Writing convincing dialogue is one of the hardest things for new writers to
master.
In fact, it s so rarely done well in any form of fiction that when it is done right,
people rally around it.
The movie Pulp Fiction, Terry McMillan s novel Waiting to...
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Writing convincing dialogue is one of the hardest things for new writers to
master.
In fact, it s so rarely done well in any form of fiction that when it is done right,
people rally around it.
The movie Pulp Fiction, Terry McMillan s novel Waiting to
Exhale, and the TV series My So-Called Life were all remarkable in large part because of
how believably the characters spoke.
Here s the kind of dialog you read in many beginners stories:
"What happened to you, Joe?"
"Well, Mike, I was walking down the street, and a man came up to me.
I
said to him, `What seems to be the difficulty? He replied, `You owe me a
hundred dollars.
But I said I didn t.
And then he hit me.
"
Here s how real people talk:
"Christ, man, what happened?"
"Well, umm, I was goin down the street, y know, and this guy comes up to
me, and I m like, hey, man, what s up? And he says to me, he says, `You owe me
a hundred bucks, and I m like no way, man.
In your dreams.
Then -- pow! I m on
the sidewalk.
"
See the d
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