dialogue – Page 4

Before I mention the book, ‘Stellar Cloud’, I think it would be pertinent to put something in perspective. My reason for reading Science Fiction was no accident. I believe in broadening my horizons as a writer, by reading widely.

During the A to Z challenge, I enjoyed following Charity Bradford’s blog. The posts she used throughout the challenge were based on Dr Who, the classic British time-travel series.

In itself the topic could be given a light-hearted or devil-may-care treatment, but irrespective of anyone else’s opinion, the alphabet was followed and good posts appeared each day.

The relevance of those challenge posts is simply that Charity’s passion for the genre shines through in them. That same passion allows her to write not only entertaining, but convincing stories in a genre that I do not normally read.

Okay, the average person might think, Science Fiction is not for me, but consider something for a moment. If a story is well told, does it really matter if it’s set in Arkansas, Frankfurt, Rome, or on the planet Zorg?

In ‘Stellar Cloud’ I found a variety of stories that produced the same empathy I would expect for characters in a traditional tale. The imagery was well drawn, the dialogue was natural, and the stories were well told. I found myself believing in each story, and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

I was delighted to find that each story was different. Irrespective of genre, many writers tend to write repetitive tales and they only differ in location and character names. The situations and conflicts in the ‘Stellar Cloud’ collection are sufficiently different.

Charity brings her book to a close with a Prologue and Chapter 1, for her novel, ‘The Magic Wakes’.

I would suggest if you haven’t tried Science Fiction, then Charity’s offerings are a good place to start.

is for dialogue. We’ll take a brief look, at five aspects of today’s topic.

1. Direct speech.

This is the most commonly used means of conveying information, and producing conversation between characters.

“It really depends on house style, and your market place,” Tom said.

“Yes,” Jane agreed. “I suppose you’re right.”

2. Indirect speech.

We use this technique to avoid a long drawn out piece of dialogue.

“It really does depend on house style, and your market place,” Tom said, before going on for five minutes to explain a variety of points on the subject.

Jane listened and nodded, realising just how deep a subject it was.

3. Dialogue tags.

Examples: said, screamed, called, shouted, cried, exclaimed.

We don’t have to use a fancy word, when ‘said’ is the easiest to use, is the least obtrusive, and does the job. Don’t use a big word, because you might send your reader looking for a dictionary. Use something more descriptive if the scene benefits from it.

Keep dialogue short, sharp, and believable. It will keep the story moving forward, and it sounds natural. Try breaking up your dialogue with a tag in mid-sentence; which is something I do often.

“I’ve used it extensively in my novels,” Tom said. “It sounds natural, and allows the reader to take a breath.”

4. Thoughts.

When a character has a thought, it does not have quotation marks. They are thinking about it; not saying it.

5. Dialect.

This is one of my pet hates. I’m a Glaswegian. For anyone not of British descent, it means I’m originally from Glasgow, in Scotland. Allow me to demonstrate typical dialect from my hometown. It’s how I used to speak before I left home.

Billy said: “Ah telt ‘im ee’ wisnae gonnae geh’ ennae. Ee’ telt me tae piss aff ‘n mine ma’ ain bizniz.”

“Yurr takin’ thu pish,” Jimmy replied. “Ah’d a’ smakt ‘um in thu’ mooth.”

What is dialect? It’s not everyday language; it is the broad, colloquial tongue of a region or district. It is tedious to write, and awful to read. Why is it a pet hate of mine? It should only be done if the entire story is done in that style, or, if it’s the way a single character speaks at all times.

I’ve seen it in so many stories where the writer has changed back and forward from regular English language to regional dialect and back again, with one character. The character should speak one way or the other.

Thank you for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow with ‘E’.

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