He Said, She Said...and Neither Needed To

     What is dialogue? The online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary brought up the following definitions:

     1) The things that are said by the characters in a story, movie, play, etc.

     2) A discussion or series of discussions that two groups or countries have in order to end a disagreement.

     3) A conversation between two or more people.

     You'll notice that none of those three definitions included the phrase "used to describe scenery or actions in a book so that the author doesn't have to bore the audience with a sentence or two doing the exact same thing in the narrative". 

     And yet that is exactly how too many amateur authors and authoresses treat dialogue. Seriously, why is that so hard to avoid? There are a couple of semi-valid reasons that writers resort to this method of description. Fortunately (for me at least) they are also very easy to address.

     One reason an author may be tempted to insert description during dialogue is that it seems far more clever than the traditional route of using the narrative. And I have to agree - that is a VERY tempting proposition. Especially when you have reader friends who keep insisting that you stop "writing like Charles Dickens". (Trust me, I've had my full of that. It's called GOOD WRITING, people!...Ahem...) It sounds simple enough. Take all the boring descriptions; slip it into the dialogue. Nobody will notice, right? Um, wrong!

     Another reason is that the author is actually attempting to write in a classic style. Everyone looks up to "the classics". Even authors of what my mother calls 'fluff novels' can become famous for their flowery narrative. That's what people look for in good books, so why not include it in the dialogue and make it really flowery? Again, wrong!

     And then there's a third reason. (And please don't be offended by it.) But a very big problem with many amateur author's dialogue sections is plain ignorance. You hear some description in dialogue every day. 

     "Hey - who's that?" 

     "Who?" 

     "That blonde girl walking in with Prescott." 

     "Where?" 

     "Over by the entrance." 

     "Which one?" 

     "Seriously?! The one by the water fountain."

     You hear that and it sounds natural. So it's no surprise that many amateur authors try to fit that kind of dialogue into their stories. But they get carried away and don't realize that they're including too much description. Instead, it turns out like this:

     "Hey - who's that girl?"

     "What girl?"

     "The girl with the flowing blonde hair and the pretty, sharp green cocktail dress? She's walking in in those stunning bejeweled stilettos."

     "Where?"

     "Over there behind the vine-covered columns near the southwest entrance."

     "Which one is that?"

     "Seriously?! The southwest entrance by the blue trickling waterfall surrounded by sweet mermaids."

     (I kid you not - I have actually read a published book written by a friend that read like that!)

      See? Not nearly as natural. Way overdone. Almost annoying. And it will easily lose that author's audience.

     Now all thee of these reasons seem legitimate at the time. But you take a dialogue sequence like that, and - well, it's just not worth the effort you'll have to put in once it's time for the rewrite. 

     So, how to nip it in the bud? 

     Easy! When you start writing dialogue, STOP. Talk it out loud to yourself first (as all the parts). The ear is the best writer of all, so they say. (They are totally right, by the way! See my other article on the subject of talking to yourself - I mean, your characters!) Then, while it's still fresh in your mind, write it down as fast as you can. Then, read it out loud to yourself, acting it out so to speak. If it still sounds good, keep going. If not...take a very long break with a big plate of brownies followed by a long walk and a tall glass of water. And start all over again.

     Hope that this helps you! If not...my apologies. 

     Sincerely,

          Yours Truly

Confessions from Camp NaNo

     Six o'clock was much earlier than I was used to getting up. But I could already feel the morning person inside me gearing up for a writing frenzy. I got some breakfast and hot tea, sat down with my computer and notebooks, and started the journey we writers call National Novel Writing Month.

     November was a busy month for me - or at least, what I used to consider busy. I had dance classes twice a week, church and meetings weekly, and let's not forget one of America's biggest holidays (Thanksgiving) at the end of the month (which is always the hardest time for tired writers). But I was determined! The year before, my friend had beaten me to the 50,000 word count goal by a matter of hours. And this year I was going to beat her. No matter what it took.

    That was 2012. And that, friends, was the last NaNo of any kind in which I successfully completed my entire word count goal.

     Allow me to put this into perspective: during this last month (Camp NaNo), I had a word count goal of 15,000, an extremely modest goal given the 50,000+ I completed only three years before. And...I made it all the way up to 4,040 words. Total. Fantastic, right?

     You can imagine how it felt. I, a once-avid writer, had fallen so short of my own word count goals that I was almost embarrassed to admit it to anyone else. Some writer I've turned out to be. Life throws me a few curves and the first thing I give up is writing!

      .....And yet, on the flip side of that coin, I did write almost 5,000 words. And I did complete two of my smaller goals (completing two chapters I was struggling to make any headway with).

     So does it count as a failure or as a success?

     I guess it helps at this point to consider the value of what I gained versus the gravity of what I lost. Because honestly, I didn't lose anything (except a notch on my belt of writerly pride). I only gained. And five thousand words, as sorry as that sounds compared to fifty thousand, are still that many words written down. Not stored away in my brain for a rainy day. Not procrastinated over for months on end. Not sitting idly filling my head with writer's shame. They're on my computer waiting for some additions.

     And isn't that really the goal of writing? To get words onto paper? (Or in this digital age, onto the computer hard drive.)

     Maybe it's just me trying to sound noble after a failure of such epic proportions. But given the fact that the month of July was very unusually busy for me, I'm actually quite proud of myself for getting any writing done. At least now I have one foot in the door for completing what I started. And who knows? Maybe when National Novel Writing Month comes around, I'll be so geared up by Camp NaNo failure that I'll actually complete the much bigger (and more stressful) goal.
   
     We shall see.

      Until my next post, I remain,

                 Yours Truly

Patchwork Writing

     What part of a story do you start writing first? The answer seems simple. The beginning - duh! But is it really that simple? Chronological writing is only one way to write, and for many writers it is the hardest.

     And yet that part isn't too simple, either. You can't just start at the end, or even start in the middle, and end up with a plot line that's all connected and makes sense. However, there are alternatives to starting at the first sentence and writing clear through to the end, especially when you just can't seem to get that first sentence started.

     This alternative is what I like to call "patchwork writing". Because that's really all it is - taking scraps of written scenes and piecing them together once you've finished them.

     Allow me to demonstrate.

     Let's say that I'm working on a scene with combined dialogue and description. The description is really important because it will give my readers a feel for the whole situation and a glimpse into the setting. But let's say that I'm having problems because my dialogue is coming out all wrong. It's stilted and unrealistic and sounds like a bad lip reading of Shakespeare. So what do I do?

     What I always do in such a crisis - I take the dog for a walk and talk the scene out between my characters. Then, once I've got the sequencing right, I write down just that dialogue. I even skip the actions until I've got the part down that I know sounds good.

     Now I've got a workable written portion. What's next? The part that was hard becomes easy. I take my writerly thimble, needle and thread and start connecting the dialogue with the rest of the portions I've written. This would be the description and actions that make up the rest of the scene and all the in-between parts.

     And that trick, believe it or not, solves 50% of my chronological-writing problems. It's my #1 piece of advice to give to writers struggling with chronological writing (especially when it comes to NaNoWriMo). It also keeps me interested in my own writing long enough to finish a project, which, as you may have noticed, is not always an easy thing for me to do.

     So take this trick (if you haven't already done it yourself) and share it with your writer friends. Or just use it yourself and get to that writing project you've been putting off because of this very issue!

     Sincerely,

          Yours Truly

I'm Not Talking to Myself - My Characters are Talking

     How many of you have had that conversation lately? Neighbors, family and coworkers don't quite know what to think of us when we writers talk out our dialogues in a low (or not-so-low) voice with no one else around. I actually have a friend who had a security guard ask her manager if she was all right. Talk about busted!

     The truth of the matter is that (no matter how embarrassing it can be to have someone laugh at you for "talking to yourself") we writers have to talk out our dialogue. There's just no way around it.

     Why, a non-writer might ask? It makes perfect sense if you consider what goes into writing.

     When a writer sits down to a blank screen, there is an automatic "FREEZE!" moment. They suddenly can't think of a thing to write. So they think and plot and plan a little, then come back and sit down again. With first sentences, this is pretty easy. With dialogue, not so much. Why? Because narrative is easy to write. It's like writing in a journal, or blogging, or Twittering. It's basically typing out your thoughts. No editing is really needed as you go to make it sound natural (most of the time). Dialogue, on the other hand, isn't something you can always write naturally because all conversations with more than one person (you and yourself don't count) happen out loud, not inside our heads.

     This means that when you're writing dialogue, you can't just depend on what you hear inside your head. You have to hear it out loud to know whether or not it sounds right. You have to hear it to know if people would really say things like that. "The ear is the best writer" is the saying - and it is completely right when it comes to dialogue!

     Think of it this way:

     You love fudge; you've eaten lots of fudge; you've made lots of fudge. But you've never tried Lemon Bar Fudge. Now, you can read the recipe all you want. You can think about how delicious it's going to be. You can even pin pictures of it onto your favorite Pinterest board. But you will never know what it tastes like unless you actually put a bite into your mouth.

     The same is true of dialogue. You can read it. You can plan it. You can even write it down. But until you hear it spoken out loud, you will never know if it SOUNDS right.

     So for those of you who are hiding behind bedroom doors, cowering in the basement study, covering up your conversations with the noise of a hot shower, I would say this - rehearsing dialogue is nothing to be ashamed of. A little unusual for non-writers to see, but not at all unusual for a writer to do. The next time somebody gives you that look and asks, "Who are you talking to?" just give them a lecture on the subject of how to properly test dialogue. And I guarantee you, they may think you're crazy, but they won't ask about it again.

     Sincerely,

          Yours Truly

LIFE: What Having a Child Will Do For Your Writing

      A lot of people make a big deal about how having children will change your life. "You'll never get to go anywhere fun!" "You'll never be able to afford it!" "You'll ruin your figure, not to mention your life!" Oh, and my personal favorite - "Just forget about romance after this!" People make a big deal about almost any major event in your life (and theirs). As if the world is coming to an end just because you have to plan your life more carefully or work out more diligently. But what they tend to forget is that you can turn almost anything to your advantage as a writer. And major life experiences are no exception.

     No, this is not a blog post on how having my daughter has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Nor it is a blog post on the many ways she actually has changed my life. (For the record - the romance only leaves if you let it. Just sayin'.) This post is going to be about how life-changing events, like having a child, can actually improve your writing on a level nothing else can.

     How? Here are three important ways.

     1) It makes you think about priorities. This may sound daunting and undoubtedly cliched, but any change in your life that starts to cause inconveniences (from missing Mom's old coffee maker to waking up at 3:30 a.m. to a baby's cries) will make you rethink what's important in your life. Our lives only have so much room despite our efforts to cram everything in. Which means that we have to decide what is important enough to make time to do and what isn't. As harsh as it sounds, if the one thing you don't have time or energy or inspiration for is writing, then it's time to let it go temporarily. If you find yourself spiraling downward without it, it means you're still a writer at heart. If you find your life is simply that much better without it - it means you're not really a writer at heart and you need to focus on those passions you were created for.

     2) It gives you fuel for your stories. The more experiences you are exposed to, the more you will have to write about. I haven't had that much happen to me throughout my life compared to most people, certainly not many big life changes. (Either that, or I just didn't realize that they were big life changes at the time.) So for years I have struggled with the phrase "write what you know". If I was supposed to write about only my life experiences, then my book was going to be awfully boring! (More on that phrase in a later post...) Now that I've had more happen to me (marriage, moving away from family, having a baby), I not only feel like I have actually had something happen in my life - I have SO much more to write about! I now have a huge increase in story material from my own life that I can write about expertly because (duh!) it happened to me. And that leads to the most important way a life changing event helps a writer...

   3) It allows a writer to sympathize with the characters. Most of my stories growing up were about people older than me, in different circumstances than me, dealing with a lot of things I could only imagine I knew about. And it made for pretty unconvincing story lines, not because I hadn't done my research, but because I had no source for emotional connection with my characters. I had never been separated from a loved one, so I couldn't properly relate how a girl would feel if the love of her life got sent off to war. I had never had a child, so I couldn't properly relate how a parent would feel about watching a child have to go through something difficult. I had never been through surgery, so I couldn't properly relate how a person would feel having to deal with rehab. Now that I have experienced all these major life events, I can write as though I understand what a character is going through even if their particular life experiences are slightly different than mine. Why? Because I have been through similar situations, if not identical ones (I'm pretty sure no one has ever carried around a magic ring and had to dump it in a volcanic mountain before). And while before the reactions I came up with were noble and brave and idealistic, I can now write reactions that are more realistic. People are people. They don't always react like they should. And having been through some "stuff" myself, I can now understand why they don't. It makes for better plot lines, more lifelike characters, and reactions people can believe.

     Does all this mean that writing is made any easier having a child around? Or living in a new area where you don't know anyone? Or dealing with a physical condition that takes up a lot of your time? Absolutely not! But easier isn't always better. Just ask my post-pregnancy-work-out-sore abs - sometimes you have to endure pain to build muscle. So don't complain about the inconvenience of life experiences. Start using them!

     Sincerely,

            Yours Truly

Guess Who's Back? (And Bringing Company)

     Wow. Having a kid in your life will do all kinds of crazy things to your writing! But not necessarily bad things. Later this weekend, I'll be publishing a post about how all of this "non-writing time" has affected my writing and what I've drawn from it - and, hopefully, some other, fun posts, too!

      For now, let me share with you some food for thought: a vlog (video blog) by Nosco Says in which my big brother discusses weak, underdeveloped villains - and when you can afford to get away with using them. Although drawn from films, this vlog certainly applies to writers. I myself was convicted of falling prey to the kind of cheap writing Nosco points out.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vs. Big Hero 6

     Please enjoy and share with your writer friends!

     Sincerely,

           Yours Truly
   

Fiction 101 - the Art of Plot Line Q & A

     Recently, I started watching the TV show Terra Nova on Netflix. It follows a futuristic family (22nd century) who are among many to travel back in time and establish a colony in the 'prehistoric' past. The show, though only one season long, has so far proven to be full of suspense, plot twists and dazzling eye candy shots of a beautiful world - and lots of dinosaurs (which is where it really gets fun).
   

   
     Now, this post isn't about the show or its actors or even the fact that I haven't noticed any plot holes thus far (a great discovery in this era of action-only-ditch-the-good-plot-part movies). It's about the main frustration I've felt in watching this show, one that I've noticed I also tend to feel in a lot of novels for teens and kids. And that frustration is simple: faulty plot line Q & A.

     What is Plot Line Q & A, you may ask? That, my friend, is the element of a novel that makes the reader HAVE to turn the next page, HAVE to read the next chapter, HAVE to finish the book tonight. It's not that difficult to incorporate, either. In fact, as most stories invent themselves in a writer's head (for those of you who aren't writers, stories have a tendency to do that) they develop their own system of Plot Line Q & A.

     This is because all good stories are based not on action but on a question - how is the main character going to fight this/survive/win the girl/figure this out/etc. The subsequent development of both character and plot are meant to advance that question to a definite and satisfying answer. How a writer develops the SUB questions, however (the questions that underlie the big, easy-to-see-one), is what will make the reader continue reading.

     In Terra Nova, the writers did an excellent job of asking lots of questions. How is the dad going to travel back with them? What is this Commander Taylor guy really doing here? Where did these strange markings come from? Who are the Sixers?

     The trouble was with answering them - or rather, with not answering them. The point to asking somebody a question and then giving a dramatic pause is to make them REALLY want to know what the answer is. Usually they start guessing; then they start to get antsy. Finally, they get impatient - and that's when you know you've waited too long. In Terra Nova, the writers didn't give the audience a chance to get to the antsy stage. In fact, I myself barely got to the guessing stage. They asked the questions in one episode and then answered them at the end or in the next episode. And it was really, REALLY disappointing not to get to guess the answers myself or be made to HAVE to watch the next episode so I could find out.

     Again, the questions were good ones, and they were asked subtly enough. To add to that, the action and drama surrounding the questions were such a good distraction that the audience could have gone on for several episodes being asked new questions without getting to the impatient stage about the first ones. But the writers didn't do that. They went ahead and answered them - through some rather cheesy plot exposition dialogue, too, I might add. And that's what spoiled it for me.

     So how do you get the Plot Line Q & A right without either disappointing your audience (answering too quickly) or driving them nuts (making them wade through 25 episodes of junk to find the answers)?

     That part just takes practice. And a little keen observation as you read books and watch TV. (Yes, believe it or not, TV and movies are an EXCELLENT way to learn how to and how not to develop plot line, characters, etc.)

     One good way to gauge how well you're doing with Q & A is to sit next to somebody while they read your manuscript and have them give you their honest opinion about it. (You can just have them read it and report back to you, but it's much funnier when you're sitting next to them.) When my sister-in-law was reading through my most recent manuscript for critiquing purposes, she did this part really well. Once every chapter at least, she'd look at me and say, "Wait - why is such and such happening?" Then (without fail) two or three sentences later, she'd go "Oooohhhh, I get it." At the end, she told me that she had noticed I had done a good job of asking a question and making the audience wait just the right amount of time before answering it - all while adding new questions to the pile.

     No, in case you're wondering, this is not another plug for my book or my own personal writing skills. It's simply that I thought of that incident as I was watching this TV show because I realized just how important it is to ask and answer the right questions at the right moments for the ultimate experience of suspense and intrigue.

     My litmus test for good Plot Line Q & A? Look at your manuscript and ask yourself the following questions. (The answers should be written down somewhere for you to look over as your edit.)

     1) Am I immediately answering all questions as I get to them, or am I leaving a few answers at least until later?

     2) Am I asking my questions directly (as in through dialogue or narrative) or am I just sort of leaving a situation unexplained, in which case the audience is asking the questions? (A good combination of both makes the audience feel like they're not being taken advantage of or having all the work done for them.)

     3) How many times have I asked this question, and do I need to take out a few references to it so the audience doesn't get tired of being asked and shut the book?

     4) Contrarily, has the audience been so distracted by subplots that they've already forgotten I asked this question, in which case do I need to a) ask it again or b) take out some distraction?

     5) Am I rushing to explain situations by having other characters talk about them early on (plot exposition dumps are REALLY annoying to a reader), or am I letting the situations explain themselves as the pieces of the puzzle start to come together?

     In the end, how you ask and answer questions is something only you have control over. But remember always - an audience appreciates good suspense, and Plot Line Q & A (done right) is how you get that. My challenge to you is to look over whatever you're writing now (seriously, take a break from the internet and look over that huge document sitting in the Microsoft Word file) and ask the questions listed. Then keep those questions in mind as you continue writing and see how it turns out. Have fun! And good luck.

     Sincerely,

          Yours Truly