Creative Writing Masterclass on Dialogue

Lots of people really enjoy writing dialogue.’

‘And people love reading it.’

‘It’s hard to get it right though, isn’t it?’

‘Begorrah, it is, to be sure.’

‘For instance, in attempting to give someone an accent, you can fall into embarrassing stereotypes.’

‘Some writers allow the dialogue tag to carry more weight than the actual dialogue,’ she yelled furiously.

‘And others dump dull information into dialogue that either isn’t necessary or goes on far too long when dialogue should be short and snappy, you can’t write how people talk in real life or it comes out, er, like weird, uh, or something.’

‘I wish there was a masterclass where we could test out and hone our dialogue.’

Beth Miller is the author of seven novels, including the bestselling The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright (2020). Her most recent novel The Friendship List was published in summer 2025 while The Woman Who Came Back to Life (2022), was published in seven languages. She has also published two non-fiction books about Shakespeare and the Archers. She is a subject tutor on the Creative Writing MA and MFA at West Dean College, and a regular tutor for Arvon. She works as a writing mentor and book coach for writers at all stages. She has a PhD in Psychology.

The session will be held at the Jubilee Library in Brighton and will run from 10:15-16:15 with an hour for lunch. The venue is fully accessible, near the train station and bus routes and with plenty of options for lunch (including bringing your own). If you have any specific needs to enable you to access the workshop, please do Contact Cathy Hayward - cathy@creativewritingprogramme.org.uk

The workshop is part of a series of one-day masterclasses held in the Easter and summer holidays. They are open to existing students on the Creative Writing Programme and other writers looking to improve specific areas of their writing craft.