I know I've told several friends this, but finally figured I may as well include it here. Jillian Marie Antel Blairington started with a writing group prompt: cereal surprise. I wrote a short story featuring this little girl who decides to aid her mother's boyfriend with his proposal. I loved the character and her voice so much that I wrote 9 more short stories.
Last summer, I decided to return to the character. I had been working on some science fiction projects and wanted a change of pace. I was going for "normal" ... honest, I was. What I got was Ashlynn's Dreams. While there are elements that make this a science fiction story, it's still mostly normal.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Writing Dialogue
Writing dialogue is a lot like talking to yourself. It's really rather easy if you're good at making small talk with you. Let's face it, for most of us, our favorite person is us, so this should not be hard. I've never had to practice writing dialogue, but it would be a fun exercise to see what different things people would say in response to a random situation.
Dialogue is vastly important because it defines the character.
For example, if one character (Jimmy) says, "I want ice cream."
There are very nearly endless possibilities of how someone else could respond.
A small child might say, "Me, too!"
An amorous creeper might say, "I want you."
An indulgent mother might say, "What flavor would you like? We'll get you some as soon as possible."
A frustrated mother might say, "Tough."
A frustrated teacher might say, "Please focus, Jimmy."
A friend might say, "What kind? I want mint chocolate chip with fudge and whipped cream."
A waitress might say, "Try the triple fudge sundae. They're fabulous."
Try it, what would you say?
Dialogue is vastly important because it defines the character.
For example, if one character (Jimmy) says, "I want ice cream."
There are very nearly endless possibilities of how someone else could respond.
A small child might say, "Me, too!"
An amorous creeper might say, "I want you."
An indulgent mother might say, "What flavor would you like? We'll get you some as soon as possible."
A frustrated mother might say, "Tough."
A frustrated teacher might say, "Please focus, Jimmy."
A friend might say, "What kind? I want mint chocolate chip with fudge and whipped cream."
A waitress might say, "Try the triple fudge sundae. They're fabulous."
Try it, what would you say?
Lousiest Blogger Ever
Well as you can see from the gross disparity in frequency, I'm a pretty lousy blogger.
That said, I hope to do better.
I'm kinda excited about the new book project I'm working on. I've got one month to get it basically in order before school starts up again and my life turns back into one gradefest after another. I had planned on writing 2 books this summer, but that idea is getting tossed. I'll be lucky to finish this one.
I dunno why it took me only three weeks to put the last book together (last summer, Ashlynn's Dreams) and this one is taking me 4 weeks and I'm a little over halfway through. There's a 25k difference in size, but that shouldn't speak for such a wide gap.
I would love to know how long it took certain authors to write their books.
That said, I hope to do better.
I'm kinda excited about the new book project I'm working on. I've got one month to get it basically in order before school starts up again and my life turns back into one gradefest after another. I had planned on writing 2 books this summer, but that idea is getting tossed. I'll be lucky to finish this one.
I dunno why it took me only three weeks to put the last book together (last summer, Ashlynn's Dreams) and this one is taking me 4 weeks and I'm a little over halfway through. There's a 25k difference in size, but that shouldn't speak for such a wide gap.
I would love to know how long it took certain authors to write their books.
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