Bookish Brain

Housesteads Roman Fort, Hadrian’s Wall, Northumbria

Dear cadencekismet,

In my first draft, I write terrible, on the nose dialog. Characters say exactly what they are thinking and the purpose of the conversation is incredibly clear. In real life, of course, it never happens that way, but if I don’t start out there, especially with high stakes conversations (i.e. fights over the tops of Volvos), I write myself around in circles trying to figure out what I actually need out of the conversation.

So instead I begin with what I need from the conversation, and when I circle back around on the next round of edits, I use observed speech patterns to fragment and color it. I often write down interesting or specific turns of the phrase when I hear them, and I always read my dialog out loud in the final rounds.

urs,

Dear timetogowithjohno,

urs,

Dear lead-the-way-eggplant,

(my wonder over TRC usernames will never cease)

Here it is: http://maggie-stiefvater.tumblr.com/post/131564280671/i-live-in-england-and-im-utterly-clueless-about

urs,

Dear smellvins,

For me, writing a very atmospheric novel is a subtractive process.

What do I mean by that? You have the real world, with everything in it. Donegal, for instance, where I just was. You have every person who lives there doing every thing — the plumbers and the doctors, the cashiers and the bums. You have all sorts of buildings — cottages and clinics, grocery stores and knick knack shops. You have all sorts of days — misty one and sunny ones, hot ones and cool ones. All sorts of people — folks into the Kardashians and folks into knitting and folks into sheepdogs and folks into boats and folks into football.

Creating mood means taking away everything that doesn’t support your thesis — your desired atmosphere. So if you’re trying to lean on the ancient quality of Donegal, you pull out the pop culture references, you pull out the grocery stores with the florescent lights. You pull out the sunny, hot days. You narrow the lens until all the things you point at agree with your mood.

You can add things back in, of course, if you’re trying to balance a contemporary fantasy — you put things back in to ground you and remind the reader when it really takes place. But I add them in judiciously, and when I do, I try to lean on the same language I’d use to describe the ancient and evocative stuff. It makes it feel of a piece.

urs,