Victory (V): O, woe is me, o alack the day! Dialogue -- thou art surely one of the demons of creation, sent from He who burns beneath earth, to plague those who --
Red (R): What the hell is with the Shakespeak, Victory?
V: It's for the dialogue post. What, you don't like?
R: It's kind of... well, it's kind of dorky.
V: Like I've ever cared about that. Everyone, this is Red -- one of the various inhabitants of the multiverse in my head. Say hi!
R: 'Lo. Focus on the point of the post.
V: Ah, right! Okay, today's topic is dialogue -- the evil bastard that many beginning writers struggle with (and many published writers do, too. Yeah, Stephanie Meyer, I'm lookin' at you.) Dialogue seems easy as hell -- most first-time writers think that the hardest part is scene set up and plot. But Dialogue really is a pain in the ass --
R: -- Even if it looks simple at first. Look at this. Victory and I have different speech patterns, as she tends to use a lot of dashes and long sentences. I use short ones.
V: One person may speak a lot, and the other very little, but the one who says very little might be saying more. If that sentence makes any sense.
R: It doesn't. But not every character knows perfect grammar. If Victory had used perfect grammar in every sentence it wouldn't sound authentic.
V: Another thing to remember is accents -- don't let them overpower the actual sentence. If the reader can't -- you know, read it -- then there's no point to them saying anything.
R: Don't say 'said' all the time. But be sure to make it make sense -- is there isn't an 's' in the sentence, why would the character 'hiss' it?
V: Quick work, but it'll do -- adios!
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