How To Write Dialogue

Dialogue has to be natural. Dialogue has to be cliche free. There needs to be slang, pauses, just like if you were watching it in a film.

I like to improvise my exchanges of dialogue out loud, as if the characters are in my room. This allows me to transcribe those little words and "ways of saying it," that arise from spontaneous interchanges of human beings.

If I don't do it this way, I find my dialogue is robotic and lame.

Also get rid of all your "said's," as well. Look at this interchange, this is how my dialogue usually rolls.

          Alex pulled up a chair and sat facing Lilly, "what do you think your doing?" she asked.

         "I think you know,"

         "Um, no I don't..."

         "Yes you do!"


Now, I just made this up then, so it's not going to win any awards for engagement. But it's how dialogue should flow. Make it sound natural, and only use a "asked" or "said" when it's not obvious whose speaking.

This is dialogue writing 101.





          

Writer's Block

When your story starts huffing and puffing to stay a float, then your reader is going to feel it too, and they too will huff and puff to stay engaged.

A scary thought, but It can be overcome with a little closer inspection.

I read a great quote yesterday, I'm paraphrasing here, but it went along the lines of "If your characters are just moving forward to further the plot then you got a problem. The plot needs to be moving forward because the character is making tough choices."

I think we are all guilty of this. We think, "OK, I just need to get my character to point B because when he gets there, this thing will happen, and then I can really get going from there," but if your thinking like this, then your reader won't let you take them to point B because they've already put your book down.

Your character must reach point B because they've made a tough choice between two alternatives to take action toward point B.

This is when writer's block is at its worst. If we are just chugging a long, then we are often trying to "fill up" the story with text in order to get to the next thing. This is wrong, wrong, wrong!

If your character is making tough choices, then the story writes its self.

Let me give you an example in the new novel I'm writing, "Ressentiment,"

Essentially the main protagonist and a group of followers are escaping an invasion, so they have fled into the forest and are moving further and further away from the danger. Eventually they reach a new area, where there is a farm and shelter, they can stay, perhaps fight the owner for it, or they can continue moving. I started to struggle at this point, and then I realized, there is no tough choice to make. Who cares if they find shelter or keep on moving, what's the pay off?

So I changed it a little. I made it so the soldiers that were invading end up following them into the forest, but they are a day behind, so they have to keep on moving. I also made it that the forest didn't contain any source of food. So to keep on moving may mean certain death, but if they stay and eat at this farm, then the soldiers may gain on them and the farm may be full of people who don't like their presence there. Is it worth the risk?

Now the story can move forward. A tough choice needs to be made. There are high stakes. Suddenly the writer is engaged in figuring out what happens, and consequently, so is the reader.

Economists call this "opportunity cost," when one choice is made, what is the downside of making that choice?

So next time your stuck, ask yourself, "are my characters making tough choices? Or are they just going through the motions to get to point B?" You will discover a wealth of inspiration there.

Greg

Exploration Through Writing

Writing is an exploration of the creative part of your mind. It's a romantic idea, but I believe it to be true. When you just write to write you will be amazed at some of the stuff that will come out of your head.

A lot of people plan heavily before putting pen to paper, I'm the opposite. I usually start with a central idea or theme, and then filter each decision I make a long the way through the idea or theme. My first completed novel "The Feather Shivered" had a central theme that could be described as "A young mans search for an identity in the modern world". By using this theme, every scene I wrote, each character I created and each piece of dialogue they engaged in was built to express this central theme, and as all those weaved together to form a whole (A completed novel) they came together to express a reflection on the theme.

This is what art is. It's a reflection on some idea. It's the artists commentary on a particular facet of society. This is why I start with a theme, and then express everything through that theme on the fly, rather then plan something.

Sure, planning has it's place, and because I don't plan my editing process is very very slow, but in my opinion  all the magic happens in an unbounded first draft.

Greg

Finding Your Writing Voice Style

Often when writing teachers discuss the topic of voice in fiction, there are very iffy, ambiguous definitions associated with it. You hear a lot of them saying, "It can't really be described, but you know it when you see it," and "you can't really teach voice." I beg to differ, I believe all objects in existence can be broken down conceptual, and when we can't, we are just being lazy.

To start, I want to identify several areas, that when linked together, form the overall concept of voice. I'm attempting to come to a philosophical definition of voice, so that as writers, we can use it as a working model to help others, and better our own "voice."

Firstly, we have the objective world that the story takes place in. This includes the history, the culture, the environments and all the characters in the piece. This is important to know as an author because you can't develop a plot or a protagonist, if you don't know the objective facts of your world. Once you know these, then its time to narrow down. But take note, some beginner authors stick here. They tell their story from an objective point of view, which leads to a very boring story.

Secondly, we have the protagonist. Your character has a particular "world view" of the objective world. They don’t know the objective world, because human beings can never know their world completely objectively. There will always be subjectivity in any perception of your environment. So you must know your characters subjective view of this existence. What do they like? What do they believe? What are their values? their history? Who is this person and what makes them who they are? This is important, because its this information that creates a "Point of View". You must have a POV of that existence, because its HUMAN to have one, and its this point that creates engagement with a HUMAN reader.

Thirdly, you have an author. As I wrote earlier, a new writer will skip the second point altogether. They will just have a flat character, who almost works as a piece of cardboard floating around in the objective world, with no real point of view. But a good author will internalize this point of view, they will inhabitant it, and live in, and adopt all the entire subjective viewpoint of the main character. The author must then work, almost as a best friend, or fan of the main character. They must be the characters cheer leader, and have the same world view. This is what voice is, its "expressing the POV of the character authentically." When the author adopts the POV of the character, and communicates authentically from that POV, and ONLY that POV, the author’s words will be aligned with the characters words.

For example, if John hates the school nurse, and thinks she is a grumpy old bitch, and then the author will express something such as, "John sat down. He couldn't believe the grumpy old bitch was still there, had she not died yet?" This is voice in action, and it exists because the author saw an objective world, narrowed it down to a subjective view that was owned by a particular character, internalised this point of view, and expressed authentically from it.

Lastly, we have the reader. What does the reader want out of a story? Well, if he or she is the norm, they want to take a adventure, or a series of dramatic events that moves them emotionally in some way. For a reader to be moved, they have to feel connected to the story, and this is achieved when they are connected to a HUMAN point of view. If the character has a personal view of existence, and the author has internalized this point of view, and expressed authentically from it, when the reader reads the book, they will identify with the view because it’s a human POV, and thus, feel moved by it.

Concept of voice created. Hope this break down helps.

Greg