All Comments on 'Let The Characters Do The Talking'

by ronde

Sort by:
  • 28 Comments
AnonymousAnonymousabout 20 years ago
Dialog

Potentially very useful.

falcon29falcon29about 20 years ago
Not so fast...

Most of your points are well taken. While the conclusion of your lead-in is valid, you have jumped to some conclusions about the exchange between Gina and Janice that aren't necessarily valid. I'm sure you did that because you wrote it. Maybe they're discussing analingus, for instance.

That's the hard part of writing dialogue. The author knows what happened -- or is about to -- and has to effectively convey that to the reader. I have the same problem. It's tough and takes a lot of experience and practice.

AnonymousAnonymousabout 20 years ago
Nice touch

Deftly addresses the use and abuse of dialogue. Hits the hard spots and highlights overlooked strengths. A witty and useful "how to".

GirlWatchinGirlWatchinalmost 20 years ago
Thanks, I needed that

Very helpful. At least now I don't feel like I have to flee the country two jumps ahead of the vocabulary police! :)

AnonymousAnonymousover 19 years ago
Loved this article!

It's rare to find an excellent piece of writing advice that is worthy of memory. Could anything be better than useful commentary delivered in a witty and memorable way? Well done! Oh... and I did find myself doing #1 from "exam time" while reading... well.... "exam time." Thanks for the good belly laugh, but please do, in future, warn your readers that they really shouldn't be drinking anything unless they're quite fond of the sensation of liquid rocketing through their nasal passages. ;)

duddle146duddle146about 17 years ago
Useful.

A well written article on an often confusing subject - dialogue. I heartily recommend this How To - to anyone wanting to write sparkling and interesting dialogue.

damppantiesdamppantiesalmost 17 years ago
An Enjoyable and Educational Read

A very useful piece of writing. What I really liked about it was that unlike many How To pieces, it didn't sound like you're talking down to the reader. It was done in a light, humorous way.

Bizkit_WriterBizkit_Writerover 16 years ago
very good!

Very well written but I would've left the bit about the pausing of the story nearer the end of the article. (I got a little confused) when it just jumped to that. But I learned two things out of it!

SequinnsSequinnsabout 16 years ago
Fantastic!

I understand the problems that many authors face when writing dialog. I, even, sometimes feel as if I have included TOO much. I appreciate the tip of waiting and re-reading a week later, though, now that I think of it, it is fairly common sense! Anyways, marvelously done! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

punkduckypunkduckyalmost 16 years ago
Helpful

I find it very hard at times to make sure my characters actually given dialogue, because I'm so afraid of what it will sound like to someone else reading it. But this really helped and I think that they can now become the people I see them as.

AnonymousAnonymousover 14 years ago
WOW

I really enjoyed this one. Not only did you teach me something of the mechanics of writting but gave me some good laughs along the way. Thank You.

wolfbadgerwolfbadgerover 14 years ago
very helpful

Really good how-to, it's made me realise that I'm totally guilty of under-using dialogue in my writing

traci_eliottraci_eliotover 13 years ago

This tutorial was quite brilliant - exactly what I needed to help my characters sound less like cardboard cut-outs and more like people!

'Thank you, ronde,' said Traci.

Scotsman69Scotsman69over 13 years ago
Fine thoughts from a very fine writer

Just check out the number of red Hs against his stories, and learn from this.

Delightful. I loved it and learned from it. Thank you.

BigJohn601BigJohn601about 13 years ago
This piece has been extemely helpful to me.

I am just now making an attempt at creating a story to post on Literotica and one of my obstacles has been creating believable dialoque. Thanks for your assistance and I hope I can remember your words.

AnonymousAnonymousalmost 13 years ago
How to: Effective Dialog

From the sublime to the ridiculous, I'm truly impressed. Gut-ache from laughter at "Let the characters do the talking". A recipe for good dialog.

LuvinWritenLuvinWritenalmost 11 years ago
Opps

All-in-all a good article and I enjoy it. My only complaint is the discussion in your 1st. dialog.

There's nothing to really indicate that either of them is bisexual. It's not obvious that the 2 of them had sex together. The line:

“You seemed to like your first time. I know I did”, indicates she'd experienced it once before, but when? Just now? 5 days ago? 5 months ago? And with whom? All we really know it wasn't Barry. So points 7,8 and 17 are not valid.

Maybe if you began with:

"Oh my god Janice, that was amazing. I wish Jim would do that to me."

This would be a better start to the conversation because it indicates something happened between Gina and Janice.

DarkUniverseDarkUniverseover 9 years ago
Fantastic!

It's almost 5 am on a Saturday morning and I think I just woke up half of my neighborhood with the loud laugh attacks I had while reading your post. It's great - good examples with a lot of humor - perfect! Thank you so much for writing this - I'll definitely consider while writing my first story here on Literotica.

BJwriterBJwriterover 7 years ago
Good info, but...

I think some of your punctuation is not correct. For example,

“I’m going home to pet my kitty.”, sighed Rhonda.

The comma is not needed.

AnonymousAnonymousover 7 years ago
Old but Gold

It's a shame you haven't posted anything for over 10 years, because this is fantastic stuff. It really bring to mind the art books of Andrew Loomis with its timeless advice. It's hard to remember a time when "blogs" were a mystery, though, I didn't even realise this site was that old!

AnonymousAnonymousabout 6 years ago
AGREED

I'm not an author (though well educated -- 8 years past high school), just interested in the subject. Read little ways -- enough to see was good, very good.

Just want to reinforce importance of subject. It's a criteria for a good story. I've actually started a literotica story, realized the author was telling his story with narration rather than dialog and just abandoned the story.

Paul in Oklahoma

sirhugssirhugsover 3 years ago
Quibbling

But what if there story turns on the U.S. Senator sounding just like a nymphomaniac hooker with really big tits?

and I guess that state senators ARE pretty much hookers, regardless of the size of their tits?

gunhilltraingunhilltrainabout 2 years ago

It's good if they talk about something besides sex too. For one thing, people usually become less articulate the deeper they get into some sex act!

The characters probably have something in common that is worth mentioning - schools, neighborhoods, jobs, movies, whatever. It doesn't have to be in great detail, but it makes the person, and the story, more believable when they are part of the larger world around them.

In one story, I have an older man describe to his nephew his sexual misadventure at a drive-in when he was young himself (in 1949). I have him mention what he did immediately afterwards.

"That fall I joined the Navy. I liked the idea of sailing the oceans and seeing the world, which I did get to do. I also got properly laid, finally, and it was not just with hookers either . . .

The Korean War broke out the following year, and I was on the battleship Wisconsin when she bombarded the coastline. We had great air cover supplied by the carriers in our fleet. I actually felt sorry about dropping sixteen-inch shells on an unseen enemy, while those poor bastards in turn couldn't touch us. That, however, was one of the fortunes of war."

Why did I include that? Because that's the kind of experience a man of his generation might have had. His drive-in adventure, while the focus of the tale, was part of his life story. It's all quite short, too, fitting into a single Lit page.

AnonymousAnonymousabout 1 year ago

You just changed the way I write my next story. Thanks!

Polly_DollyPolly_Dolly10 months ago

“Helpful?”

“Ra-ther!”

Many thanks

quandomquandom9 months ago

Thanks. (And I enjoy your work). I liked the suggestion that when self editing you should read your narrative , but speak your dialogue. Also a good thought from you about saving editing a final draft for a few days, to get a clearer head on it.

On this subject one thing I specially like about writing on the Liteotica site is the ability to go back and edit something months after you've published. The best characters you invent stay on in your head, -almost like buddies - so you'll often have "later brainwaves" about improving them.

Boyd PercyBoyd Percy5 months ago

You even write great how to articles!

5

Np81laNp81laabout 2 months ago

Thank you, for the excellent article, I started writing some stories, and as Portuguese, the English language, especially the American language, is completely foreign to me, your article gave me several paths to follow.

Anonymous
Our Comments Policy is available in the Lit FAQ
Post as:
Anonymous
userronde@ronde
2269 Followers
Women tend to be the central characters in my stories, because I find their complex personalities to be fascinating. My stories come from my life experiences or the thoughts inspired by people I have met. I am an avid fan of history and especially the history of the America...