McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
God I suck at Dialogue
King of De Nile:
A good trick, if you're just stumped on a particular line of dialog, is exploit ask your family for help. Describe the situation and the character, and then ask them what they would say. You can get some real gems this way.
Another thing is, if you don't want to be in a conversation yourself, ride a local bus on a weekday, around 6. Just listen to the conversations around you; you'll hear the cadence of their conversation. Then try to replicate that cadence in your head as you write.
skaoi:
i agree with king-nile. get out and listen to people. hang at a coffee shop, ride the bus, visit a hospital, go to a bar or hang at the student center of a local college. be a voyeur. become a student of body language.
i'm sort of at the opposite end of the spectrum. i love dialogue and i'm pompous enough to think i'm pretty fair at it. i enjoy describing a character's posture, their facial expression, or the exasperated sighs when they become frustrated that they aren't getting their point across.
thankfully, i have a co-writer who keeps me in line with generally directing the big picture. i love details and frequently get bogged down in the little stuff - like conversations.
i'm not good with people, either, but i've found that as i write dialogue, somehow, i've gotten better with real people.
Mickey Finn:
Hey, George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones has some of the worst dialogue ever, in the first half page. They use the word "death" 9 times in a third of a page. It's comical.
If this had been his first novel, it would have been passed over in the slush pile. Even the greats can screw up dialogue.
LizW65:
--- Quote from: Mickey Finn on July 09, 2007, 09:31:07 PM ---Hey, George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones has some of the worst dialogue ever, in the first half page. They use the word "death" 9 times in a third of a page. It's comical.
If this had been his first novel, it would have been passed over in the slush pile. Even the greats can screw up dialogue.
--- End quote ---
No wonder I couldn't get more than a couple pages into that book. :) I finally gave up and sold it to the used bookstore.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Mickey Finn on July 09, 2007, 09:31:07 PM ---Hey, George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones has some of the worst dialogue ever, in the first half page. They use the word "death" 9 times in a third of a page. It's comical.
--- End quote ---
Why is repetition to generate a desired effect a problem ? I'm pretty sure that specific example is deliberate and has a point in mind, and, well, it worked for me.
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