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A Blog by an Author, for Authors about the Writing and Publishing fields. |
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A little corner where I can post my thoughts and opinions on things that matter to writers. If someone gaines insight, knowledge, or even just enjoyment from reading this time to time, then my mission is accomplished. :) If there is a specific Writing, Publishing, Marketing, or other related topic that you would like to see me address, feel free to shoot me an email. Or if you would like to comment on what I have said, email me about that too. :) RD Williams, author of 'The Lost Gate' 
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| It's one of those things that sounds so easy to write about, something that comes so naturally for most of us in everyday life, yet in reality it can be so hard to put down on paper in a way that we feel satisfied with... Dialogue. Dialogue can be a part of any piece of writing, though especially in fiction, even some non-fiction will contain conversations that took place, or quotes from interviews. When writing dialogue in fiction, even when you know what you want to say, it can sometimes be difficult to know how to bring it across in a way that both sounds, and 'feels' satisfying. One problem that some of us have, which I continue to have to watch myself for when reviewing rough drafts I have writen, is throwing out too many 'tags' in a conversation. While it is necessary to tell our audience who is speaking, it is easy to fall into that trap of throwing in a 'He said, she said' a little too often. For instance, if you have two characters exchanging several short pieces of conversation between themselves, it can become fairly annoying if everyline is taged telling us who said it. Sometimes this can even turn a reader off of reading further, or at the very least interupt the flow of your story. One way to do this is to start out with a tag on the first couple of lines of dialogue, and then leave them off for a few lines, letting the audience infer who is speaking, though this works best as long as the exchange has an even pattern to it. Then of course you can throw in a tag here and there to emphasise the feelings of the character speaking, such as 'screamed Joe', 'Mary responded sadly'. Another way to keep these tags from feeling cumbersome is to use them to not only tell the reader who is speaking, but how they are saying it, or what feelings are being implied by their expression and tone. 'Joe's voice cracked with restrained emotion as he asked "How did it happen?"', '"Oh right, I'll just walk away," laughed Mary'. These are just a couple of examples that I try to keep in mind when writing dialogue, and I am sure there are many many more that could be included. Try thinking of the last conversation you wrote into a story, look at where, and how often you used these tags. Does the conversation flow the way you want it to? Is the emotion of the scene tripped up by overuse of them, or perhaps there are just a few that could be changed in the way they are worded. What are your suggestions to others in regards to dialogue? Any that you would like to share with other writers? Happy Writing! RD Williams http://www.authorsden.com/robertwilliams1 |
| Just an update to say that my wife and I have returned home safely after a wonderful vacation. It was a bit of a family reunion on her side also, as the main purpose for going all the way to California was to attend the celebration of her parent's 50th wedding anniversary, now THAT is commitment. I will get the blog back to normal tomorrow, once I have gotten my body back on the proper time zone :) Happy Writing! RD Williams, author of 'The Lost Gate' http://www.outskirtspress.com/thelostgate |
| This evening my wife and I begin our summer Holiday. It shall be a new adventure for me, for this shall be the first time I will be on a plane, so I am a bit nervous, but even more so excited. Also, it shall be the first time I shall travel to California, and shall mark for me another point as well, for I shall then have touched both great oceans that border this continent. But it means that the Blog is going on Holiday as well. I may be able to check in once or twice, but most likely it will not be until the 11th that you see my words again. In the meantime, Happy Writing! RD Williams rdwilliams@writing.com |
| Another summer has flown by us, and though it still feels like summer outside, soon we will feel the cool of fall, and see the changes of the leaves on the trees. It's a time of year that we watch the flowers die, and the trees change to a tapestry of reds and golds, as we take long walks, enjoying the days before they grow too cold. For me, fall is a very insperational time of year. I can sit for hours and watch the trees turn, their leaves falling to make a colorful carpet upon the ground, and let my mind whirl with what ever new ideas are in it. Then we move into November, otherwise known by many writers as NaNoWriMo. Some of you may know what NaNoWriMo is already, but for those of you who don't, it's a challenge that writers set on themselves during the month of November all around the US, and even in places around the world. It stands for National Novel Writers Month. The basic idea is that writers who wish to participate sign up at http://www.nanowrimo.org and then from the 1st of November to the 30th, the goal is to write 50,000 or more, which is a good length for a basic rought draft for a novel. The purpose is many fold, one being to challenge ourselves, to say 'I am going to write 50k words in 30 days' and then push ourselves to do it. Second, it encourages others who may have an idea for a novel, but arn't sure if they should realy go about writing it, for them it says 'what the heck, do it anyway!'. Then of course its just plain fun, because there are so many other writers you can network with through their forums for fun, friendship, and support. Last but not least, it is also a fund raiser, bringing in donations throughout the month, which then go building needed libraries in countries where there are none, to be centers of learning, where children can go and learn the joys of reading and writing, and there is no better gift I think, than the gift of reading. So, if you write novels, or if you write short stories and want to stretch yourself, or even if you have never considered yourself a writer before and just want to try putting your hand(and pen) to it, then join us this next November for NaNoWriMo. Who knows, you may have fun! :) Happy Writing! RD Williams rdwilliams@writing.com http://www.authorsden.com/robertwilliams1 |
| As promised, my first book review in this blog. 'Mystic and Rider', by Sharon Shinn. I am not sure what led me to picking up this book, maybe something in the title caught my imagination, or perhaps it was the front cover image, which has a strangely compelling feeling of mystery to it, or maybe it was just blind luck on my part. However that may be, I am very glad that it caught my eye. From the moment I opened the cover and read the first few lines, I was hooked and could not put it down until I had read the very last lines. In 'Mystic and Rider', the mysterious and powerful female mystic, Senneth, takes up a mission for the aging King of Gillengaria. She is joined by a small band of individuals that not only each have their own diverse talents, but are also a strange mix of companions. An aristocratic shapshifter and her servant, who shares in this talent, two members of the elite guard known as King's Riders, a young, very gifted empath, and a wild, and dangerous creature. Their mission, which sounds at first relatively simple, is made increasingly more difficult, as they travel among the southern houses of the Kingdom, gaging the sentiment of the land, seeking for any signs of discontent among these southern nobles. Shinn has created characters that jump off of the page and come to life so very easily, amid a world that is different, and yet so close to our own in certain basic ways. She takes the themes of power, and friendship, distrust, and romantic love, and blends them together into a most powerful and dynamic story set amid a world that is on the brink of plunging into chaotic war and rebellion. The magical system of Gillengaria, as well as its political, social, and religious structure are wonderfully complexe and interwoven, and surperbly explained through the story, all of these elements being very crucial to the storyline, not just added on like decoration, or as an after thought. 'Mystic and Rider' is a book that I highly recomend for any lover of fantasy tales, or even the casual fantasy reader who enjoys a good romance with an unusual setting. Sharon Shinn is the author of the 'Archangle Trilogy', as well as other novels about the 'Twelve Houses' of Gillengaria. I will deffinately look for more by this author. As always, any comments are welcome. Have you read this book? Or perhaps have ready some Shinn's other novels? If so what are your thoughts? Happy Writing! RD Williams http://www.authorsden.com/robertwilliams1 |
| As promised, today is the first in a new weekly feature on my blog called 'My Friday Book Highlights'. The decision on which books to highlight is of course biased by my opinion, but if you have a book(your own or someone else's) that you would like to suggest, feel free to let me know. All Together Dead This is the seventh book in 'The Southern Vampire' series, by author Charlaine Harris. Harris ties together fantasy and a little bit of satire, mixing it with a bit of 'southern fried' humor in this latest novel about a bubbly telepathic barmaid vampire named Sookie Stackhouse. HBO is even slated to run a series entitled 'True Blood' this fall, based off of this book series. Sounds like Harris' books are a definite read for those into the more unusual sub genres of fantasy. More on this book can be found at Amazon.com Bones To Ashes If you enjoy mystery thrillers that make you think, then Kathy Reichs' latest novel 'Bones To Ashes' is probably for you. This is the newest addition to her acclaimed 'Temperance Brennan' series. More about this book can be found at BarnesandNoble.com That's it for this friday. As always, all comments, questions or suggestions are welcome. RD Williams rdwilliams@writing.com |
| Thought I would start out today by posting a little bit of local writing news. Brock Clarke, Author of 'An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England' (LOL I love that name!), will be appearing at home here in Cincinnati over at the Joseph-Beth Booksellers located at 2692 Madison Rd., Cincinnati, OH, 45208, on Sept 5th. Apparently this is a book tour for his latest creation(see above). Clarke's past ventures include, 'Ordinary White Boy', and two story collections. If you wish to know more about Brock Clarke and where he will be appearing next, follow the link --> http://booktour.com/author/brock_clarke#top Today is kind of a break day for me, getting ready for a trip that my wife and I have planned that begins next week. The Blog will go on 'vacation' with me while we are out of town most likely(Setp. 5th through Sept. 10th, though I might get a chance to put something up, but can't promise it. I will of course put up a bit about our trip once we return on the 11th. Between now and then though, it's Blog as usual. :) Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the first installment of 'My Friday Book Highlights'. This will be a weekly 'special feature', in which I will highlight a few book briefly, usually being recent or upcomming releases. If you have any books that you would like to recomend for this feature don't hesitate to let me know, that includes your own published, or soon to be published, works as well. Until tomorrow, Happy Writing! RD Williams rdwilliams@writing.com PS:I will be posting the first book review either Saterday or Sunday this weekend. Be sure to check it out! |
| Hello out there, I hope you are enjoying reading this as much as I have been enjoying posting. :) Well, onto today's topic, character, actually that should be Character(s). As an Author I know how easy it is to end up tangled in the plot line of your story. Fighting to make the plot line make sense, keep everything consistant, and to make it grab the interest of the reader. While these things are very important to a story(I am obviously talking about fiction for the most part here), there is an element to your story that is much more important, an element we sometimes don't think about. But, it is probably one of the most important elements to any story....the characters(especially the main character). While a blurb about plot might get someone to read your book, its their interest in your major characters that will keep them turning each page to find out what happens to them. It is easy sometimes, at least I find it so, to write about your character in a rought draft and not really tell people alot about them and almost not realize it. Why is this? Probably because for most writers the character is alive and running about in our imaginations. We can see them in full living color, talking to ther other characters, acting on the plot we have entangled them in, and sometimes, even talking to us! So its easy to to subconciously forget that we need to show them the reader. We have to make them believable, and more importantly the reader should be able to identify with them in some way. That dosn't mean that the ready has to 'like' them, but sympathetic helps. Some of the best ways I have found to do this, both by experimenting in my own writings, and reading what others have done, is to give them little personality quirks, little habbits subtely written in to the text. Everyone of us all have little quirks to our personality, therefore why shouldn't the characters we write about. Now this can be tricky, because you don't want it to stick out like a sore thumb, but to flow into the story in some way. Perhaps our main character, let's say her name is Sarah, has a habbit of twisting her hair when she's nervous. Or perhaps Sarah laughs when she is nervous, I have a friend who laughs uncontrollably, loud and maniacallyt that, when she is nervous. Try and think of some of your own habbits or quirks, or those of the people you know. sometimes giving a character some little, almost unnoticable, little habbit will really breath life into them for the reader. As always, I welcome your own thoughts, comments, or examples on this. Until next time. RD Williams rdwilliams@writing.com |
| I have been writing fiction for many years now, my first ventures into the field being short stories back in High School English class. Since that time my passion for writing has grown to the point of almost becoming an obsesion at times. I have, as many other writers probably have also, 'burned the midnight oil' putting down images and scenes from my mind into written form. I have agonized over sections of a story that just were not coming out as I thought they should, searching for that perfect string of dialogue, or trying to find the right words to paint the picture in my mind. As writers we try to convey an idea, a picture, a thought, or an opinion. Yet why do we do it? What makes a Writer devote so much time, energy, thought, and agony merely to write a story or a novel? Many Writers have different reasons for putting in such time and effort, from wanting to convey our ideas, the desire to entertain, and some even to make a deadline and earn their living. Yet why? Why do we choose to pursue this particular style of artistic expression? There are many different reasons for differnt individuals I think, and for some its a very personal reason. I suppose the only way I can answer this question properly, is to answer it for myself. So why do I do it? Was it the fantasy stories of JRR Tolkien, Dennis McKiernan, and Ann McCaffrey which have all inspired me so much? That perhaps is a part of it. The desire to craft stories that inspire, motivate, and move others the way these Writers, and others, have done for me. There is, I think, no comparison to the thrill of emotion that is felt, the rush of adrenaline even, that comes from reading the climax of a story. That moment when the hero faces that which they have been striving against and either triumph, or fail. The sorrow that is felt when a major character we have come to know through a story dies, or when they suffer a tragic loss. The fear that we feel when all seems hopelessly lost for the main character that we have come to know and, in some cases, love or admire. Or the beauty that is conjured in our minds from a simple string of words. Yet perhaps there is more to it than that. Sharing our vision and story with others is sometimes hard, yet also very fullfilling. Yet at times the reward for all the work, sweat, blood, and tears, is merely in the finishing of the story or novel. That feeling of accomplishment that comes along with those two little words, regardless if we write them on the paper or not, 'The End'. And sometimes it is just the outlet for creativity. Writing out the story that is spinning around in our minds, screaming to be brought to life in the writen word. For me, these are some of the reasons. What are, if you are a Writer, your reasons? Do you strive to make a change in the world through an article or non-fiction essay? Maybe you feel that the images in your mind have to be shared, that they are too wonderful of a creation to leave them in the private corners of your own imagination? Or do you have other reasons that are even more compelling than all these? If you have other reasons that you write, or a comment about my blog that you would like to share, or a topic you might like to see a post about, drop me a line. RD Williams rdwilliams@writing.com |
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