Friday, November 18, 2022

Two Topics: Writer Friendship and Dialogue

 


I have always loved silhouette pictures, so this one appealed to me. It made me think of a couple different topics for today's post. 

First, I thought about the friendship of writers, one writer visiting with another. They can discuss the everyday things about life, their families and friends, but most of all, they can talk over whatever is occurring in their writing world. No one understands a writer better than another writer. Others can sympathize when a big project never gets published, but another writer offers empathy. 

A writer can ask another writer for advice or to take a look at an essay just finished. She/he can't do that to a non-writer friend. Oh, he/she might ask but not get much help. Foster your friendships with other writers. It benefits both sides. 

The second topic the silhouette brought to mind is writing dialogue. There are writers who consider dialogue to be one of the most difficult things they write, while others enjoy the back and forth of two people talking. 

Dialogue is meant to do several things:

A. Good dialogue will move your story along.

B. It will aid in showing rather than narrative telling.

C. It's a way to get information to the reader.

D. It's part of character development.

E. It shows relationships between characters

F.  It breaks up long spates of pure narrattion

There are a lot of rules and a few no-no things to learn about writing dialogue, but I'll save that for a full post on Monday. Meanwhile, if you are reading a book or a short story this weekend, pay attention to the way the dialogue is written. Does it appeal to you, or does it seem stilted, or unnatural? Then check Monday's post for further discussion.

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