Writing Effective Dialect, Part 3
In Today's Journal
* Writing Effective Dialect, Part 3
* The Writing (Character Voice)
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Writing Effective Dialect, Part 3
I should have mentioned in the Introduction that I'm considering turning this series of posts into a nonfiction book titled Writing Effective Dialect.
If I do that, I'll expand and include the posts in this series. I'll also include some information from my years-old and now-unpublished booklet titled "Writing Realistic Dialect." So just a heads-up on that.
I recommend you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series before reading this one. You can find those either
Truncation
Okay, this will be a short segment. There isn't a lot to say about this that I haven't said earlier. To bolster the post, I've added a bit on Character Voice in "The Writing" below.
But first let's talk about using truncation to indicate dialect.
As I wrote in the introductory post, keeping up with truncated words is even more difficult than keeping up with phonetically spelled words.
Why? It all boils down to this:
Even a single character will use different versions of a word in different situations or when speaking with a different person.
S/he will speak differently to an authority figure than to a friend.
And s/he will speak differently to either of those people depending on the type of emotion s/he is experiencing and the level of that emotion.
To use truncation to indicate dialect, it's important that you can 'feel' the nuances of the language. The best way to learn how to feel those nuances is to recreate the pronunciations of the dialect aloud and listen closely as you do so.
The character might use a truncation in one instance, a phonetic spelling in another, and the normal spelling in another.
Let's consider the word "going." As I wrote back in April, 2019 (see Of Interest for a link to the full post),
For example, 11 year old Billy might say “gonna” most of the time when talking with his peers.
At other times (like when he’s being nagged to complete his homework or a chore), or to an authority figure (like his mother), he might utter a calm, “I’m goin’ to, Mom” or a more emphatic, “I’m going to, Mom.”
And in those last two examples, he might stress “goin'” or “going” (indicated with italics) or add an exclamation point (or use italics and an exclamation point) for further emphasis.
"Going to " is more emphatic than "gonna" or "goin' to" and that emphasis is illuminated with only the spelling itself.
The second hard G adds that emphasis, partly because it makes the untruncated word a little longer to pronounce either aloud or in the mind.
Again, you have to focus on hearing the character speak in your mind. And again, "acting out" the scene by speaking aloud as the character will help.
Next up, Writing Effective Dialect, Part 4.
In that post, I'll talk more about writing dialect using a different sequence of words ("you will" instead of "will you," etc.) and "misused" words ("solid" instead of "stiff" instead of "stilted," etc.)
The Writing (Character Voice)
"Every novel writes differently."
I first heard that from Dean Wesley Smith back in the day, and every novel I've written since then has reminded me it's true.
You might also say that every POV character writes differently, revealing his personality and voice more quickly or less quickly.
Sometimes and with some characters, the character voice locks in and flows. That was the case with Paul Stone and several other of my characters.
Other times, not so much.
To regain a lock on John Staple's personality and voice, I've had to skip back and re-read the opening scene of my current novel five or six times since I started writing this novel.
John revealed his personality and voice quickly and plainly in that opening scene, but as the novel progressed he attempted a few times to veil himself.
Each time he did so, I skipped back to re-read the opening scene to get a handle on his voice again. Yesterday, as I started Chapter 8 some 10,000 words into the novel, I think he and I are finally gelling.
Fortunately, an important secondary character, Tatiana Pavlichenko, was personable and very open with who she was. That helped smooth the way.
Writing into the dark requires that you trust yourself and your characters.
That also equates to not giving up on a character who seems difficult at first.
If you trust that you will eventually "get it," you will.
Of Interest
Voice (and some stuff on dialect)
Who Needs a Writing Coach? My friend Vin Zandri is offering coaching. As always, I recommend reading some of his fiction before you decide.
Dr. Mardy's Quotes of the Week: Suffering Everything is fodder for the pen.
Value on Lifetime Everything Subscription Dean responds to an inane comment. (Note: I do not own a Lifetime Everything subscription. I recommend neither for nor against it.)
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 830
Writing of Blackwell Ops 40: John Staple
Day 1…… 3397 words. To date…… 3397
Day 2…… 1651 words. To date…… 5048
Day 3…… 1960 words. To date…… 7008
Day 4…… 1777 words. To date…… 8785
Day 5…… 1310 words. To date…… 10095
Day 6…… 3346 words. To date…… 13441
Fiction for March…………………….. 61213
Fiction for 2025………………………. 247044
Nonfiction for March……………........ 20130
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 74060
2025 consumable words…………….. 314594
Average Fiction WPD (March)……... 2782
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 6
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..... 110
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 281
Short story collections……………………. 29
Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.
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Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.
Thanks for featuring my newsletter this week. It didn't occur to me as I was writing it, but it is certainly true that suffering is fodder for the pen!
Thanks Harvey for your daily work here. I've been reading your post almost every day for probably a year. This week I am publishing my first novel. Thank you for your guidance, teaching, and help during my process. You help!