"And yet." Those are my two favorite words, applicable to every situation,
be it happy or bleak. The sun is rising? And yet it will set. A night of
anguish? And yet, it, too, will pass. The important thing is to shun
resignation, to refuse to wallow in sterile fatalism." --Elie Wiesel
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How does a writer make a character and his/her dialogue funny when the writer is not a particularly funny person? I mean, I'm funny sometimes, but usually it's by accident. I have a good sense of humor, but I'm not witty. Yet at least one of my characters is--and I'm having difficulties (think tickling laughs out of the dry, blank page) writing dialogue that shows this part of his personality. I've tried asking my husband what he'd say in certain situations--because he is a witty person--but if I don't explain what I'm doing, he thinks I'm nuts. And if I explain (he still thinks I'm nuts), it kind of ruins that spontaneous comeback I'm going for. Still, I have to admit I'm having fun playing with that sort of tongue-in-cheek dialogue.
I'm also playing with cliches and folk sayings in this MS (manuscript). The MC's (main character's) mother is forever quoting some saying or another (All mothers do, don't they? I caught myself saying "Someone is gonna end up crying," to my daughters just yesterday!). I wonder about putting a glossary or appendix at the end of the book with the general meaning and origin of all the sayings/cliches used in the book. I don't know if that's a good idea or not--but it is pretty interesting to see where these common well-known phrases come from.
I'm also playing with cliches and folk sayings in this MS (manuscript). The MC's (main character's) mother is forever quoting some saying or another (All mothers do, don't they? I caught myself saying "Someone is gonna end up crying," to my daughters just yesterday!). I wonder about putting a glossary or appendix at the end of the book with the general meaning and origin of all the sayings/cliches used in the book. I don't know if that's a good idea or not--but it is pretty interesting to see where these common well-known phrases come from.
Anyway, I hope you are writing. And yet, there is always tomorrow.
1 comment:
I think that you have to listen to people having those sort of witty conversations, and then you will be able to create them. It doesn't mean you'll become spantaneously witty yourself, just that you will be able to create the sort of funny dialogue you want your characters to have (and your reader will never know that you had to labor over it).
I had to write a character who used extensive Yiddish, and my own knowledge of Yiddish is pretty limited, so I emersed myself in a lot of Yiddish reading, Yiddish jokes, etc., and it enabled me to get the character's voice right, even though it hasn't added anything to my own vocab.
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