Welcome to the Darkside...

...join me, Akasha Savage, as I brave the deepest dungeons and scale the misty mountains to achieve my dream: to see my novel Bathory in print. I will take you by the hand and keep you beside me as I cross this uncharted territory...



...let us step into the moonlit darkness together...

Monday, 29 March 2010

I would just like to say.....

"So? What did you think of the book?"
"Huh?"
"The book. The one I got you for your birthday? What did you think of it?"
"Mmmmm...it was okay I suppose."
"Okay? That's it? Okay?"
"To be honest, I didn't actually finish it."
"You didn't?"
"No."
"Why on earth not?"
"Well, the dialogue put me off if you must know. All the time nobody was speaking it was fine, but as soon as the charcters started talking it fell flat on its face. The people came across really stilted...not a bit natural."
"Duh. It's a book...not a movie. They're not real people."
"But that's just it, they should be real people...in your head. But these didn't feel like that. It really spoilt the book for me; the storyline was fantastic, the characters believable, but the dialogue...diabolical."
"Does it really matter that much?"
"God yes! The characters bring the story alive, without good dialogue they just come across flat and, quite frankly, unreal."
"So you're saying, that one little thing, can murder a story."
"Completely. Dialogue has to be realistic or it lets the whole thing down."
"Suffocates it dead in its bed."
"Exactly."
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9 comments:

  1. Alan W. Davidson30 March 2010 at 02:39

    That's a nice interaction, Miss. I love educational. If I can add one thing I recall from school...edit out unnecessary rambling and thing like:'umms, errs, OKs' etc from your dialogue that slow things down and remove the reader from the story.

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  2. Akasha Savage.30 March 2010 at 12:51

    Hi Alan....you're back!
    I know exactly what you mean, I don't usually add in 'umms, ahhs and duhs', just did it this time for the hell of it! Good to hear from you.

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  3. Kat30 March 2010 at 18:53

    I really struggle with dialogue. It's hard to make it flow with the story sometimes. Good posting, Akasha.

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  4. Akasha Savage.31 March 2010 at 06:51

    I think I must be quite lucky, I find dialogue easy to write. It helps if you read it aloud to yourself - I do this all the time, much to the annoyance of my family!!

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  5. Anthony Rapino1 April 2010 at 14:03

    Awesome! That had me laughing *and* thinking. A deadly combo. :-)

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  6. Akasha Savage.2 April 2010 at 11:57

    Onipar ~ laughing and thinking at the same time! That sounds painful.

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  7. Rick2 April 2010 at 15:22

    Here, here, Akasha! Good post!

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  8. Akasha Savage.3 April 2010 at 10:40

    Rick ~ Thanks! :)

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  9. Anthony Rapino3 April 2010 at 15:51

    Yeah, it did make my head pound a bit. :-p

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