Writing - part xx109 Writing a Novel, Better Dialog

20 January 2020, Writing - part xx109 Writing a Novel, Better Dialog

Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the internet, but my primary publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t succeed in the past business and publishing environment.  I'll keep you informed, but I need a new publisher.  More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com.  Check out my novels--I think you'll really enjoy them.

Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.

I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:

1. Don't confuse your readers.

2. Entertain your readers.

3. Ground your readers in the writing.

4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

     4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage of the novel.

5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.

These are the steps I use to write a novel including the five discrete parts of a novel:

1.     Design the initial scene

2.     Develop a theme statement (initial setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)

a.     Research as required

b.     Develop the initial setting

c.     Develop the characters

d.     Identify the telic flaw (internal and external)

3.     Write the initial scene (identify the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)

4.     Write the next scene(s) to the climax (rising action)

5.     Write the climax scene

6.     Write the falling action scene(s)

7.     Write the dénouement scene

I finished writing my 29^th novel, working title, Detective, potential title Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective.  The theme statement is: Lady Azure Rose Wishart, the Chancellor of the Fae, supernatural detective, and all around dangerous girl, finds love, solves cases, breaks heads, and plays golf.  

Here is the cover proposal for Blue Rose: Enchantment and the Detective. 

Cover Proposal

The most important scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising action. I am continuing to write on my 30^th novel, working title Red Sonja.  I finished my 29^th novel, working title Detective.  I’m planning to start on number 31, working title Shifter. 

How to begin a novel.  Number one thought, we need an entertaining idea.  I usually encapsulate such an idea with a theme statement.  Since I’m writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement.  Here is an initial cut.

For novel 30:  Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns about freedom, and is redeemed.

For novel 31:  Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events. 

Here is the scene development outline:

1. Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)

2. Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)

3. Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and develop the tension and release.

4. Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.

5. Write the release

6. Write the kicker

          

Today:  Why don’t we go back to the basics and just writing a novel?  I can tell you what I do, and show you how I go about putting a novel together.  We can start with developing an idea then move into the details of the writing. 

To start a novel, I picture an initial scene.  I may start from a protagonist or just launch into mental development of an initial scene.  I get the idea for an initial scene from all kinds of sources.  To help get the creative juices flowing, let’s look at the initial scene. 

1.     Meeting between the protagonist and the antagonist or the protagonist’s helper

2.     Action point in the plot

3.     Buildup to an exciting scene

4.     Indirect introduction of the protagonist

Ideas.  We need ideas.  Ideas allow us to figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw.  Ideas don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus.  We need to cultivate ideas. 

1.     Read novels. 

2.     Fill your mind with good stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about. 

3.     Figure out what will build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.

4.     Study.

5.     Teach. 

6.     Make the catharsis. 

7.     Write.

The development of ideas is based on study and research, but it is also based on creativity.  Creativity is the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form.  It is a reflection of something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect).  Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and producing.

If creativity, especially in writing, is caused by writing—then we better get writing.  Write-on.  Yes, so what does this writing for creativity look like? 

Developing creativity is all about writing.  Well, there are the other six actions you should accomplish.  Then write.  Many ask, what should I write about?  I understand this.  If you don’t know what to write about, then what do you write about?  Random stuff?  Nah.

Let’s write about stuff that will help us both write better and that will build up our writing portfolio. 

We started with descriptive paragraphs and then turned them into action scenes.  The next step is to take two of the characters you described and bring them together for a conversation.  This is called dialog. 

Writing dialog seems to be a problem for many beginning authors.  Let me give you an easy way to start and finish.  The rest is kind of up to you, but I’ll help you with that too.

1.     Greeting

2.     Introductions

3.     Social lubrication

4.     Topics of no depth (small talk)

5.     Topics of depth

6.     Closure

7.     Farewell

There are other rules concerning writing good conversation: no address, contractions, tags, and etc.       

Okay, there are no rules—if there were rules, writing dialog would be easy.  It’s not easy for many, and most beginning writers.

We set up the training scene or the exercise by taking our setting (descriptive) paragraphs and then using action based paragraphs to bring our characters together for a dialog (conversation).  As I noted, in all dialogs, the author should take the list above of the dialog outline and determine which parts are necessary.  I think in almost every dialog, every step is necessary, but I know there are occasional conversations that don’t always follow this outline—almost all of them do, but a few rare conversations do not.  Just keep this in mind as you develop the conversation. 

Once you get into writing the dialog, there are some very important concepts to follow and observe.  These are details in the dialog itself.  Most important are these:

1.     Address

2.     Contractions

3.     Tags

If I think of more, I’ll add them to the list to cover.  Another small point of observation is contractions.  Normal English speech even among the most academically trained and affluent is filled with contractions. 

A characteristic of English dialog is its contractions.  You find that in technical papers and generally in liberal arts papers, students and professors are trained never to use contractions, but this has never been true in fiction.

Fiction writing is all about sounding normal.  Perhaps normal is both the right and wrong word to use.  When a reader reads the fiction, nothing should knock the readers out of the state of suspension of disbelief.  The suspension of disbelief is the term we use to describe the state of the reader in a highly effective piece of fiction writing.  The reader is locked mentally, emotionally, and physically into the story such that the reader is immersed in the world of the story.  Anything that jars the reader out of this immersion ruins the suspension of disbelief.  Conversation that is discordant to the reader can knock them out of their suspension of disbelief.  Thus, we as writers will do anything possible to prevent this problem.       

In looking at the suspension of disbelief, it is critical that we notice and acknowledge that all dialogs in writing are contrived.

If you review the literal text of any conversation, you will quickly notice that no one would ever consider it readable dialog.  Real conversations are filled with filler words: like, um, oh, well, hum, you knows, just to name a few.  Real conversations are replete with sentence fragments, and incomplete thoughts.  A real conversation would look something like this:

Bob: Hey, um, Jack—uh, could I well.  You know, there’s this problem I’m having.

Jack: Yeah, I, uh, I uh, heard you were having some kind of problem.  Uh, could I help, you like or do something?

Bob: Like, I’m not sure, I well.  I need.  I think maybe you might could do something.

This isn’t much of an exaggeration.  People would never, I hope, write like this, but they speak like this every day.  In fact, the number of incorrect uses of grammar by even educated people daily would shame their teachers.  In any case, actual conversational dialogs are nothing like what we read in books and plays because the authors are presenting us dialogs as we imagine they should sound.  This is the point of the use of address and contractions.  The use of contractions and the lack of the use of direct address makes the dialog sound reasonable to the reader.  This is the entire point—this is likely why many if not most beginning writers have problems with dialog.  Real dialog is not a good example of written dialog.  You need to study and practice dialog sufficiently to write it well.

So, we have some important points.  First, we need to practice writing dialog—this is why I gave it as an exercise.  Second, follow the conversation outline above.  Third, get rid of direct address as much as possible, and put in all the contractions you can imagine.  You don’t need to overdo it, but never leave a word pair uncontracted unless you mean it in the context of the writing.  ofr example:

Jane stomped right up to Jim, “Do not do that ever again.”

It still might sound better as:

Jane stomped right up to Jim, “Don’t ever do that again.”

English is so wonderful.  There is a third touch in writing that I think is critical to good dialog that is tags.  We’ll round out our discussion of dialog with that, next.

Whatever you do, get your writing into electronic files.  We should also write about formatting too.  In any case, tomorrow, I’ll give you ideas about what to put in your portfolio.   

The most important step in creativity may be to just write.  This begins another chapter in this discussion of creativity—notes, records, and documenting.

I need to get to the point of extrapolating creativity, and also finish the thought about event horizon and worldview.  

The beginning of creativity is study and effort.  We can use this to extrapolate to creativity.  In addition, we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.    

    

More tomorrow.

For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:

http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com  

fiction, theme, plot, story, storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book, writing, information, study, marketing, tension, release, creative, idea, logic