Words on a page

Years ago, far more years ago than I want to admit, I took a stab at trying to write fiction. Let’s just say that my efforts weren’t all that successful. I learned a number of things from that experience — the biggest lessons were that I didn’t (and still don’t) have a great sense of story, and my grasp of dialogue didn’t really cut it.

Over the years, though, I’ve improved in those areas. Especially the latter. And as I struggled to learn and improve, I discovered that giving the various types of non fiction that I write a narrative flow could really improve what I was writing.

Writing as you’d speak

I talk a lot about this. Writing in a more conversational tone is a worthwhile goal. If you do it properly, you can draw readers in and make them more comfortable. It doesn’t sound like you’re talking at them or talking down to them. You’re talking to them. It’s as if you’re crafting one side of a conversation. That can engage readers and make them want to continue reading.

It’s not just what you’re writing that can benefit from this. If, like me, you give the occasional presentation, then that tone can make your talk a lot more appealing to the audience. Whenever I write a script for a presentation, I try to capture on screen what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it. That doesn’t always work, but with enough editing and I’ll get there eventually. And so can you.

I’ve found that the best ways to do just that are:

• Get rid of the umms, ahs, and y’knows
• Take a lesson from effective writing for the Web and keep your sentences down to 20 words or less
• Use shorter words
• Keep everything active
• If you plan to use allusions then keep them to a minimum

Cadence is crucial

Of course, writing in a conversational manner isn’t easy. You really need to have a good grasp of how a conversation or dialogue flows. I’m still learning that — I’m not the most extroverted person, and it takes me a while to get comfortable talking to strangers or friends.

While I’m quite a good listener, trying to gain that grasp of the flow requires you to do more than just listen. Listening to good conversation and dialogue — either in a movie (say, written by David Mamet or Quentin Tarantino) or in real life — helps. You need to put what you’re hearing into action.

Think of it in terms of learning a foreign language. You can listen all you want, and it will help you get a feel for the language. But until you start speaking, all of that is theory. And you’re not communicating.

So, talk. I know that it’s not easy, but it is crucial. Don’t think too much about what you’re saying. You might want to choose your words fairly carefully but don’t let the interface between the brain and the tongue get clogged.

And write. Make up dialogue, or transcribe a conversation you’ve heard (or as much of it as you can). Then, read it out loud. Pay attention to the way in which it flows. Rewrite that conversation or dialogue if it sounds too stiff or disjointed.

Remember that you want to make the words on your page or screen flow like a good conversation. It’ll take a lot of practice, but in the end your writing will be better for it.

Thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment.

Photo from http://sxc.hu

Related posts:

1. Writing conversationally
2. Telling a story in your non fiction writing
3. Writing scripts

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 6:30 am and is filed under advice, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.