Re: Writing what they're saying -- La Femme Nikita Fan Fiction Message Board

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Date Posted: Wednesday, February 22, 09:59:09am
Author: KT
Subject: Re: Writing what they're saying
In reply to: sk 's message, "Writing what they're saying" on Tuesday, February 21, 02:50:41pm

One thing I used to do a lot that I realized I didn't need to do is stating the characters feelings after what they said, in a descriptive way, eg:

Walter: "That's not what I meant!", he retorted sarcastically.

The comment itself makes it obvious that the remark is sarcastic, plus what we know about the character also contributes to us knowing why he might have spoken thus, so adding a description of the words is really redundant.

When it comes to pauses and blips, I tend to write them in, especially when I want to convey the speaker's mood without giving it away in actual words (as above), but wanting the reader to interpolate the speaker's feelings as part of the reader's mental interaction with what he/she is reading.

I also do read and reread conversation to see if what I have the character saying really is lifelike. I think a story gains credibility when it doesn't challenge the reader to believe something too contrary to how people realistically communicate, unless I'm dealing with scifi and feel that there is more liberty in such areas.

well, thanks for reading mho, cheers KT ^!^

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Replies:

The interesting thing about dialogue in LFN fanfic (r) -- JayBee, Wednesday, February 22, 03:36:24pm

this is always a challenge for me -- sk, Wednesday, February 22, 05:02:19pm

Well, the way I tackle it (r) -- JayBee, Wednesday, February 22, 05:39:54pm
- that's one way to manage it -- sk, Wednesday, February 22, 08:45:18pm
  - I must be more like you - more visual than not (r) -- Nell, Wednesday, February 22, 10:11:43pm
    - OK, this leads me to another question (r) -- JayBee, Thursday, February 23, 11:49:01am
      - Re: OK, this leads me to another question (r) -- Nell, Thursday, February 23, 03:34:10pm
- That's very cool (r) -- Nell, Wednesday, February 22, 10:15:32pm
Ah yes - the declarative mode.... *g* -- Nell, Wednesday, February 22, 10:13:38pm