This workshop commences instore at 10.00am (AEST)

NOTE: In registering for this event you need to include your email address.

Workshop guests - please arrive 15 minutes prior to the start. Limited to twenty seats. With booking an instore ticket your name will be on the door at Avid Reader. Avid Reader is required to use the Check In Qld App when signing in patrons to our events. You can download the Check In Qld App HERE.

Dialogue – a foundation of storytelling – is often overlooked in creative writing courses. Which is strange as most writers and editors will tell you that dialogue is the most challenging, and in turn rewarding, aspect of the storytelling process. It is also an element of writing where many writers fall short. But the art of listening, and turning that skill into authentic, compelling and plausible dialogue, can enrich your work immeasurably.

In this workshop, we’ll discuss examples of excellent dialogue and explore how and why it works so well on the page. We’ll undertake writing exercises to put ourselves in other characters’ shoes and explore how to vary dialogue in our writing. And lastly, we’ll look at the economy of dialogue – how sometimes less is more in conversations between characters. You’ll take away a set of comprehensive and insightful skills in improve and enhance the dialogue in your own writing projects.

Rebecca Starford is the author of The Imitator (2021) and Bad Behaviour (2015). Her books have been published in Australia, the UK, and the United States. She is also the publishing director and co-founder of Kill Your Darlings magazine, and a freelance editor. She is a regular teacher of creative writing. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Queensland. The limited-series adaptation of Bad Behaviour is forthcoming on Stan.

Refund Policy

If Avid Reader cancels an event, we will try to reschedule it for a later date. If we cannot reschedule the event, or if you are unable to attend on the amended date, your payment will be refunded in full. Except in special circumstances, if you cancel a booking for, or are unable to attend an event, Avid Reader cannot provide a refund.