Ok, so I haven't posted in a while because my notes become more jumbled from the seven rules on. I've been trying to decide whether to post everything in the rambling confusing way of my current notes or just post the things that are clear and make sense. Honestly, it would be less of a headache for me to keep it clear.
But there's too many bulleted gems to ignore. So this post is entirely dedicated to them with some edits to help with clarity.
What is style?
Words/Diction/Limited Vocabulary (be precise to your character)
Prose/Sentence Construction/Linguistic Patterns (For an example compare Faulkner to Hemmingway)
Above all don't use your own voice in a narrative. Create one for your character that lends authenticity to the piece.
What Makes Up Characterization?
Dialogue (All chatter must advance the plot)
Appearance
Action
Thought
Concerning Dialogue
Dialogue must advance the plot and actively move it forward. Reveal characters, plot, or symbols (note that in First Novel book that ONLY advancing characters is strongly discouraged or at least should be limited.) That being said dialogue should always do more than one thing.
Example: "You're the most ideal item yet spawned." - William Shakespeare. My teacher had challenged a past class to tell a perfect stranger this line. One guy who was taking the class for the second time had taken up the challenged and was proud to announce that he was now engaged to the girl. Impressive, huh?
Subtlety is Key
It is a higher form of writing to have your characters suggest rather than blatantly express how they feel about others and themselves.
Example, say you have a boy going on a mission. His girl-friend wants them to get matching tattoos before he leaves. Moral taboos aside, what she's really saying is, you better marry me when you get back. This idea of characters telling each other something (like no) over and over again without actually saying it is called No Dialogue
Narration Practice Example
Narrations are the parts that surround the dialogue. Using narration you can create completely different characters that say the exact same things but display different intentions. This is also another form of no dialogue. Bare in mind that my examples are not the best, but they do the job.
Here's the the dialogue "I'm going to get you baby. No doubt about it, you will be mine"
A) Flirty
"I'm going to get you baby," Jake whispered as he held her in his arms, "No doubt about it, you will be mine."
B) Creepy
(Two versions here because I just remembered on that my classmate wrote one that made every girl in the room shiver.)
(mine) I'm going to get you baby," He picked up a photograph from his collection and lightly stroked it with a rough finger, "No doubt about it, you will be mine."
(his as best as I can remember) "I'm going to get you baby," he said. Then moving closer her ran a finger down over her chest, "No doubt about it, you will be mine.)
C) Serial Killer
"I'm going to get you baby," He said as he shaved the last dobs of cream off with his razor blade. "No doubt about it, you will be mine."
Real Dialogue vs Good Dialogue
There should be verisimilitude to dialogue. Or similar to truth, reality. Don't right down every um, well, so on, but cut to the chase with the dialogue and make each line matter significantly.
Don'e over-use tags
He said, he yelled, he cried, he yelped, he screamed, he sang, he sobbed, he.....yeah
Avoid slang fads and phonetic spellings
Why? Dude, you should try understanding ripping it whirling it and tucking it when you live miles from the ocean. Or gag me with a spoon, why would you even say that? Some is ok, but over doing it would kill your piece simply because your readers would be less concerned with your story and more concerned with if they understood it.
Avoid Informational Dialogue
It's unnatural chatter to talk about things the characters naturally already know about. And it's boring to read real time information through speech that can be more quickly obtained through a single paragraph reflective summary.
Let the words and actions communicate how something is said
OK, so this turned more into a dialogue post. But at least I finally got through that tangled mess of notes. Until next time.
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