The Secret to Writing With an Authentic Voice

Fiction writers consider dialogue one of the best ways to breathe realism into a story. Many kinds of authors use it, including those who write memoirs, biographies, and even standard nonfiction use all the time. The reason is that dialogue helps them illustrate rather than just describe what they want to say.

The trouble is that beginners wrongly assume that to achieve realism they need to copy ordinary speech patterns wholesale. While it's very important to have an ear for how people speak, writing and talking are simply not the same.

Informal conversation is replete with circular thinking, emotion, incomplete sentences, muddles, missed cues, repetition, and unsteady intonations. Listen carefully the next time you're talking to someone. Note the different sound elements: clearing of the voice, tongue clicking, sibilance, sniffing, coughing, stresses, stops, silence, acceleration, etc. They're not always relevant to the exchange, but sometimes they add nuances.

No matter how much you try to mimic natural speech to make your writing informal or realistic, though, what you create will never be more than an artificial reconstruction of what actually takes place between two human beings.

It's not a question of skill. A dialogue that contains too many of the natural sound elements I mentioned above will only distract your reader.

The secret is to "translate," not copy, natural speech into writing, where every word has to play a role. Not a single word out of place. To find out, just ask yourself: How does this or that element in the dialogue advance the story? As a ghostwriter I do this all the time.

Obviously that's not how people communicate with each other. Remember, your narrative is only an "artificial reconstruction" of natural speech patterns. It's like when an artist paints a 3D object in two dimensions on canvas: he or she is depicting, not duplicating as a scientist would a clone.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with using idiomatic (often ungrammatical) patterns, especially in fiction, if you're good at it. Idiom does not equal imperfection. On the contrary, it makes for richer, more purposeful storytelling.

If you are a serious writer, choose the most economical style. It will give you a written text that is as realistic and authenticity as natural speech itself. Perhaps more, if that's possible.

Your readers will remember you.

Anthony F. Shaker, PhD, has been writing, ghostwriting, editing and reviewing books for 25 years. He is fluent in several languages, has traveled around the globe and writes in both fiction and nonfiction. His clients include individuals and businesses the world over.

To contact him write to: afshaker@aol.com; visit the web site: www.wordstead.com Learn how to write or hire a ghost

Anthony F. Shaker, PhD, has been writing, ghostwriting, editing and reviewing books for 25 years. He is fluent in several languages, has traveled around the globe and writes in both fiction and nonfiction. His clients include individuals and businesses the world over.

For contact: afshaker@aol.com

Visit the web site: www.wordstead.com