Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, Apr 25 2016
When it's more than blah-blah-blah
Fiction writing often involves more than description. It needs well-chosen dialogue between characters. The conversations we have in real life often involve a lot of talk that we would never bother to include in a story. We might not be able to skip the dull parts in real life, but in fiction we have to get past all that so we don't lose our reader. We hone in on a few choice bits of dialogue that matter.
A seemingly dull conversation while doing the dishes can propel a story forward, if it takes place between two people who don't really know each other well. If there is tension between a nervous wife and a mother-in-law and the younger woman drops an heirloom soup tureen, a conversation while washing dishes could become a pivotal moment in an already tenuous relationship. Does the mother-in-law use the conversation to push the younger woman further away? "I've always cherished this piece. It was the one thing my mother left me." Does she invite the young woman closer into her heart? "The truth is that I've always hated that ugly thing, but I couldn't bring myself to smash it. You've just done me a big favor." (I've made the scene a little stereotypical, but many other things could play into affecting the dialogue, such as the mother-in-law being younger than her daughter-in-law.)
posted at: 12:45 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Fiction writing often involves more than description. It needs well-chosen dialogue between characters. The conversations we have in real life often involve a lot of talk that we would never bother to include in a story. We might not be able to skip the dull parts in real life, but in fiction we have to get past all that so we don't lose our reader. We hone in on a few choice bits of dialogue that matter.
A seemingly dull conversation while doing the dishes can propel a story forward, if it takes place between two people who don't really know each other well. If there is tension between a nervous wife and a mother-in-law and the younger woman drops an heirloom soup tureen, a conversation while washing dishes could become a pivotal moment in an already tenuous relationship. Does the mother-in-law use the conversation to push the younger woman further away? "I've always cherished this piece. It was the one thing my mother left me." Does she invite the young woman closer into her heart? "The truth is that I've always hated that ugly thing, but I couldn't bring myself to smash it. You've just done me a big favor." (I've made the scene a little stereotypical, but many other things could play into affecting the dialogue, such as the mother-in-law being younger than her daughter-in-law.)
posted at: 12:45 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry