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Dialogue, Choppyness, and everything inbetween.



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Thu Jul 31, 2014 1:38 am
Holysocks says...



I've been taking some time to read some of my writing lately, and I've been noticing just how crappy it all is.

My characters are so socially awkward when they talk it's not even cute. It just feels like they find each other repulsing. When my characters don't sound like they want to escape the other one, they're such cheese-balls, happily saying the same thing sentries of B-movie screen writers have drilled into my brain. That's right, I am talking about dialogue.

I have tried paying attention to conversations and how people talk, I've tried forcing them to sound normal, I've tried addressing the problem in the piece, but nothing works. Now I've resorted to making comics of the scenes in an attempt to 'get in my characters head' as someone suggested.

I think I'm having trouble because I myself have trouble carrying out a decent conversation, but I'm just hoping it's not that because if it is I think my future as a writer is doomed.

The other thing I noticed is that my writing is really choppy. I mean ( maybe you've noticed ), my paragraphs seem to start at the worst times, and I can't seem to actually start a new thought without it turning out completely random. I think this is also connected to the dialogue problem and lack of conversation skills.

I'm just worried, and scared, and feeling stupid in general. Any advice on how to write good dialogue, and how not to have such choppy writing, would be very much appreciated. Like really appreciated. I might even hug you to death.
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Thu Jul 31, 2014 3:32 am
Holysocks says...



Oh, and I'm really good at grammar and spelling. If you don't believe me, look at the title. -_-
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Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:29 am
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Rosendorn says...



Have you figured out their motive for having a conversation?

Motive is an oft-overlooked part of dialogue that is often the most critical. It's the reason why people are speaking. If you don't have a reason for speaking, then you'll struggle to come up with tone.

For example, right now I am speaking with the motive to instruct. As a result, I am speaking more formally than normal, fitting more details into sentences, and providing content that is full of relevant information because I have no reason to hide it.

Meanwhile, if I was debating, I would be speaking far differently. My particular style of debating is dissecting an opponent's argument with questions then explaining why whatever they're saying is invalid. It's a different tone with a different style, for a different context.

These two articles go into motive more.

There's also each person's general lexicon— these include class, region they live in, points of reference such as media consumed, and their personality. Somebody who's timid is more likely to be wishy-washy with words, while confidence comes with being very direct and to the point. Somebody manipulative mixes whatever they need to get what they want.

For me, it tends to boil down to how a character would express something based on their past experience and motive for saying something now. You end up basically having to build your character's relationship with language in order to get natural sounding dialogue.

The "why are they saying that" is a legitimate question. The character could be speaking in B rated romance movie cliches because that's all he knows how to flirt with. If you don't know why they're saying something, then you probably don't know what they would say and what's allowed.

People have rules of conversation they aren't even aware of, unless there's a direct physical danger to violating them. One particular dialogue scene I read recently involved a son speaking back to his abusive father, and there were many times when he mentioned both his motive and how close he was to violating "the rules" his father always followed. This is where the normally invisible parts of conversation actually came up in the prose, because the son actually did get slapped for his violation.

It's all about the two people involved, what they want, and how they get it.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Fri Aug 01, 2014 5:47 am
Holysocks says...



Thank you Rosey. That was very, very helpful. I'm now in love with the amazing lady who wrote those two articles, and I'm actually excited about tackling dialogue again.

Thank you so much. <3
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Fri Aug 01, 2014 11:56 pm
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Rosendorn says...



Rach was quite the lovely linguist! She had her full degree in it, and now that I'm studying linguistics myself I see where she got everything from.

I realized I never addressed the choppiness. Honestly, I don't think I want to.

A certain amount of writing is yourself. If that style is choppy... that's what your style ends up being. It'll probably change as you grow as a writer, plus revise your old writing to make it tighter which we all have to do anyway.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Sun Aug 03, 2014 3:10 pm
Holysocks says...



Cool! Thanks. :-P

Choppiness is a part of your style? That's both cool and lame at the same time.
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The first draft is a trip to the amusement park. The next drafts are returning there as a safety inspector.
— SunsetTree