One more step closer

[sleepy_moose]

I'm so excited! My editor just sent the first part of my story back. It was a total confidence boost. There wasn't very much he had to change. I have a tendency to drift back and forth from present tense to past tense. I'm so happy that he was able to fix it for me. The only other suggestion was to add dialog to a certain part. I know I need to but I absolutely loath writing dialog. I find it difficult to create 2 seperate voices having a natural conversation. I'm going to try and write a scene tonight and see how it goes. I know it's just a suggestion but I also know that he's right. During the first draft I had dialog but it felt so unnatural and forced that I erased it. This was just the boost I needed to finish the last chapter. I've been putting it off since I wasn't sure that the story was worth finishing. Also the ending is such an important part to the story because it's the big reveal. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to properly deliver the punch it needed to be effective. I just hope that when I do submit it that it gets accepted this time.

 

[patientlee]

I'm so excited! My editor just sent the first part of my story back. It was a total confidence boost. There wasn't very much he had to change. I have a tendency to drift back and forth from present tense to past tense. I'm so happy that he was able to fix it for me. The only other suggestion was to add dialog to a retain part. I know I need to but I absolutely loath writing dialog. I find it difficult to create 2 seperate voices having a natural conversation. I'm going to try and write a scene tonight and see how it goes. I know it's just a suggestion but I also know that he's right. During the first draft I had dialog but it felt so unnatural and forced that I erased it. This was just the boost I needed to finish the last chapter. I've been putting it off since I wasn't sure that the story was worth finishing. Also the ending is such an important part to the story because it's the big reveal. I was afraid hat I wouldn't be able to properly deliver the punch it needed to be effective. I just hope that when I do submit it that it gets accepted this time.

Good luck. Dialogue is a good thing. Don't be afraid to talk out loud.

 

[emma_the_librarian]

I'm so excited! My editor just sent the first part of my story back. It was a total confidence boost. There wasn't very much he had to change. I have a tendency to drift back and forth from present tense to past tense. I'm so happy that he was able to fix it for me. The only other suggestion was to add dialog to a certain part. I know I need to but I absolutely loath writing dialog. I find it difficult to create 2 seperate voices having a natural conversation. I'm going to try and write a scene tonight and see how it goes. I know it's just a suggestion but I also know that he's right. During the first draft I had dialog but it felt so unnatural and forced that I erased it. This was just the boost I needed to finish the last chapter. I've been putting it off since I wasn't sure that the story was worth finishing. Also the ending is such an important part to the story because it's the big reveal. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to properly deliver the punch it needed to be effective. I just hope that when I do submit it that it gets accepted this time.

Sometimes with dialog, I write out each person's characteristics on a paper and when I'm writing for person A, I look at those characteristics. When I'm writing for person B, I look at those.. it keeps me focused on that character's "vibe, personality", ned whatnot

 

[slyc_willie]

Dialogue is a tricky thing to master. If you aren't used to writing it, it can often come out "sounding" very clinical, as if everyone was reading their lines as written by a grammarian. The trick is to listen to real people and how they talk. Practically no one in the world speaks as though they are delivering a speech in proper English. In reality, dialogue is a mashup of colloquialisms, run-on sentences, dangling participles (stop giggling), omitted articles, stuttering, starts and stops and awkward phrasing.

"Gonna hit the store, grab a six-pack, get some smokes. Need anything?"

Is that grammatically correct? Hell, no. Is that how people actually talk? Absolutely. You were still able to follow it, weren't you?

One thing that helped me long ago, when I first started taking my writing more or less seriously, was to carry a tape recorder (like I said, it was long ago; now you can use your phone to do it) and record conversations I had with people. The revelations I experienced afterward were enlightening.

Of course, grammar in dialogue changes according to the character and setting. Some characters might actually speak in "proper" English, as a character quirk. Also, if you're writing a fantasy novel a la Tolkein, you wouldn't have your noble paladin telling the troops, "We ain't gonna let them there orcs have a run on us! We gonna kick they ass!" It's a matter of setting, and a matter of reader expectations.

* * * *

As far as writing that "punch" at the end, I sympathize. I think that's something every writer struggles with. Very often, I wonder if a story I've written simply falls flat at the end. You can have a great story, with memorable characters and unforgettable scenes, only to kill everything with a terrible ending. The hero gets revenge, saves the girl . . . then trips on the rug in the bathroom and breaks his neck on the edge of the tub.

Thing is, though, that might not be such a terrible ending. If there was a running theme of "the cruelness of fate" throughout the entire story, the hero dying like that would make sense. Not every reader is going to think so, but if that's what the story called for -- according to your concept -- then that's what the story needs.

Bottom line, you can take into account reader expectations when it comes to writing a story. But don't overthink it. Don't try to make everyone happy. Follow conventions if they enhance the story, but not if they detract from it. We're not writing Hallmark greeting cards here. We're writing stories, and ultimately, the only determining factor as to what should be in the story, how it starts, develops, and ends, is what you want to put into it.