Hey everyone! My name is Britney and I'm from Southern Illinois. I have been writing stories all my life...it's how I get rid of stress, anger, etc. I have a few things I would love to post on here and get honest feedback. I have been trying to get back into writing for a while, but it wasn't until the past two months that I have been "bitten" again. It's hard to write when I have to study for class and such. I tend to write stories about murder, vampires, werewolfs, and things of that nature. I've been told my strong points are trains of thought with no dialogue. My dialogue tends to be kind of weak. I would appreciate some serious help with that.
That's funny. Dialogue is my favourite part. I find keeping descriptions fresh and interesting to be the hardest part. The meat of any story is in the characters and how they react to each other and interact with their environment. How people talk -- the little phrases and expressions they use -- it reflects their personalities so much.
Thanks for the welcome!! Emerald- Dialogue has always been difficult for me because I can never make it seem realistic enough. With the train of thought, they are from one character's perspective who is commenting on another person or situation. I find I am able to put more personality into those than I can in dialogue. But as I said, I definitely need/want some help in that area. Brit
Dialogue is one of the few parts of writing where you need more than artistic ability. It's where the 'person' comes into it. "Trains of thought" are easy, because they come from within. They're your thoughts. But dialogue is hard, because it comes from without -- they're other people's thoughts -- in order to write realistic dialogue, you need to know what's real. Listen and observe other people, and imagine their responses to whatever it is that's going on in your story. One of the things that helped me most with dialogue was role-playing, since when you're forced to assume control of but a single character, you're forced to think more about that character's place in the world, and their individual voice. It's easy to blur your characters together when you're managing so many, treating them more like pawns for the story than living, breathing individuals who act and sound different.
Hello Britney, Welcome to the Writing Forums. Dialogue is difficult to master. Good dialigue shows the voice of the character, but it has to be much more than that. Dialogue exists to convey information, particularly indirectly, in subtext. Small talk should be cut away, unless it serves another purpose than just passing the time. Posting your own work should not be the very first thing you do here. It is really worthwhile to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Review Room, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the forum rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate. As for the Review Room, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize reviewing as a critical writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. The Review Room forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Review Room forum). See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
