Simple Dialogue

Dialogue is probably one of the biggest aspects to fiction writing that can really make or break your story. Although a good story line doesn't need good dialogue, any really well respected book should have nice flowing dialogue that adds to the story. Bad dialogue trips us up, making us think about the author and how the line is supposed to go rather than what the characters are saying. (*cough* Left Behind *cough*) However, good writing has dialogue that sounds natural and smooth, like actual everyday conversations. We should read over dialogue and think, "ya, that sounds like something they'd say," and then continue without a second thought. This good dialogue can be used to create plot or more often character development, as you can learn a lot about a character based off of how they talk and what they say. And the thing is it happens without the reader even realizing that they're getting background knowledge just by listening to them talk.

"Nathan, I'm sorry."
"What? Why are you sorry?"
"I just don't think I can be with you any longer."
"What are you saying? Do you mean to say you're breaking up with me?"
"Yes."

In this example you get some of the background knowledge, however the clunky nature of it and the unrealistic speaking patterns take away from the excerpt and interrupt the reading. It should flow like real conversation, or in this case a real break up, that way we can really get some insight to these characters and what they're like.

"Nathan, I don't know how to say this."
"Hm? Say what Natalie?"
"I just, I just don't think this is working right now."
"Natalie-"
"I'm so, so sorry, Nathan. But you've been gone so long, and you're a new person now, and I've-"
"You're dumping me cause I'm different now? That's why?"
"Nathan, I'm sorry, but yes."
"No! No there has to be another reason! Why?"
"I love someone else now, Nathan."

Sounds a bit more like an actual breakup now, doesn't it? A bit over dramatic maybe but it goes to show that the speaking should flow and seem natural so that we can learn from the dialogue rather than get confused by it. There are tons of tips and tricks to dialogue too, so that you can better clarify your dialogue and make it seem more natural or fitting to your story, but we'll talk about some of those more specific methods another day. Until next time guys.

-Ink

Length and Tone

Tone can be a pretty substantial part of a story and the style of the author, so figuring out ways to change the tone of the story can be a good skill to learn for fiction writers. Of course there are tons of ways to change the tone of your story, and I'm sure I'll talk about some of those some other time, but one such way of determining tone can be by simply changing the length of your sentences.

It may sound kinda weird to put it in words, but if you use shorter, more abrupt sentences, you can a sense of suspense, anticipation, or even the feeling of time slowing down. Replace commas with periods, use a few one word sentences, create a new paragraph where you normally wouldn't, and suddenly a short paragraph will pop and seem to stretch the readers conception of time. You'll see this most often when leading up to the climax, or sometimes in fight scenes. Here are some examples to show the difference this can make:

"I leaped from rooftop to rooftop, my old sneakers crunching on the gravel with every step and causing a shower of rocks with every landing. It felt so natural to me that I didn't even comprehend when my foot caught the ledge just before jumping, the momentum sending me into the side of the adjacent building. I could hear by ribs crack as I hit the concrete wall, and nearly blacked out when I fell down onto the closed garbage container. I couldn't see my leg, but I knew that it had shattered as soon as I hit the metal lid, and I all I could think was that it was going be a hell of a time trying to get back home."

Now, a more abbreviated version, using the shorter sentences. Notice how the passage stays nearly the same, with the only change being punctuation.

"I leaped from rooftop to rooftop. My old sneakers crunched on the gravel with every step, causing a shower of rocks with every landing. It felt so natural. I almost didn't notice when my foot caught the ledge, the momentum sending me into the side of the adjacent building. My ribs cracked against the concrete wall. I landed on the garbage container on the side of my leg.

My leg shattered.

The pain almost made me black out then and there. As I laid there, there was only one thing I could think.

How the hell was I going to get home?"

It seems pretty different, doesn't it? A lot of the wording is the same though, but the internal pauses we take when we see periods and commas gives the passage a slower, more dramatic feel. 

Well I hope that little tip helps some of you guys with your writing in the future! Although I'm sure many of you may have known of this technique, maybe you've never heard it in words before and you'll begin using it in your own writing. Until next time guys, peace.

-Ink

Step Number One

Technically this blog isn't supposed to be like a diary or journal, but at the same time a lot of what I will write about will probably have something to do with what I've experienced recently while writing or reading, as is the case here.

Now, I've only ever written short stories and poems, never something as complex and long as a novel. However, (cue drum roll please) I think I'm going to give it a shot here soon. I've got a good, but still pretty basic plot in my head, and I'm ready to start the first step in the writing process: out lining.

It's a simple concept really, so there isn't that much to explain about it. Basically the idea is to create a short list or diagram for your story. Think of it as like the basic skeleton of your story. you'll wanna go through every scene that takes place in your book, writing down major points to each scene and details about the characters so that when you begin actually writing your novel you'll have a reference to keep you on track and focused. A friend of mine, who's a fair, heavy fantasy based novelist, has almost completed her second novel now and swears to me and her other writer friends that outlining is a necessary step in the process to cranking out a real story.

So that's where I'm at, step number one. I'll keep you guys updated as I go through the steps and teach you everything I can about writing, but until then, peace!

-Ink

Cliff Hanging

So I thought I'd begin with one of my favorite aspects of writing, the ever love/hated cliff hanger. To be honest, nothing hits me harder or makes me love a story more then a good cliff hanger, however, there are some limits to dropping those drama bombs on the last page of your story.

In my opinion, I would define a good cliff hanger as a sudden fact that is revealed during the resolution that changes how the reader thinks or opens up new ideas for the reader at the last moment. I have to say, nothing is better then getting to the last page of a story thinking you know exactly what that story was about, only to have your whole conception of the story changed at the end! It's personally my favorite experience as a reader, and although not every good book has one of these, many books that have a good cliff ending are automatically a win to me.

If you're still confused on what makes a cliff hanger good, let me explain in a different way; by showing what a bad cliff hanger is.

"What happened next changed his life forever."

"The man looked up, at long last seeing the horrid creature for what it is."

These endings are, well cliche for one, but that's a different topic for a different day, but very much the definition of bad endings. These authors probably believe that ending in the middle of the climax or at a random suspenseful scene creates drama and shock to the reader, but really it's just rather annoying in my opinion. If your ending has no point but to create drama, then chances are you should probably rethink your ending. Your ending should create shock and emotion in the reader, don't get me wrong, but it should be because you revealed something through your choice of timing.

Being the nerdy essayist I am, I know it's probably best to show what I mean through an example. It is kinda difficult to give an example for a good cliff ending without spoilers, so for that reason, if you haven't read the The Alchemist, you may want to stop here.

If you have, then that works as a good example for a good cliff hanger. Throughout the series we hear so much about the gods and how they settled a new world which eventually led to the creation of the modern world, and we also hear and even meet death, one of the ultimate deities who is one of the oldest gods there is. So then, when at the end the two main characters go back in time to right before the old world is destroyed and the new one is born, we are left with a cliff hanger of Sophie leading the survivors while Josh obtains great power, thus becoming death. Although its ended at a seemingly important scene of the series, we are left enough information to know what will happen next, and also the looping of the timelines answers questions posed throughout the series about fate, humanity, and death, leaving us with a new perception about the series as a whole. Although the series isn't perfect, I do think that the cliff hanger ending did a really good job of wrapping up the series in a neat little fantasy bow!

So that's all I got for now, but I may come back to this topic sometime in the future with some different insight and opinions! Hopefully you learned something or thought about cliff hangers differently than you did before, thanks for reading guys. Peace!

-Ink

More About Me

Before I started preaching about writing, giving tips on how you should do this and that, I thought I would give you a little insight on what I've done as a writer to give myself a little credibility. The condensed version is basically this; I've been writing ever since early elementary school, starting with little short stories I would write in my free time. Come middle school, I took writing classes, both through the school and outside of it. This also was a mixture, stuff from poetry, to short stories, to historical essays (ugh, those were super boring though). But I wrote all kinds of stuff and I still do! In high school I've continued in taking writing classes, joined the school's literary magazine, in which I've been published, and continued to succeed in writing essays and papers in school.

So I would consider myself a pretty accomplished writer when compared to most high school students, but, and I really can't emphasize this enough, I know I'm by no means one of the best writers out there. I've learned a lot through my classes and attempts at writing, but just as I plan to teach you guys about writing and share what I know, I also would really love to hear what you have to say; whether it's feedback on my work, a mistake that I made, an arguing opinion, or your own tips and writing strategies that you'd like to share with me. All of it is appreciated! Or, I actually do a lot of editing work for my friends, so if that's something you're interested in feel free to ask. Of course I can't really make any promises, but I'll try!

Last thing I ought to mention; although I'm open to discussing pretty much any form of writing, I do have some personal strengths that I'll stick to. Those will probably be fiction writing, poetry, and maybe, if requested or if I just really can't think of much else to talk about, essaying and more formal writing styles. Those three things are what I've always done best, and although I'd love to write scripts and talk about those, I really don't have much experience at all in that field. Same goes for nonfiction, biography style papers.

Sorry readers, I know this might be a boring first read, but I thought it'd be best to get the introductory hodgepodge out of the way before I really dug in! So the next post should be much more entertaining and actually on writing. Again though, please feel free to comment and ask questions as I talk about writing, it'll be more fun for all of us! Until next time! 

-Ink

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