WOW: A Writing Contest

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 20 June 2010

[Note: the contest is long over, however, you could still try writing a paragraph. Exercise is almost always a good thing... so write!]

Okay, it's short. One paragraph. Including six points: a guillotine, a ray gun, a pink feather boa, at least one stiletto heel, a  gnome, and a flea. And engaging, interesting, make you want the rest... winner gets a book from Sarah Hoyt and one from Dave Freer.

Right over here. http://madgeniusclub.blogspot.com/2010/06/beginnings.html

Step right up, write a paragraph, and win some reading! Note the deadline: next Friday, June 25. May the best lead win!

TECH: What is stilted dialogue?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 7 July 2010

Huh. Over here
http://www.writingexcuses.com/2010/07/05/writing-excuses-4-26-avoiding-stilted-dialog/
Howard Tayler, Brandon Sanderson, and Dan Wells talk about avoiding stilted dialogue. Fun listening...

And they suggest that there are two things that cause stilted dialogue. First is dialogue that just doesn't match the character. Second is dialogue that doesn't follow ordinary patterns of interaction. Along with hints that what we are really doing in writing is simulating dialogue, not just verbatim transcriptions (not quite as many ums, etc.).

So... have you run into stilted dialogue? Written some? What went wrong, and how did you fix it?

Feel free to consider maid and butler dialogue (didn't Shakespeare indulge in some of that?) and other fun and fantasy. Heck, the internal monologue belongs somewhere in this... why is this character going over the history of their family, aside from edifying the reader?