Writing dialogue: Text. Voice. Encounter. – with Linda Marshall Griffiths
How do writers create great dialogue? What makes a play come alive?
A workshop exploring how we create dialogue that sounds like talk but also flies. Dialogue is never mundane; everyday talk is scattered with interruption, stops, breaking words, and repetition. How do we create ‘talk’ that sounds real but also is composed, carved and rich? This workshop will build a toolbox of exercises that will help you compositionally create different ways of writing dialogue and discover how these different modes impact scenes and story. For writers of plays and/or fiction, we will create a place and people and experiment with variations of talk, encounter and drama. Sharpen up your dialogue writing here.
About the tutor
Linda Marshall Griffiths’ first speculative novel, The Sky is the First Thing has just been short-listed/honorary mention for the Andromeda Prize, 2025, her adaptation Saint Joan of the Anthropocene for the Prix Italia 2025, and her stage-play, The Invisible, for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting.
Her work has won a Pearson Award, Grand Prix at the Prix Marulic, BBC Single Audio Drama, Finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Theatre Award, Prix Marulic, Tinniswood Award, Arias, MEN Best New Play and the Yale Drama Series.
She is currently writing speculative fiction, stories about climate change, love and AI, and doing contemporary mash-ups of classic texts for stage and audio. She has a PhD in silence.
About First Tuesday Writers
First Tuesday Writers is here to keep your writing fresh. Taking place on the first Tuesday of every month, each 90 minute session offers a deep dive into a writer’s creative world – designed to challenge and energise you, and lead you to new creative discoveries.
Every writer and every form of writing has something unique that we can learn and put to use in our own work. These workshops are all opportunities to learn from radically diverse writers – including poets, bloggers, crime writers and much more. Drop in for one or two events or sign up to them all: either way, you’ll leave buzzing, and ready to do your best and most innovative work.
Low cost places available
We believe the price of our courses should never be a barrier to your learning. If you are unable to pay for a place on this event, contact us to apply for a bursary place.