tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904837152437915711.post4859391660484664136..comments2012-05-25T17:24:47.718-04:00Comments on Darrell B Nelson's writing: Arrgh! The worst part of editing.Darrell B. Nelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02851443183217238218noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904837152437915711.post-57828159279946268612012-02-10T19:29:29.310-05:002012-02-10T19:29:29.310-05:00Heinlein is a good example of this kind of writer,...Heinlein is a good example of this kind of writer, the chatty while talking writer. <br /><br />I'm not sure the genre is important. But then, I haven't done research in it either. <br /><br />Off hand, the books I read by Laurell K. Hamilton sounded like they wanted to be JD Robb. That was my impression, anyway.Stephanie Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17772217449161603561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904837152437915711.post-89127760694274718022012-02-09T11:25:25.273-05:002012-02-09T11:25:25.273-05:00Like most things in writing, it's a bit of a b...Like most things in writing, it's a bit of a balancing act. I always say I hate "Floating Head Syndrome" dialog where two people talk on with nothing to ground us in the scene, but my favorite books are filled with it, Early Asimov, Harry Harrison ect.<br />I also say I hate it when an author pulls us out of the dialog and the story and love Victorian Era Science Fiction where that is the norm.<br />I also was critiquing a work that was more like the fictitious example I put up top at the same time as I really needed to cut the chapter that had that scene by a quarter. So it wasn't the worst example of my hiding dialog, just the one I happened to be working on. Trust me if I searched I could find some retched examples.<br />It would also help if I knew what Genre I was writing. Laurell K. Hamilton is a fantasy/romance writer so the fantasy needs to show more than the characters, Nora Roberts is the opposite, she's a romance - sci-fi romance writer. I don't have her books handy so I can't check, but if I remember right, her JD Robb books have less thoughts in the dialog than her Roberts books.<br />Typing this out gives me an idea for a research project, I've never really looked at the dialog in different genres. I'll have to check that out.Darrell B. Nelsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02851443183217238218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5904837152437915711.post-59747797292484133132012-02-08T23:30:54.118-05:002012-02-08T23:30:54.118-05:00You're going to hate it, but I liked the first...You're going to hate it, but I liked the first version better. <br /><br />The dialog *was* good in both and stood on its own, but I had a much better sense of the POV character in the first version than the second. And, though I had no more insight into her, I had a better sense of Vivian because of the way the POV character thought about her. And it was funnier, though I can't say why. <br /><br />People DO think their own things while talking and, if you're writing from inside someone's head, it can feel *more real* to hear it. <br /><br />Here's the thing. Sometimes it doesn't work. You're right and the extra fluff needs to be trimmed. Sometimes, authors *aren't good* at it (but think they are - Laurell K. Hamilton comes to mind). But others are sheer genius at it (Nora Roberts comes to mind).<br /><br />Like most writing rules, you got to do what's right for the story. Some books, the chatty asides are distracting or out of place, don't fit the character, etc. Some books, they *make* the story fantastic. The distraction is part of the charm. (Just like side characters). <br /><br />In the end, you're the writer. They're your characters and it's your story. You have to decide what's best. There might be half a dozen reasons why the second one is better from the middle of your story - perhaps we've done enough character establishment, maybe something big is about to happen and this is just slowing us down. Maybe the book just needs to be trimmed by 500 words. <br /><br />But here, well, I found the first segment charming. And *you know* I don't give out false compliments.Stephanie Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17772217449161603561noreply@blogger.com