Dialogue has always been one of my strengths as a writer - sometimes to my detriment.
The last book I started about a high school girl that goes from least to most popular was virtually all dialogue before I dropped the story. It was nothing but talking heads moving from one contrived location to another.
I’m pretty happy with the dialogue in “Backstreet Disneyland” because I set out to frame the action before I ever thought about what the characters would say - trusting that my dialogue strengths would shine through when I needed them later.
That approach allowed me to figure out a voice for each character before grafting dialogue onto their nascent personality. It also forced me to focus on the action - one of my storytelling weaknesses.
With the dialogue introduced later in the writing process I was able to have my characters express themselves in concise yet conversational ways. I constantly found myself editing down the dialogue to the bare minimum - cutting away exposition that was better handled by the narrator and letting my characters speak in shorter bursts like real people do.
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Sample chapters
Prologue: Once Upon a Time
Chapter 1: Wonderful World of Disney
Chapter 2: A Whole New World
Chapter 3: Exile on Main Street USA
Chapter 4: Evil Plans
Chapter 5: Real Princesses of Disneyland
Chapter 6: Action Figure
Chapter 7: Code R
Chapter 8: Common Foes
Chapter 9: Peace, Love & Mickey
Chapter 10: Operation Death Star
Chapter 11: Frozen Ever After
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