Writing Dialogue - More Authors to Study Who Are Masters of Dialogue: Sue Grafton

Couple of years ago (wow, I've been blogging here for awhile now!), I wrote about my search for authors who have mastered the art of writing great conversation.  Dialogue. 

I admit it -- setting, plot, characters: they're all with their hurdles.  Dialogue downright intimidates me. 

So, imagine my surprise when I'm reading Sue Grafton's latest, U is for Undertow, and realize just how much of the story is (you guessed it) dialogue.  Great stuff, too.  I surf around on Grafton as a writer, seeking to learn more about her writing - besides the ABC series, I've read all of them just like you. 

Voila.  Grafton worked in Hollywood, writing screenplays before she decided to write mysteries as a way to escape the Hollywood system.  Good for her, great for us.

So, in addition to those authors that I listed in September 2008 as authors who have mastered the art of writing dialogue, I must add Sue Grafton.  Wow, she's great at it. 

(And Sue Grafton's got a really cool web site to explore, too, if you're interested.)

UPDATE:  I've finished U is for Undertow, and I think it's the best yet in Grafton's series.  If you're interested in my take on why U is worth the read (very), check out my review at Amazon. 

Reading Robert B. Parker Now ...

I don't know why I've never read any Robert B. Parker before now.

Stupid.

And, truth be told, I owe it all to Tom Selleck, because those Jesse Stone movies he's been producing and starring in -- they're specials on CBS -- made me wonder about the novels. Then, I was in line at the store and someone had stuffed one of the Jesse Stone paperbacks (Stranger in Paradise) in between the beef jerky and the King Size Snickers bars and of course, I took it as a sign.

And, sure enough it was. I love and adore Robert B. Parker.

Fast read, clean read. A true master here -- especially enjoying his dialogue. Wow. So well done, and he appears to be a member of the "use 'said' or don't use anything at all school."

Dialogue. Wow.

You know -- he said, she said. Not he cried, she exclaimed, he snarled. Dean Koontz, another one with this as a writing rule ....

I'm going through the Sunny Randall series now. From the debut forward, in publication order. And, I'm also doing this with the Jesse Stone series.

Spencer? I'm waiting on him -- that's a big buncha books, plus I dunno. I feel less connected somehow to Spencer, although I do remember the TV series from years ago, and I do remember liking the characters there. Hawk. Cool.

And, fine. I have to be honest. One of the reasons that I'm really enjoying Parker's work has nothing to do with plots or settings or character development or series construction or mysteries or thrillers or anything like that.

I love Rosie the bull terrier.

I just really like Rosie, the miniature bull terrier that splits her time between Sunny Randall and her ex-husband. Rosie is just endearing and fabulous, and well ... dog lovers are a special kind of folk, and it's nice to know that Robert B. Parker is one of us. (And, sure, I'm waiting for Jesse Stone to get his dog ... he better get one, the TV Jesse has that great golden in every story that I've seen.)

Wish Rosie had a blog, though. I mean, Martha Stewart's pugs (Francesca and Sharky) just got one, and heck. Dean Koontz's dog Trixie Koontz, has a blog AND is still writing books from the other side of Rainbow Bridge.

Who Writes the Best Dialogue?

I wanted to know which fiction writers were known for writing the best dialogue, and here's what I found - from all sorts of sources (literary agents, critics, readers, etc.) - these names were mentioned much more than once:

Elmore Leonard
Ed McBain
Robert B. Parker
Nora Roberts