: Re: How realistic should dialogue and character voices be? I've heard a lot of conflicting suggestions in the past regarding dialogue, so I'm hoping I can get a solid answer here. Some people have

@Lee1909368

Vote Up Vote Down

"It's about time we got going, don't you think?"

"It's 'bout time we got goin', don'tcha think?"

Both these guys sound the same to me. They both have my voice, they both have my accent, and I suspect that accent is a few thousand miles off where it's supposed to be. The problem is, one took much longer to scan than the other.

When reading a page we do not read one letter at a time. We recognise entire words and even phrases in one glance using just the familiar shapes of words, and a quick estimate on the letters contained within--especially the first and last letter--and an educated guess at what words are likely to come up next.

By breaking up your words into unfamiliar shapes, and omitting key letters you thwart your reader's natural abilities and force a letter-by-letter reading. And at the end of it, we, the readers, don't get much benefit for our invested effort.

The same applies to whole sentences.

I'm thinking, uh, of, maybe, not going to college, like, uh, this year. So...

Is realistic, and seems right when writing it, but is just plain horrible to read when compared to...

I'm thinking of not going to college this year, so...

And if you think it lacks the performance you had pictured in your head, come up with a different performance which both writes and reads easily.

She said nothing for an hour, just twisting her hair around a finger, watching clouds, watching kids over by the lake. Somehow, the exact moment I had a flutter about where I left the car keys, she said her first words, 'I'm thinking of not going to college this year, so...' and when I turned back, she was distant again as if nobody had said a word.

Okay, that's not art either, but you get the idea.

(0)

Login to post a comment!