Penning a life well lived

“The world requires me to re-write its wretched dialogue!” ― Richard Greenberg

Finding the voice of your characters is something I've covered once in this blog, to a limited extent. In my previous post, I mentioned how important it was to differentiate your voice between characters so that your reader would be able to not only tell the difference between characters as they read, but also to help them get more comfortable with them. I'd like to expound upon that a bit, if you would indulge me for a while.

The voice you choose for your characters helps define your characters, more so than any physical description you could give them. Consider your favorite character in your favorite book. What do you remember most about that character? Do you remember her looks? No, you remember her actions and her voice or the way she speaks. One of my favorite book series is DragonLance Chronicles. My favorite character in the book was Raistlin, a troubled mage of incredible potential power (read the books to find out why - it's worth it!). He was described as a frail mage, having had his health shattered by his previous experiences. That is one bit of description, but what captured my attention most was his voice. Not how it sounded, which was soft, usually barely a whisper, but what he said. His speech was that of an intellectual who barely tolerates those around him and holds everyone in contempt:

“Remove your hands, brother!" Raistlin said in a flat, soft whisper. "I'll see you in the Abyss!" "I said remove your hands!" There was a flash of blue light, a crackle and sizzling sound, Caramon screamed in pain, loosening his hold as jarring, paralyzing shock surged through his body. "I warned you," Raistlin straightened his robes and resumed his seat. "By the gods, I will kill you this time!" Caramon said through clenched teeth, drawing his sword with trembling hand. "Then do so," Raistlin snapped, looking up from the spellbook he had reopened, "and get it over with. This constant threatening becomes boring!” ― Margaret Weis

From that passage, you can see how arrogant Raistlin is. No need to describe his attitude, his words say it all. Doing this with your characters should be a very important focus for all us fledgling writers. We're always told that we should "Show, not tell." Successful dialogue goes a long way in doing that. That's all well and good, but as anything else in writing, it's easier "said" than done!
As a new writer, I can only relate things I've learned, meager as they may be. On this subject, I can say that nothing helps more than your own personal experience. I've found a lot of younger writers seem to have more trouble with this, and this is understandable. How can you have a wide variety of voices if you've haven't had the chance to hear those voices in real life? This being the case, I'd like to give just a few pointers on how you could expand your internal database of voices:

• Read, read read. This kinda goes hand in hand with writing anyway, it's a known fact that the best way to learn is by copying those who have been there before. If you have a voice you'd like to have for one of your characters but you're not sure how to convey it, think of a book that has a character similar to the one you're creating. See how that author is doing it, and learn from that. Don't plagiarize, of course, but use it to understand, and build from it.
• Get to know more people! This can be hard for some people, easier for others, but important for all writers. The best way to get a voice database is to experience people and how they are. Wherever you work, study your coworkers. Go to Starbucks to write and become a people watcher. Listen to conversations and think about how the people communicate. Try volunteering at a Senior Citizens home, and talk with as many as you can. These conversations are good for you and your voice database; as well, you're doing a great service for someone else and that's never a bad thing. Try going to council meetings for your local government. Listen to the empty-headed politicians speak, but pay close attention to those in the audience as well.
• Finally, and most importantly, practice. Pick a given voice you'd like to perfect, and continually write dialogue for that character. Even if it's dialogue that doesn't pertain to your current novel, write it down and keep writing it down. Keep the stuff you like, toss the crap. Practice makes perfect, as they say. Practice your hand off!

To be honest, I find dialogue writing to be my favorite part. I love the interactions my characters have. I have conversations in my head, and love reading these conversations later. Perhaps it's a sign of insanity, I dunno - but, it's lots of fun!
If you'd like, write down some dialogue in the comments below. I'd love to see how others who read this create their dialogue. Give me a character personality, and write the dialogue to reflect it. I'll respond with appropriate dialogue to any that do so. Have fun!

Coming Back To Life, or, How NOT to succeed at writing

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer. – Ray Bradbury

Thank you, Mr. Bradbury. And thank you, reader, for coming back to my long defunct blog of despair. Ok, perhaps it's not that bad, but wow, two years of nothing?? What was I DOING the past 24 months?

I think it's safe to say, "writing" is NOT the answer that applies. In fact, I've been running from it much like a desert rat runs from a red-tailed hawk. The simple fact is, ladies and gentleman, I haven't written more than a paragraph in the last two years.

To put that into perspective, let's look at it in other ways. For example, a simple Google Search shows that on average the typical person takes about 2 years to complete a novel. Which means, had I actually worked on my novel, chances are it would be finished by now.

Or how about this: Author Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. Given a typical 8-hour day, in the past two years I would have been well over halfway to that 10,000 hour mark.

Crap.

Isn't it funny how things seem to get in the way. I could blame my lack of writing on many things - life, work, my favorite sports team... but really, it all falls down to the biggest killer of all careers - fear of failure. For me, I must admit I spent a lot of time just looking over my previous writing. I read it with the eye of a critic, and I wasn't impressed with what I read. I then began thinking to myself, "why should I go any further? If my past road was built with so many 'plotholes,' what's to say the future road won't be as bleak?" After constantly hearing such drivel from your own mind, eventually you come to believe it and that, my friends, is what happened to me. I lost confidence in myself, sure that it was all a waste of time. I instead focused on other things both useful and wasteful, but either way they both served the purpose of keeping me from writing.

About a couple of weeks ago, I received a rude awakening. My wife and I were talking, and I mentioned a great idea for a story. She didn't really respond, and it kinda hurt my feelings that she didn't think the idea good enough to warrant a response. I mentioned this, to which she replied, "No, the idea is a good one, I'm just wondering why you even bother to have these ideas since you never follow through with them on paper."

Ain't it also funny how your significant other is able to see right through the B.S. and point out the obvious? She was right of course, 100% on the money correct. I was embarrassed, shamed and forced to take a hard look at myself. I came to realize that, no, I'm not a professional writer. I don't have the skills to produce a grand tome of literary significance just because I want to. At least, not yet.

And so, I begin my writing life anew. I have begun writing again, and more importantly I think I've learned from my mistake. I've decided to push through my novel I want to write, not looking back at my previous writing with anything other than research and keeping things in line. I'm going to worry about how badly I'm writing, because I just want to finish the damn thing. I want to at least be able to look my wife and my friends in the eyes and say "Hey! Look what I wrote!" It may (heck, probably will) suck, but I am going to learn from the experience. I'm going to get better, and I'm going to get published some day. None of that will happen unless I work...and work... and work. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get the ball in my pen rolling.

Let's do this.