said it makes my teeth grit. It's probably a me thing but to me said is never invisible. Granted, some people don't abuse it as much as others but there was a lit RPG that was 'said' every single time and my eye twitches wouldn't stop, and when I tried to listen to the audio it was so much worse. I kinda feel that particular one is a style thing. Though I agree warily/exalted/ or some really weird burst of language is just as eye twitching. But whispered, snapped, screamed those have a different feel to them
However, I learned a lot from this. I think my dialogue is going to be a lot better in the future because of this video and understanding how to tighten it and focus only on the important stuff. I've got my outline fleshed out and ready to go 4k for the first time ever for NaNo, I have never prepped before and always pantsed it, which has made editing take MONTHS. So following your guides so far I'm all prepared and ready to go and I can't thank you enough for this series!
As for another topic? Pacing please! And also possibly in the future writing a strong female character without defaulting to 'sassy'?
📊🖍️
✍️📚❤️