Yesterday, I had the absolute pleasure of joining Sarah Nicolas for her live talk show, PubTalk Live. I was the guest host for the episode and interviewed my pal and podcast co-host, Whitney Gardner. You can check the episode out here:

I had the great pleasure of chatting with Ben at Empires Comics last night. We discussed my upcoming release ParaNorthern as well as LIFE, my project currently on Kickstarter. Plus we chatted a bit about the writing and editing process, and I answered a few fantastic audience questions.

Check out the full interview below and be sure to show your support to a great shop!

In case you haven’t heard, I’m now offering a Writing Workshop over on my Patreon page. In my lessons, I go through some of the ins and outs of storytelling, and at the end of each lesson, I provide an exercise to explore that subject further. In addition to getting the exercise component, Patrons also get the information a week earlier than what you’re seeing here. If you’re interested in learning about writing and storytelling more, you can join in on my lesson plan (and get access to everything that came before) for $15/month.
Dialogue is something that I can struggle with from time to time. It’s something that a lot of writers struggle with. When you’re writing for someone else, even though you’re likely writing fictional characters, it’s hard not to fall into patterns where your dialogue is just how you speak. Even when I read the works of peers that I happen to actually know, it’s sometimes hard to not hear their voices when you go through it. Dialogue is a tough thing to master.
But the good thing is that you can practice and learn tips and tricks that will ultimately help you become better at writing your dialogue.
For me, while all of my characters are fictional and not based on anyone in particular, I like to think of certain people to base their dialogue and interactions on. For instance, with my story ParaNorthern, I wanted Hannah’s dialogue and interactions to be wholesome and innocent. She brings a lightheartedness to those around her and even when her friends are annoyed at her or she’s annoyed at them, she’s always finding a silver lining to the situation. Because of that, there was no better person in my life to base her interactions on than my friend Liz. Liz is sunshine personified and the only word I could ever describe her as is delightful. She brings warmth and compassion to every conversation she’s in, and when I thought of Hannah and how to make her voice unique, I knew it had to be based around Liz.
Like I said, the character herself isn’t necessarily based on Liz, but when Hannah has to make a decision in the story or has a moment with another one of the characters, I ask myself, how would Liz interact in this scenario? What sort of spin would she put on this? What words are a part of her regular vocabulary that aren’t as used in mine?
It doesn’t have to be based on someone you know. Maybe it’s based on the cadence of another fictional character that you’ve drawn inspiration from. Maybe it’s a family member. And maybe you don’t use this method at all. But for me, I find it incredibly helpful to have a frame of reference to use when it comes to building unique dialogue.
Another piece of advice that I often hear from other writers is to say your dialogue out loud. You can even try it out with another person to see how the back and forth is in real life. I could never bring myself to have another person do the dialogue with me, but I do read things out loud to help process.
This helps with stuff like natural speech patterns. Typically a person that knows someone really well wouldn’t say their name a ton when they’re talking to them. Like, my best friend wouldn’t be sitting at dinner with me constantly ending a sentence by adding my name to it. “How was your day, Stephanie?” or “Wow, that’s really exciting that you’re doing that, Stephanie!” or whatever. People that know each other well tend to use nicknames or just skip that formality altogether as a conversation continues. Watching out for little things like that can help make your dialogue more natural sounding overall.
EXERCISE AVAILABLE ON PATREON

Since this is apparently what I do now, I’m here to tell you about all the things I watched in May! It’s mostly the TV I’ve watched (my In Progress list is vast) but if you’re curious about the movies, click here.

I’m finding that I’m drawn to shows with a much shorter runtime. And I’m more willing to try something new too if it’s 30 mins or less. Pretty much everything on the above list fits that description, with the exception of Drag Race and Taskmaster.

I had completely forgotten about Shrill and devoured Seasons 2-3 in a couple of days. Same with Trying! I actually had no interest in the show but because it was short, I took a chance on it and wound up finding it completely delightful.

Shows like Bob’s Burgers and The Inbetweeners are rewatches for me. I’ve been playing a lot of Cozy Grove and Stardew Valley and I love having something on while I play on the handheld console. And the last thing I’ll mention is how great the Big Hero 6 show is! I’ve been watching that as my morning cartoon with my breakfast and coffee, and it’s well worth it.

What have you been watching lately?

The very first episode of The Caper Cast is here! Whitney and I have been working on this project for a little while and are happy to finally unveil it. See below for all the details on this episode and please be sure to listen, subscribe, and review!

Visit capercast.com to be taken to all the places you can tune into the show.

Join Whitney Gardner and Stephanie Cooke as they explore cinematic heists and discuss the ins and outs of each film they watch. For this launch episode, they discuss Guy Ritchie’s Snatch (2000) and have to have a conversation right off the bat on what is or isn’t a heist movie. Plus you’ll get introduced to our hosts and hear from our special episode sponsors. If you have a question, comment, or suggestion, you can email us at podcast@capercast.com.

Find us online:

Caper Cast is hosted by Whitney Gardner and Stephanie Cooke. It is produced by Stephanie Cooke. Our theme music is by Emily Milling (The Ultimate Creative).

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