 Mystery: August 23, 2006 Issue [#1220] |
  Mystery
This week: Edited by: schipperke
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If one more person in Virginia wants me to say, "Park my car in Harvard Yard", I will scream! 
(Here I go: "Pahhk my cahh in Hahhvahhd Yahhd", you satisfied now?) |
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Dialogue: 1: A written composition in which two or more characters are represented as conversing.
Dialect: 1: A regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties and constituting together with them a single language. Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary 11th edition
Have you ever listened to other people talking? I know I have, while waiting in line at the supermarket, or when crammed cheek to cheek in a crowded subway train. I used to try not to listen out of politeness, but now I do all the time, since I tried my hand at writing.
Listening to how people converse will help you create realistic dialogue for your mystery novel. You will be able to compose a distinct ‘voice’ for all your characters if you can figure out how to use dialogue and dialect to make each character stand out.
Living in the southern part of the USA after being brought up in the Northern states has expanded my ability to use different types of dialogue and dialect for my characters. If I want my character to be from Boston, I can draw on my knowledge of the particular regional dialect and also the particular speech patterns of that area. However, I know I can’t write my dialogue for a story exactly the way someone from Boston may speak in real life. Here is an example:
(Overheard on a subway train during rush hour between Park Street and South Station)
Man with baseball cap, goatee and Patriots Tee-shirt: Ehh, Rogah... ehh..what about them Red Sox? Ehh...whay ya did ya leave the cah?? South Station or Pahhk Street? Ehh...
Roger (also with baseball cap and goatee): Pahhk street. Hey, how bout a cup of cahhhfee from Dunkin? Not for nothin, but that Starbucks &*)& tastes like &*)&*...
Not very exciting, right? Most ordinary verbal conversation is full of ehhhs and yeahs and aren’t fit to be written in a tightly crafted mystery story. You want your dialogue to matter. Dialogue can be used to reveal the personality of your characters and to move the story ahead. If you wrote dialogue the way people really speak, the story would drag out like a Dickens’ novel.
I used a little dialect in my example above. Reading an entire exchange in Southie Bostonian dialect would be painful. You can hint at dialect by being selective as to which elements you choose, and by using one or two details to distinguish your characters. If I had a character from the southwestern part of Virginia, he wouldn’t be talking about Dunkin Donuts coffee because they don’t exist out there. My Boston character would never say, “Bless his heart!” although my Virginian may.
Dialogue and dialect are wonderful tools to provide distinguishing characterizations for your mystery story if used with a careful hand. You need to use every opportunity you have to listen to everyday conversations and tweak them to fit with your novel. Make every dialogue in your story count and use dialect to spice things up.
Y’all come back and read my next newsletter, now, bless your hearts!
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Remember to Read and Review the picks of the week. This week I picked old and new works from our authors
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scarlett_o_h:Thanks for the explanation of 'red herrings.' I've often wondered about that phrase. It's true we never stop learning, thanks to informative newsletters like yours. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for your kind words! I wondered about the origin of 'red herring' myself so the research was half the fun of writing this newsletter!
billwilcox:Schippers!
Just dropped by to share that kipper with ya...lol.
You can't have it Bill, sorry...my dog  kippers and he ate the whole thing!
davidwalters1:Shoot! I've actually given up reading novels since I began writing one. It's a time and interest problem.I spend 4 to 10 hours a day on WDC and writing my own novel. My wife is getting jealous.
I never thought about injecting "red herrings" in my book but, upon skimming the pages, have found several.
I used to read at least 4 complete novels monthly for decades, of course, within my genre for the most part-gee, MYSTERIES.
Do not fret. We read your newsletter but are not courteous enough to reply.
I will change that for my part!
Thanks for providing this newsletter to us!
For all who read the letter but do not reply!
 Thank you, David for your feedback. I know there are lurkers out there. I can see them through my computer screen...
Lauriemariepea  :Ooohhhh. I just finished reading 'Garden of Vipers', by Jack Kerley, his third book. His strength is in his characters & literary style. He's a bit more poetic in his descriptions than a lot of genre stories Ii've come across.
God stuff--read 'The Hundredth Man' first, for introduction to his forensic detectives.
My favorites are Val Mcdermid, early Kathy Reichs, and Michael Connolly for the dark stuff.
Whee!! Thanks for an entertaining newsletter, Schipperke--red herrings seem difficult to pull off well. All advice is welcome.
Your mystery picks sound interesting. I may have to check out Mr. Kerley.
Chewie Kittie :I love the Janet Evanovitch Stephanie Plum series. Her latest Twelve Sharp is in stores now. The books are hysterical, filled with the zany doings of the main character and her family and hold your interest from beginning to end.
I prefer these "fluffy" page-turner mysteries as they don't ask alot of me and I can just tune out and be entertained. I want just enough red herrings to pique my interest, but not so many I can't keep the story line straight.
I agree, too many herrings can be confusing, along with too many characters. Have you ever read one of those books that have a list of characters in the beginnning and you have to keep going back to figure out who is who? Tedious!
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