Christina, a veteran of Avon FanLit, has entered the blogosphere. She can be found at http://fairiegreen.wordpress.com/. She’s a little nervous about it right now, but if you remember her from
Avon or know her from FanLit Forever, drop by.
Alice
All this togetherness with my family has been great. We did the shopping thing, the opening of gifts, the big dinner, and the visits with dear old friends. I still have a couple of days here before I go home. Boy am I ready! I miss my online friends. Sure I could use the library computer, and my mom’s computer, but it isn’t the same. For one thing, people are always looking over my shoulder while I write. Much better to go home where I can hide out in my office.
Anyway, this is just a quick visit. I’ll check out my blogroll tomorrow. I hope.
Alice
You heard me. I’m about to totally lose it. See, in my mind it was already Christmas. We have Christmas songs, Christmas cookies, Christmas shopping… which I haven’t done yet. I forgot that at some point I was going to have to put my blog on hold and actually DO Christmas.
That time has come.
I’m going to be on the road Friday. Yes, I mean tomorrow. I’ll start my shopping as soon as we reach my mother’s house and quit in time to get everything wrapped and under the tree a few minutes before we start opening them.
Every second in between will be spent in the kitchen cooking up Christmas dinner, which in our household is the same as Thanksgiving dinner only with rice instead of mashed potatoes. I’m so glad my mother gets to be the one poking the turkey to see if it’s thawed. All I’ll have to do is stuff the bird, and move it from pan to table. And maybe do the gravy. And maybe the sweet potatoes. And maybe… oh never mind.
Anyway, the long (Alice’s Restaurant style) and short (Hey! That’s also Alice’s Restaurant style) of it is that I won’t be a very good blogger over the next few days. Suzie is going to have to go on hold and I’ll probably miss Wednesday’s roundup. You can forget about Monday’s recipe, though I may double up a couple of weeks later. I’ll try to drop by and visit both here and on your blogs, but competition for the computer in my mother’s house is fierce. We shall have to see.
So if I don’t get to it on the right day, let me say right now. MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!
Dialogue tags are indicators of who is talking. The most common dialogue tags are “he said,” and “she said.” Dialogue tags can get as purple as “he whispered desperately in her tender ear.” Actually, they can get even worse, but who wants to read it?
Stage direction is when the author tells the reader what the characters are doing as they talk. “He placed a hand on her shoulder.” or “She winced.” Are stage direction. They can also be used as dialogue tags.
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Here’s a better example:
from Portrait in Death by J.D.Robb aka La Nora
I’ve put stage direction in bold and underlined dialogue tags.
“Lieutenant, I found something I think — ” Peabody stopped her forward march into the office and stared at the small chunk of candy still in Eve’s hand. “What’s that? Is that chocolate? Real chocolate?”
“What?” Panicked, Eve shoved the hand behind her back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m working here.”
“I can smell it.” To prove it, Peabody sniffed the air like a wolf. “That’s not chocolate substitute, that’s not soy. That’s real goods.”
“Maybe. And it’s mine.”
“Just let me have a little — “ Peabody’s gasp was shocked and heartfelt as Eve stuffed the remaining chunk in her mouth. “Oh, Dallas.” She swallowed hard. “That was very childish.”
“Uh-uh. And delicious,” Eve added with her mouth full. “What’ve you got?”
“I don’t have chocolate breath, that’s for damn sure.” At Eve’s arch look, she pokered up. “While others, who will remain nameless, were stuffing their face with candy, I diligently pursued an angle in the investigation that I believe might be of some interest to the incredibly selfish candy-hog primary.”
“It was dark chocolate.”
“You’re a mean person and will probably go to hell.”
“I can live with that. What angle did you diligently pursue, Officer Peabody?”
***
Notice that Nora did not once use the words “she said,” yet you can tell who was speaking at all times. Even at the end when there were neither dialogue tags nor stage direction, you knew who was saying what. Also notice that Nora used stage direction for both characterization and as dialogue tags. One last point, notice how she has the characters name one another in their dialogue. When there are only two people in a scene, this is one way of indicating who is talking. Very few characters will call themselves “Officer Peabody.”
There are those who will tell you never to use “said” as a dialogue tag. Considering how well a scene can be written without it, I can see the point. However, there are times when coming up with some stage direction is less effective than simply saying “he said.”
Others will tell you to substitute a speaking verb like “she yelled” and yet others will tell you NEVER to use a speaking verbs.
I say it’s all a matter of balance. Try to make each character as distinct as you can with attitudes and goals that will make it clear who is talking simply through what is being said. Sometimes “she whispered” is part of making a character distinct and moving the plot forward. If so, then use it. After that, try to use stage direction to indicate who is talking. But do it with an eye to revealing character and/or moving the plot forward. Simply having the hero drive his fingers through his hair as a bad habit doesn’t cut it. Finally, there will be times when “he said” is the best choice. Don’t be afraid to use it.
Alice
Tomorrow is the last day to get something in to the FanLit Forever Holiday Story challenge.
Now I’m off to write like the wind because mine isn’t done yet.
Did someone say “windbag?” Humph.
Alice
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Bev tagged me a week ago, but I didn’t realize it. If she hadn’t left a comment here, it could have been even longer before I found her blog. It’ll be much easier for you. Just click on her name.
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Four jobs I’ve had:
Summer school drama teacher
Telemarketer (I also hang up quickly. Better than letting them think they have a chance if they don’t.)
Accountant
Music store manager
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Four favorite foods:
Only four? But there are so many to choose from. Ok, fine, but if you ask me again tomorrow you’ll get a different answer.
Soup
Rum balls
Fruit cake (yes, I actually love fruit cake. After it has soaked in brandy a while.)
Gingerbread men
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Four movies I could watch over and over:
None on purpose. I simply don’t repeat movies if I can help it. Four I saw involuntarily?
Small Soldiers
The Iron Giant
James and the Giant Peach
various Pokemon movies
Can you tell there are children involved?
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Four TV shows I enjoy:
I don’t watch much TV.
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Four Places I’ve Traveled:
All but 2 states in the USA. Can you guess which?
Various parts of China
Mexico
Canada
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Four websites I go to (almost) daily
I can only think of two, but I hit both more than once a day. Do Yahoo groups sent to my mailbox count?
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Four people I’m tagging to do this too:
If Chris had a blog instead of just a web site I’d tag her. Cat, do you still come by? I suppose it isn’t fair to tag you again. May still hasn’t responded from the last time I tagged her. Yes, I’ve been watching. Cindy got tagged on Bev’s blog. Most of the rest of you have already done it. Anyone out there taggable? Let me know!
Oh, wait. I know. I’ll tag Jill! Heh, heh, heh.
Alice
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I was going to post a gingerbread man recipe today, but think I’d rather make a salute to CM, who has submitted something to Ms Snarks’s Crapometer.
All I can say Courney is good luck, and remember she is more interested in her spiky shoes than the dreams of us mortal writers. If she says it’s good then celebrate! If not, then get a second opinion.
Can you tell I’m under construction again?
That brown theme is way too elegant for me, no matter how much I love it. If I can get the bugs worked out of this one – like not having a stupid line through each of my friend’s names on the blog roll – I’ll keep it.
Alice
Seems like this time of year a lot of people turn their kitchens into bakeries. Patricia McLinn not only bakes cookies to give to friends, family, and neighbors. She used to send cookies overseas to our troops. She can’t now because all the people she knew over there have come home.
BTW, you can send all kinds of other things to people in our troops, even if you don’t know them, through www.AnySoldier.com . Just not home-made food. Twinkie anyone?
In some neighborhoods you HAVE to bake something to exchange. Not in my neighborhood, but I know there are some out there. In my mother’s neighborhood, for instance.
I tried it in mine, and got a lot of pained smiles for my efforts. It didn’t take long to realize my helpful, friendly, outgoing neighbors – mostly men – didn’t want the guilt or obligation of a cookie exchange.
So here I am all set to bake with no where for the cookies to go. The kid’s won’t let me skip making gingerbread men. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them. They’ll eat most, but that still leaves a dozen or so unwanted cookies laying around the house.
I guess I’ll have to eat them.
Darn. *Grin*
Alice
I plan on posting an ongoing story here every Friday. I figure once a week you all can put up with me. So I opened up the file in which resides the story I’d planned on using, and got serious cold feet.
It isn’t that the story is so bad, though it was written many years ago and does not reflect where I am in my writing now. It simply isn’t what I want to say here. The story came from my miss-spent youth, and I’m thinking it should stay there.
So instead of The Edgewalk, I’m going to be bringing Suzie’s House to you.
Which means I’m going to have to wait until next Friday to start posting fiction. After all, I have to write it first. *Grin*
Alice
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