Debbie Reed Fischer is the author for this Thursday's Author Tales. Debbie is the author of Braless in Wonderland, which was released in April. You can check out my review of Braless in Wonderland, here! Debbie is also a member of 2k8! Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in the Monthly Contest!
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Hi everyone! When people ask me what my favorite part of writing a book is, the answer is simple: dialogue. I love making up conversations. In fact, I often don’t realize I’m talking to myself. When I was first married, I was doing the dishes and writing dialogue in my head, when
I noticed my husband watching me with this horrified look on his face. "What’s wrong?" I asked. He replied in this frightened voice, "Uh . . . who are you talking to?"
It’s a good thing I got published or there would be no way to explain that I enjoy talking to people who aren’t there . . .
The thing is, I’m not always in the mood to write. The best-kept secret for a lot of writers is that we’d rather kick back and read or take a quiz on Facebook rather than buckle down and write. Some days I need a little jumpstart to get my creativity flowing. Basically, I need inspiration.
I get that inspiration from finding lines, and by ‘lines’ I don’t mean lines at the gas station (which is where we’re headed, by the way, hello, 1970’s-Jimmy-Carter-gas-crisis- flashback). I’m talking about lines from a book, screenplay, TV show, or my own life, like when a woman at my son’s school asked, "Braless in Wonderland is a children’s book? Does it have pictures?" Or the model I once represented when I was a model booker, who told me, "I’m a great actress, as long as there’s no dialogue." I love finding lines that strike me as funny, absurd, profoundly true, brilliant or just plain beautiful, and I find them everywhere.
Here are a few of my favorites:
"How do you explain school to higher intelligence?" ---Elliot to E. T. from the film E.T.
"Shut up, fartnozzle!" My six-year-old to his brother
‘When a journey begins badly, it rarely ends well.’ Jules Verne, The Floating Island
"I love South Africa and Africa. They are both great countries." Paris Hilton. Tee hee.
"You know I love you more than my luggage." Clarisse, my favorite Steel Magnolia
One line that has stayed with me since I first heard it comes from Stephanie Bond, a romance author, who told me, "The difference between a good story and a great story can often be just a couple of lines." Wow. So true, right?
I think the same can be said for dialogue. Just a few lines can make the difference between stilted and real, between ‘just OK’ and ‘totally believable.’ Here are a few more ways I find inspiration to make my dialogue pop:
1)I surround myself with friends and acquaintances that are different from me. Try this! Spend time with someone outside of your comfort zone. I realize this can scary if you’re in a small town, or still in high school, which is basically the same thing as a small town, but get out there and connect with people from every walk of life. In the end, you may discover they actually are in your comfort zone; you just didn’t know it. To really understand human behavior and the way humans communicate, you have to get to know all kinds of humans.
2) Having a keen ear for dialogue is a little like having an ear for music, but some days I feel a little ‘off key’ so I try this trick: I base a character’s speech pattern on someone I know in real life. If I’m worried they might recognize themselves, I just change the gender of the character. When Hank Azaria was playing Agador in The Bird Cage, he based his character’s speech on his grandmother. She never figured it out. No one ever sees themselves in the opposite sex.
3) I never stereotype or make generalizations. One character in BRALESS IN WONDERLAND is from rural Georgia, and I was very careful to research the accent and expressions of that region. A southerner from Georgia speaks very differently than a southerner from Kentucky. In SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS, my September YA from Flux, I have characters from West Virginia, another distinct speech pattern.
4) I eavesdrop. Constantly. It helps me develop a memory for speech rhythms and nuances. I highly recommend eavesdropping. Just try not to stare; I’ve noticed that annoys people, for some reason. And be careful with trendy slang, especially if you’re writing for teens. Trendy slang is like fish. It looks good today but it will probably stink tomorrow.
Now . . . what are some of your favorite lines? Write to me and let me know! www.debbiereedfischer.com or my blog http://www.debbierfischer.livejournal.com
Thanks for having me, Story Siren!
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Thanks Debbie for a Great post!! Don't forget to check out www.debbiereedfischer.com and www.debbiefischer.livejournal.com for more information!!