Book Review: Dialogue

Robert McKee's popular writing workshops have earned him an international reputation. The list of alumni with Oscars runs off the page. The cornerstone of his program is his singular book, Story, which has defined how we talk about the art of story creation.

Now, in Dialogue, McKee offers the same in-depth analysis for how characters speak on the screen, on the stage, and on the page in believable and engaging ways. From Macbeth to Breaking Bad, McKee deconstructs key scenes to illustrate the strategies and techniques of dialogue. Dialogue applies a framework of incisive thinking to instruct the prospective writer on how to craft artful, impactful speech. Famous McKee alumni include Peter Jackson, Jane Campion, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Haggis, the writing team for Pixar, and many others.

Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for the Page, Stage and Screen was published in 2016 by Twelve, an imprint of Hachette Books.

I heard about McKee and his books through Writing Theory (a writing YouTube channel I follow). Based on a glowing recommendation, I decided to check this one out. When it comes to dialogue in my writing, I can always use helpful guidance.

McKee covers a broad range of topics here with plenty of detailed examples. He breaks the subject down into four sections: the art of dialogue (what it is), flaws and fixes (what we get wrong and how to avoid doing so), creating dialogue, and dialogue design (how it fits into our stories). This is a lot of lessons to absorb, so I expect that I'll be going back to these pages periodically to improve my writing as needed.