DPW Podcast #184: Solid Tips For Writing Dialogue Better Than Stephen King

Meet
Our Hosts

Caleb James K.

Caleb James K. is the former Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal, Drunken Pen Writing, and the host of the DPW Podcast. He’s also a fiction writer, poet, and aspiring novelist.

Spencer Church

A former aspiring comic book artist, Spencer is the cohost of the DPW Podcast as well as a short story writer and avid reader.


We kick things off with a rant about people who boycott art they were never going to purchase in the first place—especially the jerks who try to cancel books even though they don’t read.

After that, we settle into a fun discussion about writing good dialogue. This begins with David Foster Wallace’s opinion on Stephen King’s method for writing dialogue and why Wallace thought King wrote below his capabilities for the sake of quantity over quality. 

This leads us to the meat of the matter in how we write dialogue in our work. We give a bunch of great tips and examples from great writers and how they go about crafting realistic dialogue. 

A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book Two Drunken Pen Writing Podcast

In today's Murakami Minute, we discuss Book Two of 1Q84. A lot of bizarre things occur in this book, but nothing quite like what might be the worst sex scenes we've ever read! Book Two features plenty of murder, cats, and super erections. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @dpwpodcast. You can check out Caleb's work at http://www.calebjamesk.com. 
  1. A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book Two
  2. #229: How To Fix Bad Writing And A Secret Book Club
  3. A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book One
  4. DBS #141: Discussing The Best Non-Superhero Comics Of The 2020s
  5. #228: Keeping The Pace

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