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Tips on Writing Natural Dialogue
By Anthony F. Shaker, PhD

July 8, 2010

No matter how much you try to mimic natural speech to make your writing informal or realistic, 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.

Writing is not like talking. It doesn't matter how much you try to mimic ordinary speech to make your text sound informal--or realistic, in the case of dialogue. Your writing style will never be identical to speech in the true sense.

It's not a question of skill. You see, ordinary speech--e.g., conversation--is filled with muddled or incomplete thoughts, hidden emotions, unfinished sentences, and intonation that add nuances to human utterances. They're part of the context in which we communciate naturally with each other.

Ordinary speech also contains distinct sound elements like clearing of the voice, tongue clicking, sibilance, stops, silence, sniffing, coughing, stresses, acceleration, etc. These too can have a bearing on meaning, sometimes inadvertently.

There are ways to indicate them in a written text--description, for example--and ghostwriting professionals are especially adept at finding them for their clients. However, dialogue poses an especially difficult challenge. Try composing conversation with all the elements I listed above and watch how distractive they are.

While composing ask yourself: How does this or that element advance my plot or whatever I'm trying to say?

I have to do this each second, as a ghostwriter.

A wholesale inclusion of everything that happens in a conversation can turn your yarn into a disheveled, meaningless mess.

Dialogue in both fiction and nonfiction has the critical advantage of imparting realism to the narrative--it directly illustrates rather than merely describes. However, writing novices sometimes wrongly assume they can achieve realism simply by transcribing natural speech patterns, forgetting the cardinal truth that writing and talking are not the same.

The secret is to "translate," not copy, natural speech. It's the only way to craft a readable text. In other words, every word must play a role--not a single word out of place.

Obviously that's not how people communicate with each other. Rather, your narrative is an artificially reconstruction of actual speech patterns. When an artist paints a 3D object in two dimensions on a canvas, he or she is depicting, not duplicating as a scientist would a clone.

Idiomatic (often ungrammatical) speech is fine, as long as it is intended in the dialogue. Fiction writers sometimes avail themselves of it even outside of the dialogue. This doesn't mean their text is any less trimmed. The trick is to edit and polish without effacing the intended nature and purpose of your writing.

Modern prose offers many opportunities to work the nuances of human interaction into a written text. If you're a serious writer, you simply have to find an economical balance that makes that text authentic, helping you achieve the natural style for which your readers will love 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

Tips on How to Melt Your Writer's Block
By Anthony F. Shaker, PhD
March 23, 2010

As debilitating as it may be, writer's block is not a disease. The first thing you should know about it is that it can affect any creative person, not just writers. Many experienced writers, ghostwriters, copyrwriting, editors, and web designers have experienced it at some stage of their careers.
 

If you find yourself unable to think clearly anymore about what you want to write, you're probably suffering from some form of Writer's Block.

Many experienced writers, ghostwriters, copyrwriting, editors, and web designers suffer from it at some stage of an ongoing work, sometimes throughout their careers. First thing you ought to know is that what we generally call writer's block can afflict any creative person, not just writers--including those who ply their trade in the visual art of designing for the web.

You're not ill
As debilitating as it may be, writer's block is not a blight or disease. There are simple ways to deal with it. One is to drop whatever you're accustomed to using as a tool. Your tool may be the problem if you're leaning on it like a crutch. Computers can do that to us. Write by hand if you have to, the old-fashioned way. See if that doesn't get your mental juices flowing again.

If you're a web designer, try sketching by hand for a while. Glean some works by other designers--or, of authors if you're a writer. But make sure you go offline for a while if the Internet has made itself your lifeline in the department of ideas. Inspiration must ultimately come to you from inside.

If you're tired, take a break. Just don't make a habit of procrastinating. You'll need to work at this systematically. Writer's block does not imply creative barrenness. Above all it has to do with your loss of focus as to who will be reading the content you create, how you should speak to them, and why you are writing in the first place.

All this may be condensed in a single word: PURPOSE.

Without understanding creative purpose, it is difficult--if not impossible--to overcome writer's block.

Beware of "factory copy"
Do me a favor: Don't rely solely on the use of "power words." This is especially good advice for copyrwriters, who tend to lose their minds with them. The proper use of language is determined by content, subject matter and target readers, before everything else. Effective writing in one context can be off the mark in another. The overuse of generic expressions will only compound your problems.

Remember, writing a simple, spare text may be the most effect way to communicate your message. If you need to flesh it out, then by all means do so. Your first draft will have at least gotten the momentum going.

The important thing is to move beyond the blandness of "effective" content creation that every writing gurus preaches about, no matter what your field or subject is. I realize that this is precisely why you may be reading this article. But then, this is your goal as a creative agent.

Writer's block will dissipate if you take it one step at a time.



Anthony F. Shaker, PhD, has been ghostwriting and editing for 25 years. He is fluent in several languages, has traveled widely around the world, and writes in both fiction and nonfiction. He works for individual clients and companies large and small.