library of spanking fiction forum
LSF Wellred Weekly LSF publications Challenges
The Library of Spanking Fiction Forum / Storyboard /

Authors... How Do You Write?

 Page  Page 4 of 7: «« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 »»
islandcarol
Female Author

USA
Posts: 494
#31 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 18:50
Goodgulf:
"Your mama still whup you don't she?" Mary asked.
"Hush yourself. That ain't no question to be axin'." Bessie retorted as her face began to flame.

I do not enjoy writing dialogue, not because I don't want my characters to talk, but because I dislike typing it. I am a terrible keyboarder and hate doing the punctuation.
Most people do not like reading dialogue; they want to move their eyes swiftly over the page and get through the reading. I know I have a hard time when some of our writers use British slang, sometimes I need to reread more than once - sometimes when I do, it still doesn't make any sense to me and I need to read the comments to figure out an important point. I grew up in an area with a very distinctive dialect-, second only to the Bronx in NYC. I can write and understand that, the others are hard. I would prefer that writers use standard English whenever possible. That doesn't mean a writer shouldn't use the slang of a non responsive teen where it fits, but entire stories are a challenge for me to read.. Am I the only one who feels this way?
Islandcarol

PinkAngel
Female Assistant Librarian

Scotland
Posts: 1838
#32 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 18:59
islandcarol:
Am I the only one who feels this way?

Nope, I find certain foreign phrases and words hard as they don't flow for me when reading and sometimes a familiar word is used in an unfamiliar context in other languages. I also find it hard (more so when I first started) to translate ages by school year and to know when not to correct what appears as an error to me as it is correct in another dialect and other such things that are different in our languages... Of course this must apply equally to people on the other side of this coin...

corncrake
Female Author

Scotland
Posts: 348
#33 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 19:02
islandcarol:
Most people do not like reading dialogue; they want to move their eyes swiftly over the page and get through the reading

I'm afraid that I don't believe the above and certainly don't agree with it. I suppose that the ease with which dialogue is read depends on the author's facility in writing it. To me, it is a central constituent of the 'reading' experience and in many cases offers a much greater insight into the characters than a mere couple of paragraphs of descriptive writing. It so often sets the mood...
I can understand ic not enjoying typing it, but sadly only practice makes perfect - and really I should hate to miss out on the great conversations which her characters most certainly have! It's fun so please give it a go!

Linda
Female Author

Scotland
Posts: 664
#34 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 19:31
I agree entirely with corncrake. I cannot imagine a whole story or novel without conversation.

However, I can understand that many Americans might have trouble with Scottish or English Dialect. Here in Scotland we are bombarded by American, Australian and English films and TV programmes, while I don't imagine many Scottish programmes or films make their way overseas, or even down south. (An exception might be the historically hysterical 'Braveheart'!)

I do recall watching and episode of 'Law and Order: SVU', in which the police officer yelled, "We need a bus!"

I did wonder why she wanted a bus when what she clearly needed was an ambulance - until I learned that's what she meant!

I do try not to use particularly obscure Scottish words, though if I though a character would speak that way, I might use 'dreich' or 'drouth', in which case I'd add a footnote.

Dialogue brings characters to life, and I find it hard to believe that most people don't like reading it.

TheEnglishMaster
Male Author

England
SUBSCRIBER

Posts: 835
#35 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 19:56
I'm an exception to IC's observation too, in that I do enjoy reading dialogue - in fact, for me it often feels like the 'easier' part of a prose text to read, compared to a paragraph of narrative or description.

As the wee lasses (above) say, dialogue is often the quickest way to reveal things in a story, helping avoid clunky explanations. It also adds variety, livening up what otherwise can become too much of the same thing (narrative action; description; reflection).

It'll be interesting to see how much dialogue is included in the current Story Challenge: dialogue is less commonly included in letters.

Goodgulf
Male Author

Canada
SUBSCRIBER

Posts: 1868
#36 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 20:15
Another thing to look out for while writing is not to get lost in professional minutia. A well researched story is one thing, but generally it's better to write to what someone expects that to get bogged down in "this is how it works in real life".

For example, we've all seen war movies. That's how we expect military men to act. now if you watch a war movie with someone who is serving or has served in the military they might ruin it for you by pointing out how unrealistic certain scenes are. They say things like: "Do you that would get you brought up on this type of charge, doing that other thing would get you brought on that type of charge... That would cost him his rank... And he just threw away his career - the best he can hope for now is a discharge."

We all seen medical shows. Watch one with a medical professional and you'll hear how that would get you fired, that part would get you sued, and any doctor who did that would be fired, sued, lose his license, and maybe see jail time.

Court shows? Lawyers would tell you how doing X would get you disbarred.

Police dramas? They rarely show how the average detective is working 3 - 10 cases at the same time. Or how hard it is to get overtime approved to do that major investigation. "Take a hundred officers to do the canvas" gets said more often than "Sorry, but there are budget cutbacks - I can't get you that canvas".

Crime scene forensic shows? Most evidence takes 6 - 8 weeks to process (not same day service), few areas have the budget for half of the gismos that the shows use, and the forensic investigators rarely put themselves in danger by investigating crimes (as opposed to evidence) because that is what the police do.

Then there's jargon. Using some jargon helps in a story, but I recently read a published short story that made no sense without wiki. Yes, military types use phrases like "the MRAP was burning" in conversation, but it looking up "MRAP" to find that it stands for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle breaks the flow of the story. Was the "we're using proper military speak" element of the story worth sending the average reader to the internet to look up things? I doubt it.

But while those in the know cringe at how unrealistic things make it onto the screen, the average reader isn't up on how things work. She's a new "I just graduated from officer's school so I know the RIGHT way to do this" type officer being put in her place by the gritty NCO? That's a good story - one that most people will read. The lawyer who discovers new evidence in the middle of a trial AND gets it admitted without a fight? That works for most people. The police gather evidence in the morning and the crime lab has it processed before the end of business? Few would have a problem with that.

I'm not saying to abandon reality when you write (especially if you come from one of those backgrounds), but saying that the average reader doesn't want to hear about fine details of form 231, 232, 233, and 234 of the MVAT act. Unless a minor difference there leads to a spanking.

Goodgulf

bendover
Male Author

USA
Posts: 1697
#37 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 21:23
I like writing dialogue. I want my characters to speak because I speak for them. Each of my characters has their own persona. That is, my own persona in regards to each scenario. How I would react. What I would say and do. I can see Goodgulf's point as well. If one is going to write about a professional position, then they must know something about it. Research is one way. I try not to get too involved with it. Besides, it's fiction and we have a greater latitude with various situations. Let's face it . . . in most of these stories our characters would end up behind bars or losing their children.

I do the fictional autopsy thing on police shows. I cut them up something terrible. With 35 years under my belt, I can see the BS from a mile away. Professionals read, too. Doctors, Lawyers, Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, etc... You don't get it right and you end up losing your audience.

B

opb
Male Author

England
Posts: 999
#38 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 22:13
Goodgulf's comments are so true, making the details in a story true to life can make the story impenetrable, but some real life detail is important, just not too much.

A quick read of the stories of Andy McNab, the former SAS soldier reveals that whilst he has included a fair amount of military detail, one can see him struggling with himself not to overload the text with unexplained constant jargon which soldiers doubtless use, even so his work still reads a bit stilted on that account.

On the other hand, we are writing fiction, so there's no problem at all for a detective to work on only one case at a time, get the SOC results before lunch, an arrest before tea and then to go home to a wife who says "Please spank me."

njrick
Male Author

USA
SUBSCRIBER

Posts: 2971
#39 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 23:29
I write a lot of dialogue in many of my stories. As someone else said, it's often a better way to 'tell about" wha's going on *physically, and in the speaker's head), that descriptive narration. Either one can get tedious if carried on throughout the entire story, so that I tend to switch it up. I almost never, however, use much dialect. It's partly because I don't have a good grasp of "proper" dialect and don't want to screw it up, but also because I myself would find it tiring to read much of it (perhaps that, too, is a result of my lack of familiarity). I do try, though, to create special speech patterns for individual characters - so that (even without using much dialect or slang), so that each character his his or her own unique 'voice.' Although I'm a terrible proof-reader in general (you can ask the validators), I do read my dialogue carefully to make sure it sounds 'real' (at least to me).

I also stay clear of almost any story setting or situation (including historical ones)where, to do a god job, I'd need to do much research, because that would make writing too much like work. If occasionally things don't seem 'real' to the readers on account of this, then all I have to say to them is this: :P~~~~~~~~

opb:
there's no problem at all for a detective to work on only one case at a time, get the SOC results before lunch, an arrest before tea and then to go home to a wife who says "Please spank me."

If only real life could mirror art!

Seegee
Male Author

Australia
SUBSCRIBER

Posts: 2024
#40 | Posted: 18 Feb 2012 23:47
I couldn't agree less about the dialogue comment earlier. As I said on the other site there are 3 things that hook me with a story and that's whether it's spanking related or not: plot, characters and dialogue. I've entire stories that are largely dialogue driven, I've written articles that are interviews and they're largely dialogue. Depending on the type of story you write dialogue is essential. In a lot of my work I find the scolding the best part of the story, it'd be pretty boring if I just skipped that and spanked away.

 Page  Page 4 of 7: «« 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 »»
 
Online
Online now: Members - 7 : Guests - 15
cossington, greyrain, janinda, mastroe, pic7, Richard_Windsor, valdi
Most users ever online: 268 [25 Nov 2021 01:00] : Guests - 259 / Members - 9