Dialogue ~ To say or Not to say

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret. 

--Matthew Arnold

Dialogue between two people is often never mis-communicated. When I tell someone, “You look nice today.” It is always met with a smile and a, “Why, thank you.”  But in writing, the dialogue we run into has to be deciphered and seen for its hidden meaning.

We can not use words like THIS, or IT, as we write because we’re giving our reader the opportunity to misunderstand what the IT is that we’re referring to. Dialogue is the same way, we need to be clear and concise so the reader knows just what we’re talking about.

As much as I chide people for lack of imagery, failure to use the senses, I also correct them for using the word IT, THIS or AND. These three simple words can confuse the reader and have them doubling back through the book and we don’t want that. We want them to read, clean and concise words so that they keep turning the pages.

“So your saying that if I write right, the reader will understand what I’m saying?”

“Yes! None of that stuff where you say, ‘it is on the table.’ You let me, the reader, know what IT is!”

“And you’re telling me AND is not good either?”

“Well, when your sentence needs five AND’S in the structuring of a sentence, you are not helping your reader to understand.”

“What was the other word?”

“THIS, silly!”

“Okay let me get this straight. Wait I just used THIS.”

“But in the right context.” I breathed, “Had you said, ‘I just used this.’ Is a reader going to know what THIS is that you used? Of course not. Always explain, elaborate, use your words wisely.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.”

“I know, now get your feet offa my table!”

That banter was dialogue. We also need to be aware of how we naturally speak. Often we use words like gonna, didja, offa, I’ma, things of that nature, where, when read out loud, it sounds more fluent.  In writing, our dialogue between two people needs to be clear, but in character. We need to speak, so-to-speak, as natural as possible. Could you tell there were two different people speaking? I didn’t use tags on purpose because that is what this weeks lesson at f2k was all about. The use of dialogue!

We’re in our fifth week and next week will be our final sixth week. It has been exciting picking out the ‘lesson that followed all the rules, guidelines and understanding of the lesson’. They were published in the f2kzine where writers got to showcase their work, and can now call themselves ‘published’ writers!

Dialogue isn’t as tricky as POV, or as vivid as the senses, but dialogue is just as important in a story as the plot/theme and the whole structure of the story! Next time you’re writing dialogue, make sure it isn’t being misconstrued, write it clear and concise.

Keep writing people! Most of all, Write Right!

Talk- o Tuesday

The Audio World...

I’m all audio-ed out. Okay that is not a word but you get my meaning. I’ve blogged about audio this and audio that, I’ve driven you across the country with a new way of reading books, I’ve given you links to help you find good reviews in Audio Book Heaven, I’ve guided you to to sites that will allow you to download movies that you can listen to, now I’m audio’ed out.

Is there anything else that I can add to the audio industry to make you understand how technological this stuff is? As I’ve said before, I’m no techie, so all this audio stuff is new to me. Gosh I remember uploading my first picture, it was the coolest thing since playing Scrabble, you know, the board game?

Board games are obsolete, cards on a family night have all but disappeared. Everyone spends time alone, and usually it is on the computer tapping keys, forgetting that a world exists out here.

I’ve never downloaded a single song, I like to use the old CD player for that. Gee, I might have to pull out my record player! A record player to you kids is the thing that those hip hop Dee Jay’s use to make that wicked squeaky sound, but us older folk actually used them to listen to music. Can you imagine that?

There is an audible world that comes alive when you close your eyes, did you know that? The blind have access to the secret dominion, and the sighted take it for granted. In my world where I never aspire to becoming a part of this technological world, I become one with the sounds of life. The hustle and bustle of the chirping birds, the wind dancing through the trees, cars roaring down the road, dove’s singing to their mate. All of this exist in the audible world called life.

So, as much as I want to continue on this Talk-o Tuesday audio stuff, I’m audio’ed out. Back to doing what I do best, writing about writing! Or writing about life and its ever changing aspects and the affect it is having on my life. :)

I’m not tired of writing or life yet. So on we go....:)

Dialog or Dialogue?

Numbers 16:31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
***

“Excuse me, can you help me?”

No! I’m busy.

“But I need your help in understanding something.”

Okay, but make it quick, I have a lot of work to do here.

“What is dialog? And why can’t I use tags?”

Well, missy, you need to listen up. Dialog is a conversation between two people in a story. Like what we’re doing?

“Are we in a story?”

No, but your on my blog and I’m talking to you!

“Oh.”

***
Did you see that play on words up there? This weeks lesson at f2k is dialog. The word dialog can be spelled with the U.E or without, just for those of you grammar checkers out there. I’ve looked up the word and either spelling is acceptable.

Anyway, our lesson is for dialog with no tags. Tags are the cozy words at the end of who is speaking.

“Excuse me, can you help me?” she says in a timid way.

“No! I’m busy.” The lady behind the counter grumbles.

Practicing not using tags, really helps you see into the window of the characters. We have no backdrop, no setting up of the scene, we have words. Words that need to be read by the reader, and they need to follow who is speaking. If you can’t do a 500 word piece of dialog with no tags, then you need to strengthen the personality of your characters.

Something always stands out with your character, whether it is a strong accent, a southern belle type character, a farmer Bob type guy. In practicing no tags, we’re fleshing out our character and giving them personality and making them come alive.

Yes, in books we use tags. Novels are written with the dialog using tags, but take a look at those novels, any one of them. The dialog does not have a tag EVERY SINGLE sentence of a conversation. It doesn’t because once you’ve established who is speaking, you can really carry a conversation along a few pages with a tag here and there.

This is a tough lesson also. I never said that F2k was this easy, fly by night course on easy writing. No, it teaches important skills that are going to carry you through your writing and hopefully have you writing better with just one course. Maybe through all my blog posts on the matter of the free course, you can tell if it is something that you’d like to try when we offer it again in April.

Even if your not a writer, maybe this course will give you something to try for. Believe me, it will help when you’re jotting down a blog too. You’ll soon see that this course will have you using these skills without you realizing that you’ve drank from the knowledge pool and are now serving it to others.