Melva Gifford

These are notes from Life, the Universe, and Everything. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

Q: how do in interpret appropriate tags to break up he said she said or to insert action?
– If you have more than he/she, start using names. Put in dialog beats you can change subject wit he/she said.
– Dialog is different as influenced by genera.
– You need to know your character. They talk a unique language that you can identify who is talking. Some will interview your character. Pick characters from movies or TV shows that I really like and have them represent my characters. Readers love what’s unique.
– If you intersperse dialog with actin you need to have it serve to say something about who they are or how they are interacting. It needs to drive that emotion and the plot.
– Talking heads: Use body language to break up dialog. A reader can lose track of a long dialog. Check out the book emotional thesaurus. It goes to different ways to show emotions by body behavior.
– When teaching dialog. ‘He said angrily’ is a form of telling. You might write it as: he slapped his hand to the table.
Q: How make dialog snappy and witty?
– Reading the book shades of magic > author does it well. She will let the first thing in her head comes out of their mouth. You don’t want to do too much of it. It allows times of characters to share utter honest.
– A snappy dialog is a form of characterization. Think of the most important points of the conversations in yuo8ur own life. Skip over the hello. And use those elements.
Q: how do I test my dialog on how it’s natural to see that it is real?
– One author would read the story out loud to me. Have someone read your dialog and note where they are struggling. Help s test an accent or humor.
– Some may have two friends reading a dialog between them.
– You can observe a scene you can hear that is in front of you and pretend you can create the dialog.
– Read it out loud.
– Write flash fiction, one to two pages, with only the dialog.
Q: how to make characters sound different.
– Don’t misspell words to build accents. It might be a word choice that is unique to the culture. Character voice / special spelling do it a couple of times in the beginning and then you can drop it off through the rest of the book. You can maybe an occasional spelling of that accent a few chapters in the future.
– As you get to hear the voice of your character. Keep notes of movie characters would say something that way.
– Sometimes one’s level of class will influence their word choice. An occupation will be influenced by phrasing as well as a certain hobby.
– Characters, who talk a lot, will tend to have a lot of run-on sentences.
– Grammar rules; Tense or point of view structure:
– Writers have a tendency to write more formally. Listen to the way other people speak so you can suck out the formality.
– Talking in the first person is present tense.
– Some people talk with their hands.
– Dialog is to represent speech.
Q: How does a writer write for a character that is not their age?
– Maybe interview those who are in the age group you want to write for.
– Maybe your friend’s kids. Pay attention to what they say or how they say. Listen to conversations around you and incorporate them into your own characters.
– Find beta readers: you might have sensitivity readers, for of meet the type of character your writing. Have a male read your book. He might say a guy would not say or do that. If it’s not accurate, ask how he would respond.
Q: How to write a character from other cultures.
– How to use transitions a dialog:
– The dialog might have an interrupted by an external source by a third party or event.
– You can end a dialog with a moment of impact.
What are the resources for grammar?
– Chicago manual style or grammar girl or other websites. Writing groups and beta readers. Be careful when you swap with a reader. Chose one who you trust. Swap with only the first chapter to see what they say or do.
– Most good editors will give free sample
Q: who should we read for good dialog?
– Use bold text and italics very sparingly. You need to be careful on writing to make sure character, descriptions and subtext are indicative of who is talking.
– A man called uvva: audiobook reader is wonderful
– Good authors for the dialog are Victoria shrub, Lemony Snicket, and Josh Sheeden. There is also ‘enthusiasm, by Pauli showman. Craft book getting into character. Has a chapter of subtext. Bradenlon Collins. Regency: George a hair.

– Beats are points of the plot where something has shifted or changed. One character using certain tactics so they shift to different tactics. Beats are created scenes and scenes create chapters.
– Start the chapter with the problem. What needs to happen? That is our first beat. Something has been discovered. The next beat is taking action. Each time you change direction it is a neat beat when a decision has been made.
– Beats used in an outline. What main scenes are creating conflict? What pushes the story forward? 3 act structure, seven-point, or save the cat plots provide different beats. Will have seven major plot points that cause the structure of the story. For a romance, it has a different take of seven-point structure.
Outline:
– Sometimes it gets tempting to add to many things. Sometimes you can cover all the things you want in a novel. To not overdo something, he will look at the book and look at the main arcs of the main character. How will you get him to a certain point? It will have for acts. Then he will break beats into smaller chunks. Will have 3 to 4 goals assigned to each chapter. Goal and when prevents them from success. Be careful of having too many subplots. Has a spreadsheet for subplots. You have to have moments where the plot points coincide. For one level main plotline, he will have two character arcs. (One book has 4 character arcs) define each of them with a plotting sheet. When ready to outline and see where different plots can intersect. The visual can help you see where they can be waved and then fill in other scenes that need to lead into those main plot lines. Each character has their own pinches and pulls that influence them. For a romance, the midpoint is where they might consider being with that person. The author A.M. Nocles has a plotting sheet in excel. She is willing to share it. Has plot beasts in one column and each cell is a different plot beat.
– One panelist is a pantser: before start writing makes a 5 -6 line list of events. It includes inciting incident as well as 3 or 4 major plot points and then the end. She sees the end before she writes the book. If her idea changes she permits flexibility as long as going toward the plot point. Changes create cause and effect. She does a reverse outline at the end of the chapter. Used to document what is in that chapter. She writes them in a notebook.
– One author uses Scriber software and color code different topics. Plotting emotion beats:
– Epic fantasy and relationships is not as important in a romance novel. Each novel is an emotional beat for the character. He uses beats to shift the character’s mindset of the world.
Character arch:
– is like a try fail cycle. What is their problem? What is the issue that may not be aware of? Then an inciting incident. The character sees they recognize a problem. Something comes along to make them realize that the issue is bigger than they can handle. They revert to what they were. Midpoint something big makes them commit to the necessary change. Faces a bigger failure and is tested. And at the end, they succeed in the climax. And have a dayrmont(sp). (Character/ reader satisfaction)
– The main character will always have resistance
– Typically, a character’s goals are in conflict of what they need. They pursue something that will improve their needs. They find that is not what they want.
– One a try fail cycle it needs to be addressed. Having the character ignore what they need to fix. They have to try and something has to come along that tempts them to return to the person that they were.
Reverse outline
ng:
– at the end of each chapter will look at more things o important and write them down. It helps me to find important events easily. Also, put in what characters were in the scene. Help you keep track when you write. One way to stay organized.
– How do you organize beats into the chapter?
– When outline chapters in a book. For those books that have one point of view to one that has five points of view. Plot out which character gets a chapter devoted to them. Try to follow beats to what feels right and also pay attention to what works well for my genera.
– The author will ask what needs to happen in that chapter. Each chapter needs to have a small arch. You need a foreshadowing. You need to have cliff hangers at the end of the chapter. As a reader reading before bed, she might not read another chapter if it is too long.
– One author does not divide up in chapters. Will assign numbers to scenes. Until done with the f- irst draft. Plans for 3 K chapter that takes 14-20 minutes to read. One scene in a book goes across three chapters. Had one scene spread across three/five chapters. You need to make sure the scenes are complete before moving to the next chapters. If you have to break up a scene insert something to cause the break
– Cliff hanger motivates you to want to read the next book.
– Whatever tools you use, learn to do them well. You need to have characters earn the beats they face.

How to make stories organic?
– Pinches and pulls more useful when they accomplish major goal. One author likes having several buildups of tension coming from different sources occur in the same chapter.
– Read tons of books and practice your own book and you get better.
– Some authors will follow where the character leads them where to go. I always know where the book is ending.
– Don’t change things until you have to book done. You get so suck in the weeds. Make notes so you can reference it at the end.