Now I'm a bit of a weirdo as many writers can be and while I love advice, I worry about a bit of advice that can seriously detract from a story.
Although often frowned upon, dialogue can be the mainstay of any story or novel. As a former magazine publisher, I love tales centered on dialogue. The readers loved them and better still film makers loved them. They are easy to adapt. Thomas Harris suggests "the coffee shop" approach and he has sold the odd book or forty million. On our payroll we had a very shy writer who found it difficult to talk in public, but he had an imagination that could build mountains from dust. To learn dialogue, I sent him to a Pub where he sat all night with a glass of water (didn't drink) and just listened. A month later Robert Anderson sent me "From the Top" A short story about an extra-terrestrial invasion that all takes place in telephone conversations. I published it in both "Wondrous Tales" and "Astounding stories, Amazing Tales" It was bought by "Interzone" (if you don't know sci-fi, you may not have heard of it, but it is the top Sci-fi mag) It is now in pre-production for a film and there is talk of a TV series.
Also, I wish to mention cliches. I agree with all people say about using them but cliches have a Sisyphus complex. One day they are not fashionable and the next they make a resurgence. Back in the nineteen thirties (it seemed) every "Blues" song started with the line "I woke up one morning", (da, da, da da. twelve bar blues) now the line evokes that feeling. Another cliche "the ghost of Christmas past" now you already have Dickens in your head, Scrooge, tiny Tim, poverty, dark skies, cobbled streets. Cliches have a way of conjuring a feeling within a reader. A trick too rarely used in my opinion.
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