The Art of Being Quiet: Listening Your Way to Great Dialogue with Maddy Accalia
Book ticketsDate
Tuesday 10 November 2026
Time
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Costs
£9
Location
Idea Store Whitechapel, 321 Whitechapel Rd, London E1 1BU
Please email for any further access needs here
Have you ever felt scared of writing dialogue? Do your characters often sound similar? Join playwright and novelist Maddy Accalia for a deep-dive into dialogue and listening your way there.
Using verbatim text, voice recordings and (optional!) blindfolds, the art of being quiet: listening your way to great dialogue provides writers with accessible and alternative tools to ‘listen’ their way to their characters’ voices and shake the fear around getting characters talking.
Writers will draw on their work-in-progress manuscripts to explore and develop their characters voices, gaining valuable peer-feedback and confidence to put more speech on the page.
What will you do in the workshop?
Writers will identify iconic lines of dialogue, explore verbatim speech patterns and hear speech from an under-developed character in their manuscript read aloud. We will work as a whole group and in pairs, and there will be opportunity for group discussion and peer feedback.
What can participants expect?
The workshop will involve writing dialogue and draw on characters in your work-in-progress manuscript, so please bring either a laptop or notebook and pen, and an idea of which of your characters voices you would like to develop.
Who is this opportunity for?
This workshop is for people who have started a novel or short story collection. You don’t need to have a completed first draft, but you should have a good understanding of your characters, their relationships with each other, and the world they inhabit.
Bursary places
We have 5 free bursary places available for writers on a low income. We define this as either earning on or below the London Living Wage and/or in receipt of benefits (e.g. Universal Credit). If you would like to request a bursary place please email hello@londonwriterscentre.org.uk with details of your eligibility for a bursary by Friday 6th November 2026.
Access Needs
If you require BSL interpretation, and/or have other access needs please email hello@londonwriterscentre.org.uk so we can accommodate you.
