A review by disislavydra
Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen by Robert McKee

informative inspiring

4.0

I find this book's language a bit thick and dry, and it takes effort to get the author's point sometimes. A lot of concepts and techniques could use more detailed explanation with more examples. However, the amount of knowledge and analysis of a single topic "Dialogue..." provides is incredibly valuable. It goes far beyond the typical advises like "have conflict" and "let the characters speak in a unique way". It dissects dialogue from multiple angles, from the very surface level (how should your characters' speech differ) to the very depths I doubt many authors go while writing (breaking scenes down to beats with detailed changes in conflict and underlying values). It is a burst of knowledge I wish I had when I was just starting writing, but I doubt I would've appriciated back then.