Maria Arena

But first, let’s talk about intention. Intention is an intrinsic characteristic of great writing. Skilled writers, if you study their work for technique, are intentional writers. Each word, phrase, paragraph and punctuation mark; each aspect of a character, every event, each conversation and every setting is chosen for a purpose and for creative effect. Intentional writing, then, is one key to brilliant story. To write great dialogue requires intention. Emerging writers sometimes approach this device with a bit of a shrug. Part of the reason for this indifference lies in the fact that we use conversation as our main form of communication and, therefore, when we approach character dialogue, w