Oh, sweetie ....

[MrHereWriting]

Good writing: A story written the way I want it written.

Bad writing: Everything else.

 

[Bamagan]

I'm well a-bream of your intentions.

But the net result is still that you've been hooked.

Well, this is bleak. Yet again I've prompted a catfish and a damselfish to trade barbs with one another. You betta believe I feel crappie about this whole exchange.

 

[TheLobster]

I need to get on this pun train. I feel like I’m really missing trout.

 

[iwatchus]

I hate writing dialogue.

I can write for hours on internal thoughts without a protagonist saying anything to anyone...

I know we all write differently, but is this a common sentiment?

I love writing dialogue. It's the most fun I have writing. I wrote 5K stretch of a story Friday afternoon/Saturday AM that was just two people talking (with occasional input from a golden retriever) on a long car ride. Mostly FMC teases MMC. Some backstory fill-in, but just banter that became flirting over the hours. How is that not fun to write?

Not all readers like it, but that's true for anything you can write.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I think the issue here is, dialog or not, does what you’ve written move the story forward. I haven’t bothered to go look for the supposedly offending work, but my first blush from OPs post was that they felt the page long descriptive didn’t.

 

[Nightaelf]

I need to get on this pun train. I feel like I’m really missing trout.

It seems like you’re just scared you’ll miss the catch and end up net out.

 

[iwatchus]

It seems like you’re just scared you’ll miss the catch and end up net out.

I think these puns are floundering without a porpoise. Can someone provide a ray of hope? Or should we just skate past.

 

[StillStunned]

I know we all write differently, but is this a common sentiment?

I love writing dialogue. It's the most fun I have writing. I wrote 5K stretch of a story Friday afternoon/Saturday AM that was just two people talking (with occasional input from a golden retriever) on a long car ride. Mostly FMC teases MMC. Some backstory fill-in, but just banter that became flirting over the hours. How is that not fun to write?

Not all readers like it, but that's true for anything you can write.

Speaking for myself, the danger is being stuck in one mode: whether dialogue, internal dialogue or narration. Dialogue for the sake of dialogue can become self-indulgent if all it does is let the writer play out their characters without furthering the story. Narration can become boring for the readers. Internal dialogue combines both those risks.

You need (given the topic of this thread: in my own personal opinion) to balance them to keep the story interesting and lively, with enough personality to engage the reader.

 

[Nightaelf]

I do not always start my stories with dialogue, and sometimes I do, but then I might not use any dialogue afterward. I often find writing dialogue a bit difficult because there are so many grammatical rules involved, so I try to avoid it when I can.

I read part of the story, and yes, it contains a lot of information, but there is also internal dialogue, or at least the main character’s thoughts. The topic does not really appeal to me, but it was nicely written.

When I look at my own stories, I also cut out a lot of what I consider unnecessary, but I do like to describe things in detail, what is happening, why it is happening, and what is meant by it. Sometimes that works well, and sometimes it becomes a bit long-winded.

I think everyone should be able to write in their own way. That is what makes us unique as writers and why it is interesting to read work from a variety of different voices.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I love writing dialogue. It's the most fun I have writing. I wrote 5K stretch of a story Friday afternoon/Saturday AM that was just two people talking (with occasional input from a golden retriever) on a long car ride. Mostly FMC teases MMC. Some backstory fill-in, but just banter that became flirting over the hours. How is that not fun to write?

It is. It can easily be an entire story. I've read that story, I think it was in The New Yorker. How long have you written for that publication?

When I look at my own stories, I also cut out a lot of what I consider unnecessary ...

My perception is that I write way too much dialogue that isn't part of the story. I often remove 1/3 of what I've written (not just dialogue) before I think the story flows well (and I'm not claiming that my stories flow well, just that I tried my best).

--Annie

 

[Erozetta]

My dialogue varies from story to story.

I had one where there was about two lines of dialogue between the main characters, but the entire story was about a silent encounter.

My Halloween story has about six or seven lines of dialogue for each character, which is actually more than I thought it had as, again, that encounter was meant to be mostly silent. Just existing together in a moment they both want, her intentionally, him by chance of her choosing to stand next to him because of his costume seeming "safe".

Then I have others where there's much more dialogue than narration. One of my faux 2nd person stories is a woman telling her friend about a sex dream she had about him during a phone call, so the entire story is technically dialogue.

I write dialogue where I feel it needs to be. No more, no less.

In fact, I probably could've omitted half the dialogue from my Halloween story for greater effect of being in each character's head during each transition point as the narrative flows along and their actions begin to sync into a single experience at the end. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I just wish I had remembered I tacked on the ending to drop it in Romance then chickened out and slid it into fetish. I would've ended it where I originally intended to (after they leave the train and lose sight of each other), and half the dialogue would be gone, lol.

 

[iwatchus]

Not all stories need or want dialogue. The other thing I have really enjoyed writing recently was a 750 I woke inspired to write early in the week. My first real stroker. One word of dialogue.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

And here I thought this was going to be about stories where "Oh sweetie..." was a plot element,

I find myself using that phrase when I run into someone who is a good person, enthusiastic but is suffering from Dunning-Kruger, or simply naive about the object of their enthusiasm.

For example, a woman is submitting her artist resume and portfolio as part of the application process for joining a fine art gallery. She starts with how she has never taken a class or shown her work before, but all her friends tell her she is "so good!!!" Her art would be promising for a high school student, but the gallery shows art from professionals with 10+ years experience, frequently 20 or 30 years who have won awards in national competition.
Oh sweetie....

Lit story plot; enthusiastic young guy who got down once before college, who has read lots of books becomes a tidbit for a cougar cruising college boys. He tries to please her.
"Oh sweetie..." then his education really begins.

 

[iwatchus]

And here I thought this was going to be about stories where "Oh sweetie..." was a plot element,

I find myself using that phrase when I run into someone who is a good person, enthusiastic but is suffering from Dunning-Kruger, or simply naive about the object of their enthusiasm.

For example, a woman is submitting her artist resume and portfolio as part of the application process for joining a fine art gallery. She starts with how she has never taken a class or shown her work before, but all her friends tell her she is "so good!!!" Her art would be promising for a high school student, but the gallery shows art from professionals with 10+ years experience, frequently 20 or 30 years who have won awards in national competition.
Oh sweetie....

Lit story plot; enthusiastic young guy who got down once before college, who has read lots of books becomes a tidbit for a cougar cruising college boys. He tries to please her.
"Oh sweetie..." then his education really begins.

I could see this being the opening line of a story where an aunt or an older sister is giving relationship advice to a heartbroken one.

 

[iwatchus]

I could see this being the opening line of a story where an aunt or an older sister is giving relationship advice to a heartbroken one.

As I think about it, that may be my VD contest entry. Already have the name and everything. It is quickly gelling in my head. Ooh ooh excited now. New shiny plot bunny.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

As I think about it, that may be my VD contest entry. Already have the name and everything. It is quickly gelling in my head. Ooh ooh excited now. New shiny plot bunny.

"Steal Like an Artist"


Let me know if you press forward with it

 

[Off_base]

I need to get on this pun train. I feel like I’m really missing trout.

You missed an opportunity to be reel-y missing trout

 

[alohadave]

I know we all write differently, but is this a common sentiment?

I love writing dialogue. It's the most fun I have writing. I wrote 5K stretch of a story Friday afternoon/Saturday AM that was just two people talking (with occasional input from a golden retriever) on a long car ride. Mostly FMC teases MMC. Some backstory fill-in, but just banter that became flirting over the hours. How is that not fun to write?

Not all readers like it, but that's true for anything you can write.

I like dialog. I'm not very good at it, and it tends to be fairly perfunctory.

But I like using it when I want to make sure that characters know what the reader knows.

I think that dialog is a better use of show don't tell than florid descriptions of actions that are simply more complex telling.

 

[TheLobster]

You missed an opportunity to be reel-y missing trout

Sir/ma’am, this clearly a plagiarized pun you’ve got there, and so you’ll be herring from my lawyers soon.

 

[Erozetta]

Sir/ma’am, this clearly a plagiarized pun you’ve got there, and so you’ll be herring from my lawyers soon.

I'm jumping in for the halibut.

 

[onehitwanda]

I'm jumping in for the halibut.

don't forget a proper pike before you enter.

 

[Off_base]

Sir/ma’am, this clearly a plagiarized pun you’ve got there, and so you’ll be herring from my lawyers soon.

Ma'am.
It's hard to argue when you lob stern words like that. I'm ohfishuhly seaing your pun, and raysing you tuna-sty crabs.

 

[TheLobster]

Ma'am.
It's hard to argue when you lob stern words like that. I'm ohfishuhly seaing your pun, and raysing you tuna-sty crabs.

While I’d love to mantain the pace of this fishing expedition, y’all are having me trawl for the lowest bottom-feeders already. I’m afraid I’ll have to ignore further baits and finish this.

 

[Off_base]

While I’d love to mantain the pace of this fishing expedition, y’all are having me trawl for the lowest bottom-feeders already. I’m afraid I’ll have to ignore further baits and finish this.

Yes, you are the master baiter

 

[SkyBubble]

I've sometimes been left floundering in pun battles. Usually by @onehitwanda.

I'm a very proud punster. They're the thinking man's humor.

You know, punsive.