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mary rosenblum
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Hello all!
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mary rosenblum
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I hope you had a great
Christmas and/or are enjoying the Chanukah celebration...
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mary rosenblum
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or have just enjoyed the
lights and festivities.
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mary rosenblum
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I find it VERY hard to believe
that 2006 is lying in wait just a few days from now.
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mary rosenblum
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I think I"m still back in
October somewhere....
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mary rosenblum
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That's what happens when you
liive in a part of the country with only two seasons.
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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 ‘inside-speak’. 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 in your regular send bar to reach me.
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mary rosenblum
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For some reason, my family
tends to give me books as presents. Can't think why. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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And I've run into a masterful
piece of characterization...
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mary rosenblum
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where the first person
narrator is mentally ill...a schizophrenic.
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mary rosenblum
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The challenges of doing first
person with someone who is mentally ill and of course has NO clue that he
is...
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mary rosenblum
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is pretty impressive and this
author does an impressive job.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not a light read and is a
pretty disturbing book overall...historical set in the War of the Roses.
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mary rosenblum
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But I recommend it.
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mary rosenblum
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As Meal Loves Salt by Maria
McCann.
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mary rosenblum
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It has kept me reading until
WAY past my bedtime two nights in a row...
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mary rosenblum
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which is HIGH praise from me.
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mary rosenblum
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It's a fine example of a
negative protagonist,too.
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mary rosenblum
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Oops...As Meat Loves Salt.
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geezer
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Why did she give it that name do
you think?
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mary rosenblum
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It comes from a fable about a
daughter and father and her misunderstood love for him.
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mary rosenblum
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It suits the story.
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mary rosenblum
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I wanted to talk about insider
speak today.
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mary rosenblum
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I'm going to be on quite a few
panels at a small writers conference in February...
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mary rosenblum
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and two of them involve how to
get things right for your readers.
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mary rosenblum
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And this brought me to the
topic....I see this problem a lot with novice writers, and was certainly
guilty of it...
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mary rosenblum
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myself when I first started
writing.
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janecj333
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title's reminiscent of Like
Water For Chocolate
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mary rosenblum
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It is, jane, and that may not
be a coincidence. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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But the book sure is not.
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mary rosenblum
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Actually, I was laughing over
the 'year of the simile title'.
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cherley
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Where is con?
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mary rosenblum
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Richland WA, cherley.
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mary rosenblum
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It's a little SF con.
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mary rosenblum
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The problem that a lot of
novice writers have is that they give their MC an interesting profession...
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mary rosenblum
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but they fail to give that
person the professional language.
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mary rosenblum
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Insider speak.
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mary rosenblum
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And that is part of
characterization.
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mary rosenblum
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It is also something that will
hold a reader even if that reader is not familiar with that profession.
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mary rosenblum
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It makes that character sound
'real'.
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cherley
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Know what you mean read
something the other day was suppose to be a 6 year old talked like a
college student
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mary rosenblum
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Yeah, that's a real issue with
child POVs, cherley.
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mary rosenblum
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I see that a lot when students
write YA.
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mary rosenblum
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Your character's language is
the primary tool for characterization...
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mary rosenblum
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and too often novice writers
don't give a thought to how that character speaks.
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mary rosenblum
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Doctors do not talk like
non-doctors among themselves. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Horse trainers, atheletes,
soldiers all have their own vocabulary...
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mary rosenblum
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Each profession has its own
'insider speak' and if you want your character to seem real, you need to
find out what that is.
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mary rosenblum
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Or at least know enough of it
that you can make your character seem plausible.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember....you are after
verisimilitude not actual reality here. Or we'd never finish our research!
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mary rosenblum
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Verisimilitude means the
similarity to truth, the appearance of reality.
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janecj333
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because I write adventure, my
main character is involved in his/her profession only superficially, but
mostly getting shot at, knifed or lost in a prehistoric-looking fern grove
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, but as a veteran
SF/fantasy writer I can tell you that you still need that insider speak.
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mary rosenblum
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Your character does not live
in your here and now unless your fantasy is set in the contemporary world.
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mary rosenblum
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So when you write sf/fantasy
you end up creating that insider speak along with the world and the
character.
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mary rosenblum
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It's hard work, but a lot of
fun, too.
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mary rosenblum
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What's even more cool is when
you see other writers later, using your creations as accepted vocabulary.
:-)
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mary rosenblum
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Means you did a good job.
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mary rosenblum
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Creating that vocabulary is a
subtle woof thread in the tapestry of your created world...
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mary rosenblum
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but it's one that stands out
and may make the difference between a sale and no sale...
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mary rosenblum
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since most new writers don't
do it. Or don't do it well.
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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 ‘inside-speak’. 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 in your regular send bar to reach me.
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mary rosenblum
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The difficulty of course is
how do you learn it?
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mary rosenblum
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Ideally, talk to someone who
IS in that profession.
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mary rosenblum
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I always check with my friend
who was an ER doc before she became a SF writer.
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mary rosenblum
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She tells me if I get my
doctor-speak right.
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janecj333
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that's what I worry
about...derivative of a derivative...and you do see that ie the ansible,
skyhook, warp speed, and I dont like the look of a lot of it
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mary rosenblum
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Depends on what you're using
and how good the original vocabulary is.
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mary rosenblum
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We have cyberspace and a host
of very workable vocabulary courtesy of Bill Gibson.
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mary rosenblum
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Ansible is pretty proprietary.
:-) I've only seen LeGuin use it.
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mary rosenblum
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sky hook came and went...some
vocabulary is more universal than others.
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mary rosenblum
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And you don't have to USE it.
I tend to invent my own and then chuckle when someone else uses it. LOL
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mary rosenblum
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If you don't know someone who
lives in the profession that your MC belongs to, you can get a sense of how
that person talk/thinks about what he/she does.
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mary rosenblum
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A good way is hunting down
personal narratives or fiction written by that person.
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mary rosenblum
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Now a caveat here.
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mary rosenblum
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using fiction using a MC with
the same profession is iffy.
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mary rosenblum
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IF that author got it right
and you use it, you get it right, too.
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mary rosenblum
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But very often writers do NOT
get it right or bother to try.
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mary rosenblum
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And then if you copy that
book...you get it wrong, too.
|
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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 ‘inside-speak’. 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 in your regular send bar to reach me.
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janecj333
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war memoirs are amazing sources
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mary rosenblum
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They sure are, jane.
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mary rosenblum
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And when I was researching an
antarctic story, I read a memoir from a chopper pilot who flew supplies
down there...
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mary rosenblum
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and a couple from researchers
who had been stationed down there.
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mary rosenblum
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What I did was to pick out the
common, overlapping usages.
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mary rosenblum
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Some themes and vocabulary
were very pervasive.
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mary rosenblum
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The payoff is big.
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mary rosenblum
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If your reader reads about
your professional oil geologist and he does just about what you'd expect
him to do and say, oh well...
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mary rosenblum
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that's nice.
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mary rosenblum
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But if he uses unexpected
vocabularly, talks about his job in a way that you don't expect...
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mary rosenblum
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then the author has just
opened a window into a new and exotic world...
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mary rosenblum
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Readers tend to believe in
that world.
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mary rosenblum
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If your lawyer talks about her
day on the job just about what you'd expect as someone who is not a lawyer
and whose exposure to law has been Perry Mason...
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mary rosenblum
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the character's background
doesn't add much. Ho hum.
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mary rosenblum
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If that MC talks and thinks
and acts like someone with a busy caseload, maybe specializing in corporate
law..
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mary rosenblum
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then that person's job seems
real.
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mary rosenblum
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We learn things, we get a
glimpse through the window and think 'oh, big world and I didn't know it
existed'.
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mary rosenblum
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And of course if you don't get
it right and someone reads it who DOES work in that profession...
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mary rosenblum
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you shatter your reader/writer
contract completely.
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cherley
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Do you need to be careful not to
get too technical/too much professional language?
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mary rosenblum
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Absolutely.
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mary rosenblum
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It's a double edged sword and
brings me back to that iceberg analogy.
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mary rosenblum
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You need to know the entire
iceberg if you can...
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mary rosenblum
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but all the reader sees is the
peak.
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mary rosenblum
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Ideally, your reader needs to
figure out that vocabulary and those actions from context.
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mary rosenblum
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You do NOT NOT NOT want to
stop, intrude as Author Voice, and explain.
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mary rosenblum
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A naive character is always a
plus...someone who can ask questions.
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cherley
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Thought so, cause I read a
pretty good story the other day after I skipped all the tech jargon, way
too much of it.
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, a host of fifties SF
suffered from that, LOL.
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mary rosenblum
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But a naive character can ask
questions. Makes the job SO much easier.
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mary rosenblum
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I often plot a naive
intentionally into the story for the purpose of making the tech easier to
layer in.
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mary rosenblum
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Of course your naive needs to
be integral to the plot.
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mary rosenblum
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If your professional is gonna
use a lot of jargon that your readers may not know...
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mary rosenblum
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it will take you a lot more
work to construct scenes that reveal the tech through action/dialogue.
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janecj333
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it's that deep "you're an
outsider" milieu, however, in Clancy and Grisham novels that turns me
off...I will never read a submarine thriller where every other word is a
command, sailor shorthand or a swearword
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, but that's where the skill
comes in Jane.
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mary rosenblum
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It's your job to make it
comprehensible to those who don't know it so that the readers don't feel
that they're outsiders.
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mary rosenblum
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And it's a talent that many
don't have. Limits their readership, certainly.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember...just because a book
is published does not mean it's perfect.
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mary rosenblum
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You can find a lot of examples
of 'what not to do' out there!
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gwanny
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I learned from reading To Kill a
Mockingbird again as you sugg. I was fascitnated by the way she used
dialect. Telling the story in proper english using south. dialect in her
dialogue only. Wonderful!
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mary rosenblum
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You know, I will always wonder
if Harper Lee had to make Scout precocious because her early readers told
her Scout didn't talk like a kid. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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She makes it work.
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mary rosenblum
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But she very carefully goes
into detail about how Scout was so far ahead of other kids in her
vocabulary right off the bat.
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info
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I wonder, if a novice tries to
write about a group home for troubled teens, how easy would it be to get
information re: how they act and how they talk. With confidenciality for
their clients (the teens) wouldn't those who work in group homes be skating
on thin ice giving information out?
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mary rosenblum
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Depends on what you're after
info. Certainly I wouldn't talk to the people who run the group home unless
your POV is one of those.
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mary rosenblum
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But you could talk to kids or
find memoirs written by people who had spent time in same.
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mary rosenblum
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If a kid there is your POV...you
want that kid attitude and POV...and to be honest...
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mary rosenblum
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you can spend time with a kid
of that age and general background who has never been in a group home...
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mary rosenblum
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and get a lot of feel for how
a kid of that type thinks and talks...
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mary rosenblum
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and that will give you the
verisimilitude you need.
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mary rosenblum
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Every kid is gonna have
his/her own experience with the group home environment.
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mary rosenblum
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You can make that up according
to how you think it will be.
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mary rosenblum
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But it is the worldview and
vocabulary you need here.
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info
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what if you are writing from a
teens pov, wouldn't you need to know how accurate the slang and antics are?
And could those workers generically tell us as a writer those kind of
things
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mary rosenblum
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If you're setting it now, you
need 'now speak'.
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mary rosenblum
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Why use a secondary source?
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mary rosenblum
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Why not ask a kid to help you
out?
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mary rosenblum
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Ask questions, and do a LOT of
listening.
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mary rosenblum
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Bet you get a LOT more than
you get from an adult.
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cherley
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I said FYI to my 13 yr. old
gradson, He said, "Grandma, you're not suppose to talk like a
teen." LOL
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mary rosenblum
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What goes around goes around.
:-)
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mary rosenblum
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Sit down with a kid...tell 'em
you're writing a book/story and ask..'what's life like for you and your
friends'.
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mary rosenblum
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Bet you get an earful. :-)
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janecj333
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was it Plato who complained
about the corrupt youth?
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, goodness, EVERY generation
complains, don't they? LOL
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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 ‘inside-speak’. 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 in your regular send bar to reach me.
|
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mary rosenblum
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It takes more work to research
a MC's profession and gain some kind of knowlege of insider speak...
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mary rosenblum
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or to create your own ,
realistic insider speak if you're writing in speculative fiction.
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mary rosenblum
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But it adds far more than you
think to your story.
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mary rosenblum
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And is part of how you get
from slush to sales.
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mary rosenblum
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Because most novices really
and truely do not bother.
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mary rosenblum
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I have looked at enough slush
and workshop submissions to know that well.
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forest elf
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My teen nieces informed me that
guys are 'hot' NOT 'fine'
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mary rosenblum
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Yeah, you have to get your
slang right. :-)
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janecj333
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and maybe every generation is so
right. Kids now are incredibly distanced from the self-reliant,
danger-humbled men of prehistory. Soon there will be no connection between
adults and children , just genes
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, I don't think that's true.
:-) Look at the 60s/70s.
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mary rosenblum
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Disconnects come and
go....teens grow up.
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tory
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Mary, re: teen slang - If it is
contemporary, do you just use the latest slang and hope it hasn't changed
by the time the book goes through all the steps to pub? Let the editor
update it at that point?
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mary rosenblum
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That's pretty much it, tory.
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mary rosenblum
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If your story is set very
cleary in a time and place...I'll use Mockingbird again...
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mary rosenblum
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then your slang fits that time
and place.
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mary rosenblum
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If your story is not tied
tightly to a particular time or place...
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mary rosenblum
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then it is a very good idea to
go very easy on your slang...
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mary rosenblum
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because it will be out of date
in a few years, and hopefully your book will still be on the shelves!
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mary rosenblum
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If you use a few instances of
slang but not a lot, then they don't get in the way of reading the story
after that slang word is passee.
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mary rosenblum
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Richard Price's book
'Clockers' is set in the drug dealing culture of Chicago...
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mary rosenblum
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and the title itself is a
slang word for the corner dealer.
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mary rosenblum
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Bet it's a different word,
now, many years later.
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mary rosenblum
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But he does such a good job of
giving us the context of the slang that it should be quite enduring.
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mary rosenblum
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(That's another excellent read
with a negative protagonist by the way)
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cherley
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use universal slang like
"Cool" it'll always be around
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mary rosenblum
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Well, it may not, but again,
if it suits the context of the scene so that the reader 'gets it', then
it's fine.
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mary rosenblum
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That's why specific movie and
music references can be problematical.
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mary rosenblum
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They have two drawbacks.
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mary rosenblum
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One is that if the reader is
not familiar or doesn't like the reference...you get that 'outsider'
problem
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mary rosenblum
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The reader thinks 'you're not
writing for me'.
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mary rosenblum
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The other is that if your book
is published two years AFTER that movie was the hot blockbuster, who
remembers?
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mary rosenblum
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Your character seems stupid
for raving about this old , forgotten movie.
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mary rosenblum
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Striving for 'contemporary
edge' and 'universality' is a fine tightrope to walk!
|
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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 ‘inside-speak’. 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 in your regular send bar to reach me.
|
|
mary rosenblum
|
A common misconception among
aspiring writers is that it's made up, so you don't have to get details
right.
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mary rosenblum
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It's just fiction, yes?
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mary rosenblum
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But of course, what makes the
fiction powerful is that the reader really is able to suspend...
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mary rosenblum
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disbelief and genuinely
believe in your universe while she/he is there.
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janecj333
|
slang is a product of class, not
so much of culture, imo...some, the highly educated mainly, cut slang out
of their vocabularies purposely and speak a kind of 'standard' language
understood and used over decades
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mary rosenblum
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You could argue education over
class, but of course they do hand in hand.
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mary rosenblum
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But that is a hard truth and
why many novices have trouble when their street kid or transient talks like
a college English major...
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mary rosenblum
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even though they supposedly
dropped out in the eighth grade.
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mary rosenblum
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And world view is more subtle
than that.
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mary rosenblum
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It's very easy for someone to
believe that his/her perception of the world is universal.
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mary rosenblum
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But if your MC does not come
from your world, then he/she does not perceive it the same way you do.
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mary rosenblum
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And in a way, that brings us
back to 'reader assumptions'.
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mary rosenblum
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Writer assumptions can be
dangerous if the writer assumes that an educated Moslem woman from Pakistan
thinks the same as an educated American woman...
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mary rosenblum
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no matter that they are both
from the upper middle class.
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mary rosenblum
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It's more than vocabularly in
this case, it's a matter of how your character thinks about the world.
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mary rosenblum
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The world view colors what is
said even more than slang does.
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geezer
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Some things are very subtle. I
said, "So what's your problem, girlfriend? I'd be ecstatic. My black
friend said no it should be. What's the problem? Girlfriend, I'd be
ecstatic.
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mary rosenblum
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That's the rhythm of speech,
geeze, and that is how you can imply slang and dialect without using it.
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mary rosenblum
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Every strong dialect and
regional accent uses a slightly different rhythm of pause and emphasis, of
accent and unaccented syllables.
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mary rosenblum
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If you can capture the FEEL of
the dialect or accent or foreign language you don't need many phonetic ...
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mary rosenblum
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spellings or slang insertions
to make it sound 'authentic'.
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mary rosenblum
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And that is how you go for
universality.
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mary rosenblum
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And all this is really a
powerful component of strong characterization.
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mary rosenblum
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How do you determine what a
person is like?
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mary rosenblum
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While we can esy
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mary rosenblum
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While we can watch them in
action, mostly we listen to them talk.
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cherley
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Say: If your MC talks English
and one of the characters talks Indian and the words are interpreted, then
it can change to English with no problem?
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mary rosenblum
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That's how you can do a
'foreign language' in a story without speaking that language and totally
losing your readers, Cherley.
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mary rosenblum
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You make that language sound
different.
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janecj333
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insider knowledge is a big can
of worms as far as characterization...your mechanic mc doesn't just talk
about o-rings and pistons...she's got grease under her nails, doesn't mind
sliding under a broken-down car in the pouring rain, and talks about office
workers with perfect hair like they're vermin
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mary rosenblum
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Exactly, jane.
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mary rosenblum
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That IS worldview.
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mary rosenblum
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It's what your character
thinks about others, what he/she does for fun, what prejudices he/she has.
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mary rosenblum
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It's all 'insider vocabulary',
all 'inside speak' and it all comes out in language and thought and action.
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cherley
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Like speaking perfect English
every word pronounced.
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mary rosenblum
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And not using contractions.
:-) Also, other languages tend to have different word order constructions.
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mary rosenblum
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Sometimes you can use the
reverse word order but you have to be careful not to make your character
sound like Yoda! LOL
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mary rosenblum
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Remember...verisimiltude means
the likeness to truth, not truth itself.
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mary rosenblum
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Your universe needs to be
plausibly real, not absolutely real.
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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 ‘inside-speak’. 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 in your regular send bar to reach me.
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mary rosenblum
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Now in a short story it's
easier to give a character reasonable 'insider speak' than it is in a
novel.
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mary rosenblum
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You need to know enough about
your character's world that you can slip in a few details...
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mary rosenblum
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but in a short work, you only
need a few to lend the story verisimilitude.
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mary rosenblum
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In a novel, I strongly suggest
that if your MC is not your twin, you spend a lot of time...g
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mary rosenblum
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getting to know how this
person thinks, speaks, feels about the world in general.
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mary rosenblum
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Not just THIS individual, but
the group of individuals to which this person belongs...or groups.
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mary rosenblum
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Is this person African
American middle class and a doctor?
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mary rosenblum
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You have two group
vocabularies and world views to research.
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mary rosenblum
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A legal immigrant from Oaxaca,
employed in a nursing home?
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mary rosenblum
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How will this person speak and
see the world?
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mary rosenblum
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Not like most of you, I
suspect.
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mary rosenblum
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And by getting it right, your
story will really shine next to all those who do not bother to do it. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Animal mistakes are often a
big one.
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mary rosenblum
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Especially in S & S
fantasy.
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mary rosenblum
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If you're going to make your
MC a rider find out about horses from someone who does ride.
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mary rosenblum
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And remember that personal
narratives abound.
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mary rosenblum
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You can often find something
pertinent.
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mary rosenblum
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And that tends to be a bit
more reliable than someone else's fiction...
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mary rosenblum
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where that author may not have
done his/her homework.
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mary rosenblum
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I actually keep a contact list
of acquaintances who have areas of personal expertise or personal
backgrounds...
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mary rosenblum
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that may one day be of use to
me.
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geezer
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In other words go to source
material.
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mary rosenblum
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Whenever possible, use primary
sources, geeze.
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forest elf
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Like Forest Elf - truck driver
who speaks Spanish?????
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mary rosenblum
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Truck driver period, elf!
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mary rosenblum
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I was talking to a writer
friend who drove a long haul rig for a few years..
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mary rosenblum
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and realizing how much the
average person does not know about that life.
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janecj333
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and then there are characters
with 'experiences', but no 'professional' expertise...the homeless who've
never held a job, children, stay-at-home-moms, drug addicts, teenage 'gang'
members
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mary rosenblum
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Even there, you have a lot of
insider speak.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not just a profession
like doctor/lawyer etc.
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mary rosenblum
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In gang you have a LOT of
insiderspeak.
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mary rosenblum
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Same with people dealing with
the drug supply fringe.
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mary rosenblum
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It spills over to include how
you see the world and how you think.
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mary rosenblum
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A stay at home mom is going to
overlap many other stay at home moms in terms of what she thinks about...
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mary rosenblum
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and her vocabulary, although
she will diverge a lot depending on life history education and the like.
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mary rosenblum
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And of course, this is all
part of characterization.
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mary rosenblum
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Characterization is a very
multilayered thing.
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mary rosenblum
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The more layers you are aware
of , the stronger and more realistic your characters are.
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janecj333
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the sheepherder who spends his
days looking for grass, the women who pound millet into meal all day, men
who fish with hand-knotted nets...I'm looking for easier characters to
characterize, here
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mary rosenblum
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Those are actually very
difficult characters to characterize, jane...
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mary rosenblum
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because they are not likely to
be as accessible to you as say, a doctor or a stay at home mom.
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mary rosenblum
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And they not likely to be
similar t o you at all.
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janecj333
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ok, now I'm getting scared
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mary rosenblum
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Let's take the sheepherder.
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mary rosenblum
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Looking for grass is the
expected characterization.
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mary rosenblum
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Most readers won't know any
more than that.
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mary rosenblum
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What lies beyond it?
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mary rosenblum
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Lambing/breeding cycles,
predators and where they hang out, how you read the weather and know
when/where to move the sheep...
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mary rosenblum
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what grass will be ready where
and how far away is water, and is that enough for this stage of pregnancy,
lambs, etc.
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mary rosenblum
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How you castrate the lambs and
what you call it when you do, how you deal with lambing,...
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mary rosenblum
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your Basque history and how
you miss your extended family that you haven't seen since you left with
Grandpa...
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janecj333
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ok, me, me, me...all my mc will
be me
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, Jane, sadly that's what
most writers do.
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mary rosenblum
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But you can find all of those
sheepherder details out easily.
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mary rosenblum
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You've got basque shepherds
who have written their memoirs...
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mary rosenblum
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and novels about shepherds.
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mary rosenblum
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And if you get those details
RIGHT...
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mary rosenblum
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your story stands head and
shoulders above the ones with 'me' as the shepherd...
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mary rosenblum
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a person who is like us only
worried about grass.
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tory
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Isolation. Maybe being looked
down upon by "civilized" society
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geezer
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Some have satellite dishes, cell
phones, and take on'line courses.
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mary rosenblum
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And ride four wheelers....just
depends on where you live and how you do sheep there.
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mary rosenblum
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It's different in Idaho, New
Zealand, Australia...
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forest elf
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Wouldn't a modern sheep farmer
know this stuff?
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mary rosenblum
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Depends.
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mary rosenblum
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Is that person raising
pastured sheep, using loafing sheds and hay feed for the Easter lamb
market...
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mary rosenblum
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Moving flocks around to
harvest fenced grass in New Zealand?
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mary rosenblum
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Running sheep on 10 square
miles of Australian Outback?
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mary rosenblum
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Or following the flocks up
into the summer pasture in Idaho?
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mary rosenblum
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They're all different, have
some different some similar vocabulary.
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mary rosenblum
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Are all different people.
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mary rosenblum
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Which one is YOUR shepherd?
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mary rosenblum
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That may well depend on what
primary source you find.
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mary rosenblum
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And if you're writing in a
fantasy universe...
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mary rosenblum
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you go for the universals that
ALL these various types of herders share.
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mary rosenblum
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That will be the preoccupation
with lambing, the rams, water, feed, predators.
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mary rosenblum
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That is the insider speak, no
matter what your individual sheep herder is like.
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mary rosenblum
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Well, we've stretched our
Oregon hour a bit. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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But the key here is to learn
what it's really like to BE this type of person...
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mary rosenblum
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and bring that verisimiltude
to your story.
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mary rosenblum
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And it will really make a huge
difference in the final quality.
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mary rosenblum
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Very few new writers go beyond
'me' as the main character.
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mary rosenblum
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DO it, and you have made a
huge step forward in craft.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll post 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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Have a great week all!
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mary rosenblum
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See you tomorrow for our
casual chat !
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