Gloria Kempton

Dialogue belongs to a series of craft manuals for working writers and does one job thoroughly: how people actually speak on a page, how to carry information without one character explaining the plot to another who already knows it, and what a conversation is doing when the important part is underneath it. Kempton has taught writing for decades, worked as an editor, and coaches writers privately, which is what the book leads to. It gets used in workshops because it is specific rather than inspirational.