Guest Post - "Good Dialogue: Balancing Realism and Awesomeness by A.G. Wyatt

Good Dialogue: Balancing Realism and Awesomeness

Some people will tell you that good dialogue is realistic. Those people are barely half right on a good day. Good dialogue is a delicate balance between what’s realistic, what’s dramatic, and what’s just plain awesome.

So how does that work?

Balancing Realism and Drama

You need dialogue to seem realistic and to sound like we imagine people talking. That means slang, abbreviations, incomplete sentences, and touches of humor and awkwardness.

But that’s not the same as how people really talk. Any real conversation involves a bunch of repetitions, hesitations, and “er, hm” moments that just clutter up the scene. So throw in some realism, but don’t go too far.

Aaron Sorkin is famous for this. His dialogue seems realistic because characters interrupt and talk over each other, like in real life. But it’s hyper-reality, in which every word is cool, coherent and awesome.

Speaking of awesome, snappy one-liners and killer comebacks will make your dialogue memorable and grab attention, so throw in a few. But don’t use a whole bucketful — the more you have, the more obvious it will be that this isn’t real people talking.

The same goes for drama. This lies largely in the structure, so is easier to hide. Skip over the awkward fifteen minutes of developing a real plan, and cut to the summary. Have people interrupt each other at the perfect moment to add conflict and tension to the scene without hiding meaning. Have people join in at the perfectly dramatic right (or wrong) moment.

Structure for drama and use details for realism and awesomeness.

Voices: Being Consistent and Characterful

One of the most important things to do in good dialogue is to make the characters distinctive. Give each one particular phrases or ways of talking. These can be obvious, like Marvel comics’ robot bounty hunter Death’s Head, who ends many sentences with “yes?” They can be more subtle, like having a character use short sentences or ask a lot of questions. The character can be favoring long words, or plainer sounding ones with an Anglo-Saxon root.

If each character has distinctive verbal tics then they’ll stand out, making the dialogue clearer, more real and more dramatic. But be careful not to overdo it. Even Death’s Head doesn’t use his distinctive “yes?” as often on the page as readers remember, and only gets away with it because he’s not a totally serious character. Over use any element and the character will seem absurd.

Some Examples

It’s easier to show how this works through bad examples than good ones. So let’s look at a few (that I’ve invented — no real authors were hurt in the making of this article)…

“As you know, Gilbert, Ragaton was once home to an ancient witch who…”

Any sentence that starts “as you know” is a stinker. Using this to tell readers story background is neither dramatic nor realistic — only the most tedious people tell us what we already know. If I want them to talk about the witch, I’ll have to imply her existence:

“Is that poster meant to show the Ragaton Witch? It looks almost as ancient and wrinkled as she was.”

It’s not perfect, but it hints at the character’s snobby attitude and deep familiarity with the witch, while implying her existence.

How about a little back and forth:

“Why did you do it, Rusko?”

“I’m not telling.”

“Tell me or I’ll beat you.”

“Still not telling.”

That’s one way to take the drama out of an interrogation, and the realism - people don’t just answer questions directly, and the interrogator is being too on the nose. So instead:

“Why did you do it, Rusko?”

“Why are you such a fat pig, Cole? You’re like one of them big sows, rolling around in the—”

“You want to meet my friend Mr. Lead Pipe?”

“You want to go to Hell?”

Now Rusko’s fighting back with his words, “Mr. Lead Pipe” has shown Cole’s twisted sense of humor, and they’re both being a little bit more dramatic and characterful.

Good dialogue strikes that balance of realism and drama, as well as showing character. It’s not just nice to have. It’s vital.

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A.G. Wyatt is the author of the post-apocalyptic adventure series, MoonFall, and is presently working on his second series. When he's not writing, he's reading, or looking for inspiration near his hometown in Northeastern PA.

Links to A.G. Wyatt's social media profiles:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/agwyattauthor

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/agwyattauthor

Check out MoonFall on Goodreads.

Check out MoonFall on Amazon.

Guest Post - Betsy Dornbusch on "Writing Sequels"

I'm happy to have Betsy Dornbusch on the blog again (see her article on the Writing Process). She's here today to talk about writing sequels, as I guess you may have guessed from the title of this post, you clever devils.

And Betsy would know all about writing sequels as the sequel to her debut, Exile, just came out last week - Emissary:

Here, she takes us into the writing process once again and looks at what it's like going back to the world she created in the first book.

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Writing Sequels

Betsy Dornbusch

            Writing a sequel is a really big topic because Emissary is such a big book (for me, anyway). At a 140K words, it’s bigger than Exile by 50%, and the book is a sort of trilogy all on its own because it’s sectioned into three parts: Draken in his new home, Draken traveling to his old home, and then back to his new home in a mad dash to defend it against invasion.

            The world of the Seven Eyes is also a big one, but I think you don’t get the sense of just how big it is in Exile. Draken, exiled (duh), doesn’t think too much about his old home except in comparison to the  new one. He’s still in shock from all that happened and dwelling on memories isn’t conducive to staying alive. His new country, Akrasia, has little to remind him of his old, Monoea. It isn’t an old country, nor is it crowded. The biggest Akrasian city isn’t a quarter of the size of Sevenfel in Monoea, the one Draken grew up in. And shifting from a nation of single ethnicity in which he is an outlier to a melting pot kingdom where he actually fits in without much trouble is a big enough adjustment for one book.

           At the start of Emissary Draken is about as recovered from the trauma of being exiled as he’s ever going to get (he suffers from depression). But when soldiers from his old country invade and demand he return home, he knows it means certain death. Unfortunately, they’ve got more than one secret to hold over his head. Going back is a selfless act; his queen, a child on the way, and the well-being of his country are all at stake. But when he gets to Monoea he realized the leaders there have even bigger concerns.

            The plot isn’t at all straightforward, either, and lends itself to some sprawl. There are too many factions with opposing goals, and we only get a limited picture of each with the entire story being in Draken’s point of view. Plot points in the story, as was noted in an early review, tend to fold back on themselves. I guess it’s natural; the whole story is one of Draken having to fold himself back into his past. In a way, Emissary is two stories: one of the present day and one of Draken’s past.

            Such a big story has myriad subplots: love interests, relationships gone askew, running jokes, a cast to keep track of, and an ever-growing body of magic. I found the magic the toughest to manage, because I had to one-up Exile. I knew in each book Draken would be gifted magic from the gods. Draken is a believer but not faithful, and he doesn’t view any of it as much of a gift. He has a tendency to turn his magic on people he shouldn’t and use it in ways the gods never intended. When they give him a necromantic sword in Exile, he has mostly disdain and then uses as a mere tool, ignoring the gods’ favor that comes along with it until forced.

           A minor spoiler for Emissary, one I feel comfortable sharing because it’s on the first page: Draken becomes self-healing. This could be a small, limited gift, but the way it manifests is not. These are big gifts: a sword with the power to give death and life, the ability to heal oneself. Really, they’re as big as the story itself. Keeping the magic in consistent use with a growing tension was one of my biggest challenges in writing this sequel.

            And then of course I’ve spent a lot of time working out how Emissary informs the last installment of the Books of the Seven Eyes. Draken emerges from the sequel cleansed of his old past but saddled with new truths and damage. Fortunately, I tend to plot. That helps.

           A trilogy is an intimidating project. I found writing the bridge piece, the sequel, a major challenge. A sequel does more than further the overall story arc, it has to lead to the next book, increase stakes and tension, grow the characters, but not finish them, and yet leave the readers satisfied they’ve read a complete story with its own subplots and resolution. But it has its advantages, too. The world is mostly established, though we might get to see more of it. Characters are developed and relationships can be deepened rather than launched. There’s a definite satisfaction in returning to beloved worlds. I hope you enjoy returning to the world of Seven Eyes as much as I did.

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Bio:

Betsy Dornbusch is the author of several short stories, novellas, and novels. In addition to speaking at numerous conventions and teaching writing classes, she has spent the last decade editing the online magazine Electric Spec and writing on her website Sex Scenes at Starbucks (betsydornbusch.com). She and her family split their time between Boulder and Grand Lake, Colorado.

Links for ordering Emissary (Seven Eyes, Book 2):

http://www.tatteredcover.com/book/9781597805322

http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781597805322-0

http://www.amazon.com/Emissary-Second-Book-Seven-Eyes/dp/1597805327

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emissary-betsy-dornbusch/1118593806?ean=9781597805322

http://betsydornbusch.com

http://twitter.com/betsydornbusch

Guest Post - "Writing Process" by Betsy Dornbusch

I’m asked about process a lot on panels. I get it. People want to know what works, how writers get words on the page. What’s the password to the club? What’s the secret handshake? Is there an elixir? I heard there’s an elixir!!

We’re all granted the same hours in a day but some writers just seem to get more stuff done in less time. I tend to be a slower writer but I generally get more done per pass than others. The idea of doing seventeen passes on a book... ugh. Never. Again.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The longer I write, the more I plot. Tagline, flap copy, and synopsis—yeah, just like the market wants. It’s how I toss ideas into the lake to see if they float or swim. I do take them public sometimes, or ask friends. It’s worth it to test salability of ideas, and I’m not precious about them. If there’s an easy part of the process, it’s ideas.

My taglines are usually simple for personal use while it’s a WIP. When it was Exile, it was “Falsely accused for murdering his wife, a middle-aged soldier is exiled to an enemy country.” Last year, when I was working on the sequel, Emissary, I said, because lots of people know what Exile is about,“Draken has to go back to his original country to face a death sentence and a religious revolution.” And now, when I’m working on Enemy, I tell myself, “After a divisive coup Draken has to cobble his country back together to defeat foreign invaders.”

The next thing I write is basic marketing copy. Nothing too fancy, a basic paragraph. A few tent pole scenes, and the climactic cliffhanger with a little internal conflict/motivation thrown in. I’m pretty dependent on this paragraph. I don’t start writing a word until I’ve got at least that much because if it doesn’t read well that means the idea sucks.

I used to totally pantz it. Writing wasn’t FUN unless I didn’t know what was going to happen next. But you know what’s not fun? Rewriting a pantzing disaster. After a couple of these, I decided to remake myself into a plotter. I trained myself to brainstorm with friends and synopsis. At first it’s something like a couple of pages. A list of tent pole scenes, again, but more embellished, and I work harder at motivation. Why does this matter? Why doesn’t s/he just walk away? Why is my character re/acting the way s/he is? What’s the starting point, how does that inform the action, and what’s driving my character to point Z? What’s the worst thing that can happen? I include some internal conflict and drum up as many obstacles as I can. This is an anything-goes time, but I’m trying to work myself to an ending so I know where I’m headed. I’m also drafting during this time because I have no self-control. Also I do rolling revisions while I draft, going back and fixing things.

For my next book, Enemy, which completes the Seven Eyes Books, I’m working on my most detailed synopsis yet. It’s nearly chapter by chapter, though I haven’t designated any in my synopsis. It currently sits at five thousand words and I fully expect to add another thousand as I revise it. There’s a subplot to weave in and a twist to the ending I’m thinking over.

Not all publishers want this. Some want a treatment—a one pager, basically. Some do it on a verbal conversation. But I know to write the book in a timely fashion, I need this level of detail to keep me going from day to day.

And yeah, day to day. Hmm. The process there sometimes falls apart. I have kids in school, a dog, a husband, and a house to keep. I’m still working on my daily process and I think I’m realizing every day is different. I used to write to a scene, but now I tend to write word counts. I’m not sure which works better, though I feel like word counts make me more accountable (literally—haha). As I said before, I’m a pokey drafter, turning out pages as clean as I can make them.

Right now I’d call Facebook my biggest disruption, mostly because it’s the new email. Most of my writer friends contact me via PM. It’s how we organize conventions, appearances, everything. I’m in a few private groups of writers, some public interest groups, and there are always other friends to keep up with. Honestly, I’d dump Facebook if it wasn’t so integral to communicating with fellow writers. Twitter I spend less time on because every time I click it, I start chasing links and getting into conversations. I find it to be more of a timesuck than Facebook, which simply doesn’t move as fast. Twitter is probably one of those things I should be doing more, promotions-wise, but I try to put the majority of my work-time into writing.

I think the biggest part of the professional writing life is that there’s always more to do. It’s overwhelming, which is why I think some writers (coughmeahem) fall down on the day-to-day end of things. If we start thinking macro instead of micro, novel instead of chapter, or even scene, the job quickly overwhelms us.

Then we start to procrastinate. This

Source: http://myjetpack.tumblr.com/image/80457780970

cartoon from Tom Gauld pretty much describes my efforts therein. I’ve never actually been blocked but I have been too twitchy to write. That’s when I know it’s time to get up and do something else. Usually cleaning toilets or pushing the vacuum gets me back to telling stories quick enough. And that, Charlie Brown, is what writing is all about.

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Betsy Dornbusch is the author of a dozen short stories, three novellas, and two novels. She also is an editor with the speculative fiction magazine Electric Spec and the longtime proprietress of Sex Scenes at Starbucks (www.betsydornbusch.com).


 



Check out Exile, published by Night Shade Books, at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

It's News To Me #29 - Online Articles I've Been Reading

I read a bunch of good articles this week, but decided to gather together the best ones...or possibly the only ones I could remember enough to find the link again. There's at least some possibility it's the first one. :)


YetiStomper reviews the Kindle Fire: I was so close to getting one of these, but decided against it for two reasons. 1. I'm easily distracted and I need an eReader that doesn't have a million things to keep me away from actually reading. 2. I've decided I need eInk especially because I want to be able to do LOTS of reading on this device. I'm going with the Kindle Touch.

Speaking of eReaders, the Nook Tablet reviewed: Jeff, at The Tattered Scroll, has been my go to for all eReader devices. He's reviewed most if not all and I really trust his opinion. He's actually the one who made me decide against the Fire, as you can see in the comments.

An Open Letter to Simon & Schuster: Seems like the publishing industry needs to get its act together. I'm sure it's hard to change bad habits when people are tripping over each other to get published and will bend over backwards to do what you decide.

25 Reasons Why Readers Will Keep Reading Your Story: I've become pretty addicted to terribleminds.com, the author Chuck Wendig's blog, lately. He seems to know what he's doing, or at least he's entertaining enough for me not care either way.

Angry Robot's new YA Imprint, Strange Chemistry: and a fellow blogger, Amanda Rutter, is out of the blogging game (to head said new imprint).