Dialog - Those other Voices

I won't be writing a treatise on short story writing. Rather, I'm simply doing a few posts on common questions or things I've encountered. This post is about dialog. One of the things that often appears in fiction is "realistic dialog." This is a tricky phrase. To be honest, if dialog is too realistic then it becomes a series of grunts, grumbles, repeated words and phrases. "Real" dialog doesn't always work in fiction. Yet, sometimes new writers will defend perfectly reproduced dialog as "being real."

There is the catch. In fiction, "real" isn't as important as moving the story and keeping the reader's attention. So "based on a true story" doesn't mean that the dialog is verbatim. Rather, in short fiction, dialog needs to move the story forward, develop the character, and maintain tension. This usually means the characters speaking are at odds, having opposing ideas, or have some conflict that is being discussed.

"Is that a UFO?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Okay. Wow, that's really cool."
"Yes, it is. I see them all of the time."
"Really?"
"Yes. Not that big of a deal."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"Oh."

----
Other than the obvious and mundane voice traits I've added to the above two characters ("Yes" and "Oh"), there is nothing thrilling in the above dialog. Well, maybe if it were REAL then it would be quite exciting to the reader. Although with the lackluster exchange, it seems to under-deliver. And in part, this is due to lack of hard conflict. If you're a fan of The X-Files, then you can probably re-imagine the above exchange between Scully and Mulder. Most likely it would involve disagreement (conflict).

Also, the above dialogue does little to move the story forward. Clearly the characters have spotted a UFO - or so one says. And one character is new to the experience while the other finds it rather commonplace. That work is mainly done in the first 4 lines. The remainder of the dialogue is pretty much useless, short of using for comedic affect by expounding upon its mundane nature.

Once again, every writer has his or her own approach to this, and I'd be interested in learning some of those. I wonder how the above dialogue could be made more interesting and move a story along within 9-10 lines. That would be a 10 line flash fiction work. :)

Narrators - Voices in Your Head

A common misconception about narrators is that the are always the protagonists in a story. Sometimes they are, but most of the time the narrator is someone else.

Obviously, 1st person tales typically use the character as the narrator. Many folks find this the easiest form of narrator. Perhaps it's because writers often let their own voice become the narrator. This means the writer knows the narrator very well and so the narration becomes easier.

This leads to a point I'd like to make. After the protagonist, the narrator is the most commonly overlooked aspect of a story. And yet, these two elements are perhaps the most important.

Of course, there are various ways of developing a narrative voice. It is easy to rely on your own voice, but this can be repetitive in short stories, and make all of your characters feel the same. So give some thought to narrative voice. Find one that fits the story.

For me, I must have a narrator before I can put down much text. Yes, I have written stories and changed the narrative voice after disliking the original. In the Pearson tales, I use a 1st person, Edwardian-lite narrator, who is fond of alliteration and hyperbole. This is not my own voice, honest. ;p Yet, readers often email me and write: when you were casting that spell...

They know I'm not Rudolph Pearson, yet the 1st person narrative links the author with the character. My point being that I did much work on that narrator, and now to find his voice I must sit down and re-read a bit of Pearson. Certainly, there is a bit of me in the narrator, character, and other characters.

No matter how hard we try, "we," the writer appear in our narrators and characters. But that doesn't mean we should throw ourselves into them. The challenge and fun is developing new creations.

Again, the approaches to this are multitudinous. I wonder what methods others use.

Short Fiction on the Fly

Here's something I'm asked about often: Writing short stories.

The most common question put to me is "Where do I start?"

Of course, the flippant answer is "at the beginning." This response helps no one, and provides nothing useful. Yet, it is perhaps the most cited answer to the question.

Instead of that response, I tend to say you start with character and a narrator. This confuses some people. Some feel that the protagonist is the narrator, while others feel the narrator is the writer.

For me, fiction is about the protagonist. And how we learn about the protagonist is through the narrator - at least that is one means.

So, of you start to tell someone about your short story and you start with: There's this guy who...

Stop there.

"This guy" is not a character; he is a place holder for the missing protagonist. First, find the protagonist. Do this by creating a life around him - a past, family, likes, dislikes, parents, siblings, habits, traits, everything you can think of to make this character interesting in the adventure he's about to undertake. You may even find that he starts to write his own story.

Next, you need a strong narrator. But that will be another post.

I wonder what other ways writers stumble into stories? Regardless of what books on writing state, there I'd no one method to writing. Everyone develops an approach with practice. The one I cited works for me, and has helped many others.

Anyone have a different approach?

The Shape of Fiction

It has been a while since I've posted. Many thanks for the emails during that period and the warm wishes. I regret that I had to take some time to recover from an illness - and I suppose I'm still in process. But I certainly feel much better.

But enough of that. There is plenty to catch up on. Emails to be answered, posts to be made, and lots and lots of editing.

This post, however, is about none of the above. It is about how the genre publishing industry has changed over the last few years. Mostly, over the last 16 months. Genre fiction has always been popular in alternate formats - ebooks, audio, websites. And it seems to be growing in popularity.

There is far too much to cover, so I'll stick to audio and ebooks. Within those broad categories, I'll focus on downloadable (my word) audio and Amazon's Kindle (maybe I'll touch on some other e-readers).

On the off chance no one noticed, audio books that can be downloaded direct from retailers have become popular. Amazon has been busy buying most of the industry (Brilliant Audio - located here in Michigan - and Audible.com).

Perhaps you ask: Amazon.com? The online bookstore? The bookstore that discounts hardcover and paperback books by as much as 40%? Why, yes, that Amazon (and I know they now sell everything under the sun). But let's pretend their primary business is printed books. Then what's up with the Kindle? (e-book reader) And these audiobook publishers? Too many questions here.

Well, if you've not heard of the Kindle, it's worth taking the time to do so. Most likely something like it will be what books are "printed" on in the future. If not that medium, then some audio format. By the way, the new Kindle can play audiobooks as well as allow one to purchase books electronically and have them delivered right to your reader - zero waiting, zero shipping, bad news for UPS.

With this nearly paper-thin device, you can hit Amazon.com, purchase a Kindle compatible ebook for $6.99, and be reading it in minutes - unless you have my Internet connection, then waiting for it to be printed on paper and shipped is a bit faster.

Amazon claims there are over 300,000 books available, and the Kindle can hold up to 1500 of them. So it is a virtual library shelf as well.

Certainly ebooks have been around for a while. The difference here is the device. It uses WI-FI and the 3G wireless network. This means books can be had in route to a convention. Now a means of producing an electronic autograph is required. Why else rush to get a copy of a book while heading to a convention?

I can hear the Apple users screaming: Been doing it for years with iTunes! Yes, yes. :) Apple devices, like many other electronic devices have been capable of downloading ebooks. My guess is there are as many ebook formats and readers as there are devices Well, maybe more formats and readers. The iPod, iTouch, and iPhone have been organizing forces in this industry for some time. They are also the source of SCS (Secondary Capitalization Syndrome).

In a clever move, Amazon released an applet for the iTouch and iPhone allowing users of those devices to read kIndle books. This brings together a very lArge market for Amazon, and helps promote the Kindle (priced at $359.00 on Amazon.com). Oh, it is about the same price as a loaded iPhone, except you can't make phone calls with it. But you can listen to audiobooks, surf the web, read newspapers (seems like surfing again), subscribe to podcasts, RSS feeds, or even have the Kindle read to you. I don't mean listen to an audio book, nope. It will read the text to you, albeit in a rather dull, unanimated (not a real one either), electronic voice.

All of this in 16 color grayscale! (from the promotional photo, you can see how thin the device is; how colorful it's surroundings; and how happy it makes the reader). 16 color grayscale? Oh my. Then really, printed genre books tend to be equally as colorful. We must rely upon the language for our color.

And it will read to you!

But why let the Kindle read a book when you can simply download an audiobook to the Kindle, or iThing? This books are not the 10 cassette tape monsters with special headset adapters or the past (Amazon bought that company). They are no CDs filled with MP3s. These are books with proprietary formats that can be downloaded to the Kindle (Audible.com format - remember who bought them?) Oh, and Apple iThings can use aUdible.com books as well. So can a few other devices that seem to change with the seasons.

Alas, the post is getting lengthy. Suffice it to say that genre fiction, and every other form of fiction and non-fiction, is becoming electronic. I've not tried the KIndle, but I would be tempted - if not for the price. I have tried iThings, and even the kIndle reader for the iTouch. Even on the small display, reading isn't difficult. The functions are limited. Unlike the Kindle, you cannot highlight or word search (at least not the last time I checked). Still, it allows you to carry around a vast array of books (Amazon has free Kindle books as well). This makes reading in a doctor's office a bit easier, as you can turn off the book when your name is called. And while on the road, you can listen to the audio edition.

Miskatonic University Twitter Contest

3 day contest, starting August 8th, 2009. #MUcontest

Send Twitter posts as though they were from students, staff, or faculty of H.P. Lovecraft's famous university.

Selected winners appear in the anthology TALES OUT OF MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY, and get 1 free copy if the book.

HOW TO SUBMIT:

Either send a Twitter message directly to me, or to my Facebook account, or to my email: William@williamjoneswriter.com (with the topic MU Twitter Contest).

You can submit as many times as you like, and use L33T Speak if you like.