Screenscribbler

Saturday 15 October 2011

Narrative and dialogue.

I'm thinking of writing some of my work as novels or novellas and self publishing through Amazon for the Kindle.
Good move? Bad move? I'm undecided.

And what about the POV? First, second or third person narrative? Past or present tense narrative?
I'm a dialogue addict and am prone to getting carried away with it, even for stage plays. What is an
acceptable proportion of dialogue in a book?
I could spend days or even weeks pondering over these questions. But I'm going to do it really soon and post some of it here. With luck, some of you critics out there will give me feedback. Positive or negative, its all good.
Screenscribbler has become more of a Screenwobbler and piled on the pounds, so I've joined a gym. An active body may produce an active mind. Induction tomorrow then its onwards and upwards.

8 comments:

  1. Haha good move with the gym. The Screenwobbler thing made me laugh :P

    It really depends on your style, the kind of story you want to tell and most importantly, your main character. First person can offer much deeper insight into a character's mind, but third person offers omniscience which can be handy, I feel.
    As for dialogue, I wouldn't worry too much - I would say it;'s better to have too much than too little. Dialogue makes a story much snappier and again gets the reader more directly involved with the characters thought processes and conversations.
    Looking forward to seeing what you come upo with :)

    Nari X

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  2. Thanks Nari. Your advice is really helpful for me to make my mind up. I'm starting with Henley's Ricotta, which incidentally started out as a short story that has developed into something that has little resemblance to the original draft.
    I think for Henley as with my protagonists in all of my stories is so socially inept I just couldn't bring myself to live their lives as the first person. And yet I do care about them but place them in the most dreadful situations.
    For Henley I think the more objective viewpoint of the third person will be about right.
    Second tbank you for your thoughts on dialogue. I am a member of a screenwriters group in London. They have often. criticised me for putting too much dialogue. However, some of the members are filmmakers and have been known to write scripts with no dialogue at all. For me dialogue is the richness of a story. As a reader I enjoy well written description, but if its too long I become hungry for the dialogue.
    I will be posting some of Henley soon.
    Oh and by the way, so much for my onwards and upwards I'm going to gym h ha ha.... I have injured my foot on my induction day and will not be able to go again for at least a week or could consider something less drastic and have my jaws wired together.

    John x

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  3. That's flaming typical! Poor thing. I hope your foot feels better soon.
    I agree, dialogue just brings it all to life. But I guess there does need to be a good balance in a book.
    Nari X

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  4. Good luck with the gym! That made me laugh "screenwobbler" As for the e-book, go for it! I know a couple of people who have done well that way. Look forward to reading some of your work here :-)

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  5. Thanks Deborah. Fully recovered and I'm back into my gym tomorrow. Hopefully M&S Active Waistbands in my Chinos may soon become a dim and distant memory. Henley's the ebook is underway. If it gets published on the Kindle, do I still qualify as a 'Screenscribbler?' It's got a screen...sort of?

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  6. Just stopped by your blog by coincidence. Really nice! I'll keep reading it!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks EF, I value your readership and your comments :-)

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