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mary rosenblum
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Hello all! I hope you had a
good weekend!
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mary rosenblum
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This is the Tuesday Forum with
me, Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. Today
we're talking about dialogue. If you're new here, remember that you need to
click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen, or use the ask a question icon in order to
ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! You can also type
/ask in front of your question to reach me.
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mary rosenblum
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I wanted to talk about
dialogue here ....we haven't talked about it in some time...
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mary rosenblum
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because it seems to be
something that novice writers have a lot of trouble with in general.
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mary rosenblum
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A few basics will really help
you create something that sounds like real human conversation!
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pook
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Can you recommend some reading
with good dialogue?
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mary rosenblum
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Well, pook, in the genre you
prefer to read in, the well written books will include good dialogue.
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mary rosenblum
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A lot of novice writers tend
to do 'overkill' on the tag lines...the 'he said' type endings that label
the speaker.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember that you do not need
to use a tag line for every single spoken line. If you do that, you achieve
an effect knows as ping-pong dialogue.
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mary rosenblum
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The tag lines begin to create
that regular tock..tock...tock... rhythm of a ping pong ball bouncing
across the net. Sounds VERY phony.
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mary rosenblum
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You need only so many tag
lines as will keep the speaker clear in the reader's mind.
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mary rosenblum
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So if you have two people
talking, you need fewer tag lines than if you have a crowd chattering.
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mary rosenblum
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And if one of your speakers
has a very distinctive voice, you need fewer tag lines than if your two
characters sound like clones...
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mary rosenblum
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(aha...yet ANOTHER reason to
work on distinctive voices for your characters).
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mary rosenblum
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And you can go for about three
lines of 'stripped'...ie tag-less dialogue...
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mary rosenblum
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before your readers begin to
get confused.
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mary rosenblum
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If you want a great example of
why you need to pay attention to dialogue punctuation and tags...
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mary rosenblum
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try 'All the Pretty Horses' by
Cormac McCarthy.
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mary rosenblum
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He is very upfront about his
intention to make the reader work, and he sure does.
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mary rosenblum
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He uses little or no
punctuation and fills pages with stripped dialogue that sends nearly every
reader, including me, back to reread and count lines in order to figure out
who is talking.
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mary rosenblum
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You know, there are some
writers who do that sort of thing, and they give their reasons...in a lofty
tone...that they don't want readers to glide through their books...
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mary rosenblum
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they want readers to work and
pay attention. But you know what?
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mary rosenblum
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McCarthy wrote a good story in
Pretty Horses, but its impact on me was vastly diminished because I had to
pay so much attention to the mechanics of language.
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mary rosenblum
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I certainly NOTICED his
language and I used him a lot as an example for students...a negative
example, actually...
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mary rosenblum
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-)
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mary rosenblum
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I guess it depends on what
your goal is when you write.
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chris bailey
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Is there a standard rythm that
is typical of good dialogue?
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mary rosenblum
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Good question, chris...!
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mary rosenblum
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This is the Tuesday Forum with
me, Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. Today
we're talking about dialogue. If you're new here, remember that you need to
click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red
question mark at the top of the screen, or use the ask a question icon in
order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! You can
also type /ask in front of your question to reach me.
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mary rosenblum
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Actually, you want a standard
'non-rhythm' for your dialogue.
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mary rosenblum
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Of course, each of us has our
own rhythms to our speech, made up of word choices -- simple or
comples...subject verb order...complete sentences versus fragments...
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mary rosenblum
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that sort of thing.
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mary rosenblum
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But our speech reflects our
emotional state and you need to create that reflection in your story.
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mary rosenblum
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Someone who is relaxed and not
under pressure will probably speak in his or her natural rhythm.
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mary rosenblum
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But as that character becomes
stressed, the rhythm tends to change. A nervous person may chatter on in
long, run on sentences.
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mary rosenblum
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As an argument builds, the
character's comments may become shorter and sharper.
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mary rosenblum
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Someone in fear may use only
fragments, most of his/her mind is fixed on survival...
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mary rosenblum
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And you can use your dialogue
to help build your dramatic arc to its peak within a scene...
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mary rosenblum
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Characters, at the low point
in the arc, may speak naturally, but as they approach the
climax...something is happening, they are arguing...
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mary rosenblum
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their lines may come more
quickly, you may use many less tags and hit your peak with a stripped
exchange of terse comments.
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mary rosenblum
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That change in the rhythm of
speech helps create the sense of rising tension in the scene.
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mary rosenblum
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A character under extreme
stress who uses long, complex, multi-clausal sentences that are identical
to the way she speaks when she's NOT under stress will sound...wrong to the
reader's ear.
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mary rosenblum
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And that's one of the main
reasons novice writers read over their dialogue and think...why doesn't
this sound right?
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mary rosenblum
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The character speaks the same
way no matter what is going on .
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mary rosenblum
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Think about it. YOU don't do
that. Neither do I.
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mary rosenblum
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Think about a scene where a
man has just been shot and our POV, who happens to be a doctor, is on the
scene.
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mary rosenblum
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Here are two choices of spoken
lines for our Dr. :
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mary rosenblum
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"I'd like everyone to
stand back now and give me room. I'm a doctor and I can help this man.
While I'm working on him, someone should call an ambulance.
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mary rosenblum
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How much tension and drama
does this reflect?
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mary rosenblum
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Or we can have our Dr. say it
this way.
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mary rosenblum
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"Get back, get out of my
way." He dropped to his knees beside the writhing man. "Someone
call 911, damnit."
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gail
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This idea, the change of
character dialogue within various situations seems likes it holds great
potential for deeper-development of characters. (IE: An unstressed
character may be very charming, but stressed they become someone quite
different, etc.)
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mary rosenblum
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Absolutely, gail....and that's
why dialogue is so critical.
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mary rosenblum
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Dialogue IS characterization.
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mary rosenblum
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When you meet a stranger...how
do you start deciding what this person is like?
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mary rosenblum
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You get a visual impression of
his personal sanitary habits and clothes...is he clean, are his clothes
new, are they 'starndard' or a weird costume?
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mary rosenblum
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But mostly, you LISTEN to that
person. Her word choices, level of vocabulary , and grammatical
construction tell you a lot about that person.
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mary rosenblum
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Every word falling from that
person's lips fills in back story.
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mary rosenblum
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If you don't use that tool,
not only will your characterization seem thin to your reader (your street
kid talks a lot like someone with a middle class worldview and a college
education)...
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mary rosenblum
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but your dialogue will sound
wrong because it doesn't fit the character.
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mary rosenblum
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I recently got a story from a
very talented student of mine, and by the end of the first page I was ready
to really get on her case about her dialogue...
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mary rosenblum
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because she had a bunch of
ragged denizens of some work camp in the cold talking like well educated
and wealthy people...
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mary rosenblum
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and guess what...they WERE.
They were the elite, sent to Siberia when the Czar of Russia was
overthrown.
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mary rosenblum
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But because she didn't make
this clear on page one...the dialogue sounded utterly wrong.
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mary rosenblum
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A simple change on page one
brought that 'wrong' dialogue back into perspective and then it was fine.
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mary rosenblum
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Your reader is listening to
that character, and if that cowboy speaks with the graduate student's
voice...one of those two characters is misplaced and your reader...
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mary rosenblum
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gets this strange sense of
'double exposure'. Which do I believe? The cowboy or the graduate student?
And the characterization fails.
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mary rosenblum
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Most of the time, what you
write as dialogue is probably fine, it's the contradiction of the character
that makes it sound wrong.
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mary rosenblum
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This is the Tuesday Forum with
me, Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. Today
we're talking about dialogue. If you're new here, remember that you need to
click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen, or use the ask a question icon in order to
ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! You can also type
/ask in front of your question to reach me.
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mary rosenblum
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I got a question from Jason
via email.
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mary rosenblum
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What is the best method when
character "A" wants to tell to character "B" a long
story of his past? Is it best to have character "A" tell it in a
long drawn out dialogue to character "B"? Or is it better in a
narritive form? If in narrative, then what is the best way to transition
from dialogue to narrative and still have it seem like the character
"A" is telling the story to character "B"?
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mary rosenblum
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Actually, it's going to depend
entirely on what works best in the context of that particular story, Jason.
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mary rosenblum
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If the story leading up to the
tale about the past is slow, then a long narrative may not be your best
choice...
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mary rosenblum
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unless that narrative is VERY
engaging. Your story may simply read 'flat'.
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mary rosenblum
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It might be better to bring
that story of the past in as bits and pieces woven into strong action.
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mary rosenblum
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OR you could even approach it
as a flashback, where the narrating mc takes us directly back to relive
that event...
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mary rosenblum
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Or you can do the story in
first person and let the mc tell us this as he/she tells us what is going
on.
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mary rosenblum
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That choice is going to depend
on how long the story from the past is, relative to the rest of the story.
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mary rosenblum
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While I prefer to write
limited third person POV in fiction, I will choose to use first person POV
if I know that my MC is going to do an awful lot of telling things to other
people...or thinking, for that matter.
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mary rosenblum
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It is tricky to create smooth
transitions from the action of the current story into that narrative about
the past, and then back to your current story again.
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mary rosenblum
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Doesn't mean you can't do it,
but it will take more work on your part to keep the reader engaged.
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chris bailey
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What exercises would you
recommend to break out of the habit of formalized speech. Due to the curse
of finishing school and a conservative childhood, I typically speak without
slang of any type. Often I find it difficult to give voice to an uneducated
characters.
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mary rosenblum
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It IS difficult, Chris. One
excellent way is to simply listen to other people talk. Eavesdrop! I LOVE
long bus rides, food courts in malls, waiting at airports.
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mary rosenblum
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I find someone who is chatting
with another person and I simply listen.
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mary rosenblum
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(think of this next time
you're talking on your cell phone in public or to your friend..I may be
listening to you! )
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mary rosenblum
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I pay attention to the starts
and stops, the inserted placeholders (uh, and, that sort of thing)...
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mary rosenblum
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and I store that 'recording'
somewhere in my 'character file brain'.
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mary rosenblum
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When I have that elderly
Jewish character with the New York accent, I remember that woman who was
chatting to the lady behind the bakery counter and I summon her up.
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mary rosenblum
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Then I use her style of speech
for my character.
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mary rosenblum
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It's very useful to remember a
real person talking and ask yourself...how would that person say this?
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mary rosenblum
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I do that especially when I
have child characters.
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mary rosenblum
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Too many novice writers have
children as characters who not only use adult HS or higher language, but
see the world through adult eyes...
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mary rosenblum
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without the back story to
justify that adult perspective.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember...a critical part of
dialogue is not just 'what words would my character use', but 'how does my
character think about this?'.
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mary rosenblum
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When a ten year old starts
thinking about how Mommy has a self esteen problem and should probably seek
help from a counselor...in THOSE words...
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mary rosenblum
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I hear the author speaking not
the ten year old!
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mary rosenblum
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And while, yes, you can create
a ten year old who could think in those terms...if you do not create that
sophisticated kid on the page...
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mary rosenblum
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your readers only know the ten
year old next door who wouldn't know self esteem problems from a hole in
the ground where Mommy is concerned.
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mary rosenblum
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Just as you reveal YOUR
backstory to everyone with every word that falls from your lips...
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mary rosenblum
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if you don't keep your
character's back story firmly in mind, his/her dialogue will reveal...YOUR
backstory!
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mary rosenblum
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YOU are the default.
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shelli
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I'm creating a character who
feels one way and acts another, do you have any advice on how I can get
that across to the reader?
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, cool, shelli...that's an
instant and effective bit of character dissonance that can really work well
for you.
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mary rosenblum
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It's easy to do... Dialogue is
a tripod. Always remember that.
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mary rosenblum
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You don't JUST speak words to
your conversational partner. Think about it.
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mary rosenblum
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As you speak, you notice that
person's body language...does she 'get' what I'm telling her? Is she
getting angry? Bored?
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mary rosenblum
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And you also THINK...and
frequently don't voice those thoughts.
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mary rosenblum
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Sylvia may be clucking
sympathetically and agreeing with Mildred that Bob is a jerk...
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mary rosenblum
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but as she does so, her
thoughts may be more along the line of...'if you didn't nag him all the
time he might spend more time at home and less in the bar.
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mary rosenblum
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As long as your conflicted
character is your POV, it's easy to slip those thoughts into his or her
actions or dialogue...
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mary rosenblum
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AND you can do it even if that
character is NOT a point of view character and the readers don't have
access to his/her thoughts.
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mary rosenblum
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Instead of violating POV and
simply showing us that characters' thoughts...
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mary rosenblum
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let the POV character guess,
or simply show us body language that tips us off that this character is
lying or keeping something from us.
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mary rosenblum
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"Of course I'll back you
up." Bob's gaze slid away. "You can count on me."
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mary rosenblum
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Would you believe Bob? Me, I'd
take that sliding gaze to mean that maybe he's not so sure to back up our
character.
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jr souza jr
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James N. Frey in one of his How
to wrote books suggested writing out a characters back story and
socioloogy, phsycology and so forth (basic advice from many good books) but
went a step further and suggested writing journal pages as this character,
this is a great way to get a feel and devlopmnet for th character and how
they sound.
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mary rosenblum
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Absolutely, jr. And it's an
exercise in the upcoming novel course, too...
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mary rosenblum
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you get to interview your
character.
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mary rosenblum
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When you're starting out, it's
a very good idea to write a page of monologue in your character's voice.
Let him or her ramble on about whatever...
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mary rosenblum
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And when you've been away from
your story for a period of time, reread that monologue before you begin
writing again. That way, your character's voice will be fresh in your
mind..
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mary rosenblum
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and you won't find lapses in
his/her voice when you've finished.
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mary rosenblum
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But that is the real reason
that it is worth creating an extensive bio for your character.
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mary rosenblum
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Mostly it is so that they
speak, think, and act consistently.
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mary rosenblum
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If they don't, then they are
nothing but a plot puppet and the reader knows it.
|
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mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me, Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. Today
we're talking about dialogue. If you're new here, remember that you need to
click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question
mark at the top of the screen, or use the ask a question icon in order to
ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! You can also type
/ask in front of your question to reach me.
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gail
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Aside from the actual language
used, the dialogue can enhance or detract from a character if the context
of what is said doesn't match the the psychological profile created for
him/her. This drives me nuts when I read something incongruous like that.
Can you recommend any good books that can aid me in getting the
psych-profile to be the most plausible it can be?
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mary rosenblum
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Well, Orson Scott Card's
Character and Characterization is a good one, gail.
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mary rosenblum
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But essentially, if you know
your character thoroughly, you'll know enough about that person's
personality that he/she will act and think consistently.
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mary rosenblum
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And by thoroughly, I mean
THOROUGHLY. Where was he born? What was her home life like? How did Mom
treat her? Dad? What drives her in life? A need to be accepted? A need to
succeed? A search for approval?
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mary rosenblum
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What is her self image? What
is his greatest fear?
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mary rosenblum
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and on and on and on....
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pook
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When cgaracters are based on
real people, but you don't know everything about them, and you have to make
it up...I get confused.
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mary rosenblum
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If your characters are based
on real people, the part you make up needs to be consistent with the part
you DO know, pook.
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mary rosenblum
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say we know that this real
character Betty, is a serious Christian, very easy going, a friend to all
the neighborhood kids, always helps with Church activities.
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mary rosenblum
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We can probably assume that
she likes animals, feeds the wild birds, will visit the sick, and will help
out a child who has a problem, as long as she can stay within her Christian
values.
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mary rosenblum
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We'll also probably assume
that she came from a stable family and has a good relationship with her
parents and sibklings.
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darin
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What about using other words
than 'said'. Good? Or not?
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, thanks, Darin....my pet
peeve. :-) Let me not forget...
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mary rosenblum
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Darin is, I think, talking
about 'saidisms'..that list of 'other words to use instead of said' that
your HS English teacher probably gave you.
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mary rosenblum
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If you still have it, TOSS IT!
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mary rosenblum
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Said is an invisible word.
Readers just don't notice it...until you use it too often..
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mary rosenblum
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and then it begins to clang
like a bell. BUT...using 'stuttered, announced, proclaimed' and so forth..
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mary rosenblum
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merely draws attention to the
tag line, and let's face it, in real life we don't have tag lines. We hear
the voice speaking and identify the speaker that way.
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mary rosenblum
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So how do you make that tag
invisible but still label the speaker?
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mary rosenblum
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Action tags.
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mary rosenblum
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"I simply will not
go." Sandra flounced out of the room.
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mary rosenblum
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Who said this?
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mary rosenblum
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Obvious, eh?
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mary rosenblum
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And there is NO need to say,
'Sandra said as she flounced out of the room'.
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mary rosenblum
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Leave said out. The fact that
we see Sandra's name right after that 'I simply will not go' instantly
tells us that Sandra said it.
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mary rosenblum
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If you replace most of your
tag lines with action tags, your dialogue will improve enormously...and
it's a great way to integrate narrative into dialogue.
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chris bailey
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Is there a general rule of thumb
for balancing dialogue and narrative? I have personal preferences as a
reader but should that be reflecitve in my writing? Or are the guidlines to
keep in mind?
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mary rosenblum
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There's no real 'rule' here,
chris. Balance is a subjective thing and some readers prefer more dialogue,
others prefer more narrative...
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mary rosenblum
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but ideally one should not
overwhelm the other. Pages and pages of dialogue only create a 'talking
heads' story...
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mary rosenblum
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that really lacks visual
interest and we ARE a visual species.
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mary rosenblum
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But huge paragraphs of
narrative with a single weak little line of dialogue in the middle are
going to seem ponderous at best!
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mary rosenblum
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Action tags help solve that.
You can add small bits of visual information as your characters talk,
and...
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mary rosenblum
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you can give us insights into
their emotions without bringing in actual thoughts with action tags.
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mary rosenblum
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"I told you I
would." Robyn clenched her fists.
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mary rosenblum
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what is Robyn's emotional
state?
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mary rosenblum
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And of course, in a situation
of danger or stress, a lot of narrative will dilute and soften the dramatic
tension.
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mary rosenblum
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Don't describe the lovely
meadow in detail as the heroine runs for her life from the dragon!
|
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mary rosenblum
|
This is the Tuesday Forum with
me, Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor, fiction and nonfiction writer. Today
we're talking about dialogue. If you're new here, remember that you need to
click on the 'Ask a Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red
question mark at the top of the screen, or use the ask a question icon in
order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't reach me! You can
also type /ask in front of your question to reach me.
|
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shelli
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But, that's my problem, is that
my character is a Christian wanting to do the right thing, but he came from
a very tumultuous past and it is so difficult to get that across.
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mary rosenblum
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That's where you can use a lot
of internal glimpses, shelli. Your character might have to force himself to
react to someone a certain way.
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mary rosenblum
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Maybe he really wants to punch
this jerk, but instead he forces a smile onto his face and 'turns the other
cheek'.
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mary rosenblum
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You can show us that internal
struggle while we see his external actions.
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jr souza jr
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What about using internal
monologue as a supplement to narrative. Although it can be overdone I like
to use it to let the characters provide/supplement the dialogue
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mary rosenblum
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It's a very useful tool,
especially for a conflicted character like Shelli's where his internal
thought process may be...
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mary rosenblum
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very different from his
external behavior.
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mary rosenblum
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When you can do it, let us
guess internal processes through character actions, words, or body
language.
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mary rosenblum
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When you need to do it, let us
know what is going on inside the POV's head.
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mary rosenblum
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The more complex a character,
the more glimpses of internal processes you might need to give.
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geezer
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How do you show the internal
struggle of the non-POV character if he is purposely trying to hide his
thoughts fromPOV?
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mary rosenblum
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This is where you need to
spend time watching people, geezer. I watch everybody around me all the
time. It's a habit.
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mary rosenblum
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We convey a LOT with our
bodies. Why do you think animals react to correctly to our internal mood?
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mary rosenblum
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They are very good at reading
body language. We're pretty good, too, so if you give your character the
right...
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mary rosenblum
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behavior, your reader will
guess it.
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mary rosenblum
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Of course, you can't let us
know exactly what he/she is thinking that way...
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mary rosenblum
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but we generally don't need
'exactly' we just need to guess more or less what is going on.
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mary rosenblum
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If you do need to let us know
exactly....that is a hard one to pull off...
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mary rosenblum
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You can switch POV and bump
the reader, or you can engineer..
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mary rosenblum
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a situation where the POV gets
the clue that the reader needs, but overlooks the significance of it for
himself/herself.
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ducky
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a quick look at real life is
helpful with this - It's just like this coworker I have who doesn't like me
very much. She will ask how I am, and comment if I say something, but she
won't make eye contact.
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mary rosenblum
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yep...good watching, ducky.
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mary rosenblum
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Eye contact or lack of it is a
very clear clue.
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gail
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Is it possible, or should I even
try, to inject internal dialogue for more than one character? Is it better
to stick the internal "stuff" with just the MC?
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mary rosenblum
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When you start giving us
internal insight to more than your main character you are using 'omniscient
POV'. This tends to be a very weak pov...
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mary rosenblum
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and to distance your readers
from your main character. I don't recommend it...
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mary rosenblum
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unless your story is strongly
plot driven and readers dont' really need to connect with any one
character.
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mary rosenblum
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It's better to trust your
reader to guess than to skip around from head to head...
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mary rosenblum
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to make sure that every reader
knows exactly what is going on.
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pook
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You might have a religious
character who always follows the rules, but maybe isn't always of others
feelings due to coarseness. Also people can be hypocritical. Will this look
like inconsistency to the reader?
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mary rosenblum
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ah, pook, you sure can. AND it
will indeed look like inconsistancy to the reader, unless you make that
characterization clear to the reader.
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mary rosenblum
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If your character behaves in
an uneducated and unsocialized manner...
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mary rosenblum
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we won't think it's out of
character for that person to have bad table manners and be oblivious to
social niceties...
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mary rosenblum
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but if that character speaks
and thinks like a well educated middle class person, we WILL think that
sudden oblivion about social niceties is misplaced.
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sol
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Besides, we need to give the
reader some credit to pick up on certain things.
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mary rosenblum
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That's actually what many
writers have the most trouble with...
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mary rosenblum
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readers are actually pretty
saavy. And they DO get those insinuations and planted suggestions...
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mary rosenblum
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and they DO mostly figure out
what you want 'em to figure out.
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mary rosenblum
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And this is where readers
really help. If you're not sure if you have used too much or too little
..give your story to another writer to read.
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mary rosenblum
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After that person has read it,
THEN ask if this made sense, or why the reader thinks this characater did
that.
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gail
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I've just written a short story
with several scene changes between different characters over the same,
advancing time period. I felt the scene changes might "punctuate"
the change in POV and have, therefore, used int. dialogue for the dominant
character in each scene. Will this be too confusing for the reader in the
short format?
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mary rosenblum
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It entirely depends on your
story gail. It can work or it can not work.
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mary rosenblum
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Many POV shifts do tend to
distance readers. If this is a problem...if the reader really needs to
identify personally with a character for the character-driven story to
work..
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mary rosenblum
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then these POV shifts may work
against you.
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mary rosenblum
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But if the plot drives the
story (OHenry's stories are good examples) and we don't need to personally
identify with anyone, then this might be just fine.
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sol
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Yes. It's actually surprised me
when a reader makes a comment on something that I wasn't sure was obvious
enough. It's kinda cool!
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mary rosenblum
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Yep, sol, and the more reader
feedback you get, the more you'll be able to fine tune how much explanation/back
story/etc you have to include.
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mary rosenblum
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I trust readers much more than
I did when I started.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember...readers and author
work as a team to share in the creation of that fictional universe.
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mary rosenblum
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We authors hold the
blueprints, but the readers do a lot of the construction.
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mary rosenblum
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It belongs to both of us, and
I think that's why prose will never be entirely superceeded by movies.
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sol
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I look forward to expanding,
improving, increasing my relationships in this area.
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mary rosenblum
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Writing is a continuous
learning process, sol. I don't think you ever stop learning.
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pook
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I almost always want to read the
book before I see the movie. If I see the movie then I don't want to read
the book. Are others like this?
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mary rosenblum
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I usally don't want to see the
movie after I've read the book...a full novel is way too long to translate
well to a movie and I always get cranky over what got left out.
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gail
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I was told to limit the amount
of visual description of a character, and let the dialogue (internal,
auditory, and body) build the framework of your character -- the reader
will better be able to supply their own version of that character based on
their own experience with that personality type.
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mary rosenblum
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right, gail, and in reality,
unless you shift into narrative mode and insert yourself into the story to
TELL us what your MC looks like...
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mary rosenblum
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you simply cannot give the
reader a complete description.
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mary rosenblum
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When was the last time you
observed yourself carefully or thought about your eye color or hair color?
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mary rosenblum
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Maybe if you're trying on a
dress or doing your makeup...
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mary rosenblum
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But normally, you know what
you look like, you don't think about it.
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mary rosenblum
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So you can only show a few
details to the reader.
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mary rosenblum
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Angelina reached for the vase
on the top shelf. (she's tall)
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mary rosenblum
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Brushing her blonde hair back
from her face, she slipped the six perfect roses into the cylinder of fine
crystal.
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mary rosenblum
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(she has blonde hair and it's
long)
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sol
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Exactly! This kind of
information helps me a lot! I have always worried about my lack of
character description.
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mary rosenblum
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well, you want to let the
reader create the character he or she wants to see.
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mary rosenblum
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My Angelina looks different
than your angelina!
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senicynt
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lol... I look in the mirror and
think, "Hey! I'm much skinnier and younger than this! The mirror
doesn't work! " lol
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mary rosenblum
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Yep! And while mirror looking
is kind of a cliche...you know what? Sometimes it's the best way.
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mary rosenblum
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Angelina glimpsed her
reflection in the window...Twenty pounds gone made her...svelt. She smiled
and touched one rosebud lightly. Brad sure thought so.
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bookworm4fun
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I think character description
can be overdone. John Jakes is
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mary rosenblum
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All description can by
overdone. One or two evocative words can allow the character to build an
entire set for you.
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mary rosenblum
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alpine meadow.
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sol
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Again, giving the reader credit.
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mary rosenblum
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AND giving the reader a share
in your world...then it's that reader's world, too, and that reader really
cares about it.
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mary rosenblum
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Well, this has been a fun
Oregon hour.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll post the transcript of
this in the usual place:
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mary rosenblum
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Writing Craft, Forum
Transcripts.
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mary rosenblum
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Thanks for coming! And
remember...every word a character speaks reveals who that person is.
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mary rosenblum
|
See you all for our open chat
tomorrow!
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mary rosenblum
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Drop by and say hello...same
time same station.
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mary rosenblum
|
Have a good day, all!
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