TALK, TALK, TALK

"...Words without thoughts never to heaven go. (Shakespeare)

Dialogue is all about what people say to each other, and how they say it. It is also a way of defining a character. Through the way she/he talks--accent, vocabulary, inflection--a writer can tell us as much about our characters as by their actions.

The exchange of words can be useful for getting across what is not said too. If someone wants to avoid a subject, for example, a character can talk around the topic in their mind but never touch it. In other words, the author is asking the reader to use their common sense and inquisitive minds to read between the lines.

Give your character's speech some spice. Maybe some slang. A few "choice" words during a stressful moment. Use dialect sparingly however. Sprinkle in a few foreign words but make sure their meaning is either repeated in English or easy to understand.

Dialogue is not easy. It must simulate real speech but waste no words, reveal character, stimulate tension, and also move the story forward.

Here are some examples out of my own work to offer ideas of how dialogue can work:

"With no cause to look for foul play, it's untraceable and you're an old man who's had a heart attack once already." Lori raised her glass in a salute. "One teaspoon is more than a lethal dose. Sweet dreams, sugar." (From "A Little Taste of Sugar", nominated for a Pushcart Prize)

"She looks as grotesque in death as she did in life," Marylee spoke loud enough for everyone in the chapel to hear her.
(From "Southern Belles Visit Murder," a work in progress)

Jeremiah's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets. "PI's? Isn't that like cops? Won't there be bullets flying?" He was on a roll. "We'll need those bullet-proof vests. How about a gun--one that's as powerful as the ones the...the perps use. And how about a getaway car...." (From "The Cat Who Loved Chocolate;self-published, 2005)

"Give it up, Missy. I'm not leaving California. And that brings up another thing. When I die, I do not want to be buried beside your father back in Louisiana either." She tucked her head down between slender shoulders. "We weren't all that close in his last years."
(From "BJ and the Alligator Stomp"--which the muse has abandoned for awhile).

My dialogue may be a little over the top but I think a reader would want to know what is going on in each one of these stories by the words my characters have spoken. Talk. Talk. Talk.

May And All It Brings

"If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else." (Joseph Campbell)

May has arrived with a bang, is traveling fast along the road to the end, and it has awakened the sleeping writer in me. For a few months, since my illness, I have had the "I-don't-want-to's" regarding writing but with the warming weather I have felt new stirrings about work that has been idling in my computer. It has also brought some new ideas.

I was driving home on Saturday afternoon and topped the hill near my home when one of the longest, shiny black limousines I have ever seen came up the other side. For a moment I thought we had been invaded by some star from Hollywood or a famous country-western singer was lost on his way to a gig in San Diego. Then it dawned on me--it's May and that's both prom and graduation time. What a difference from the times when I graduated from high school.

The sight brought to mind a piece I had written several months ago--"The Prom That Never Was." I never attempted to place in it any market and here it is May. It's too late for this year but I've placed it in my accordian file to send out six months from now to be considered for next May.

Most magazine editors request that writers send their seasonal material at least six months before publication date. We should all check the guidelines however because some publications want material as much as a year before the time for it to go to press.
The following of these rules may make the difference between a sale and a rejection.

Two weeks ago, the Mexican communities around our area celebrated Cinco de Mayo, to offer thanks for the Mexican triumph over the French in Puebla. I went to such a celebration, took pictures of dancers in native costumes, families having a picnic and Mariachi's playing those horns as only they can do. In six months or so, I will have an article ready--maybe a children's publication would accept a short history lesson.

Of course, this month brings us Mother's Day, Buttercup Day, National Barbecue Month, the Indianapolis 500, and the Kentucky Derby, just to mention a few special days that offer article ideas. The first week of May, some of my husband's WW II buddies gathered as they do each year in Laughlin, Nevada. They swap war stories, laugh a lot over their antics during that time of their young lives, and say farewell with some emotion, hoping that each will return next year. My photographs along with the notes I made, hopefully, will lead to either a Memorial Day or Veteran's Day article.

Make notes for the next year but don't forget that you now have an opportunity to write for publication in the month of November. Do you have a special memory of sharing Thanksgiving with family, or someone in need? What about offering Aunt Mamie's Pumpkin Pecan pie to other cooks; begin to research culinary markets today. How-to articles about creating centerpieces for a dining room table are seen in every November issue--wouldn't it be a kick to see yours right up there on a cover?

'Tis the season. Get busy.

Prompt: Begin to research ideas for those November ides--today!