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.
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.
posted by Barb | 8:40 PM
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