I ran across a blog today that I really enjoyed reading. Added to this, the most recent blog post was apropos for my National Novel Writing Month work.
Another Slightly Scary Story by Draven Ames has a post on writing dialog (here). He explains nicely the difference of telling vs showing and how dialog can help reduce showing in a story, but what I really enjoyed was his advice on lying. He advises us to use white lies to flesh out a character to a greater degree for the reader. What I find interesting about this is the contradiction many of his bullet points have with the book I'm currently reading. All of his points are worthwhile and are repeated by many of the books on writing that I've recently read, but Dr. No by Ian Fleming that is currently at the number one spot on my bedside table chunks many of these rules out the window. Dialogue is short and rarely used. I just read the chapter where Honey Rider tells Bond about her past. Much more of this description than I expected was either Honey giving long speeches or Bond summing it up for the reader.
Just thought it was interesting. I'll keep Ames' blog in my hip pocket and check in often.
Also, I'm at the 26K mark for NaNoWriMo and still going strong.
1 comment:
First off, thank you very much for the great shout out. Wow, I couldn't ask for a better reaction. Interesting, as you say, that you are reading a book that doesn't follow any of the 'rules.'
I wouldn't say they are rules, really. I would say that they are helpful hints - things that I use dialog for.
You can't go wrong with Bond. Thank you for stumbling across my blog and mentioning it. I owe you one.
26,000 words is a good benchmark! You are halfway. How do you feel about where you are heading with your plot? Do you feel halfway?
Draven Ames
http://dravenames.blogspot.com/
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