From: mumble@nomail.invalid   
      
   On 05/14/2014 05:19 AM, David Friedman wrote:   
   > On 5/13/14 10:51 PM, C. E. Gee wrote:   
   >> I've noticed, many writers have problems with dialog  as they don't   
   >> socialize with such people.  Many writers graduate from college, then   
   >> go on to fairly high-end careers, working  with others of like   
   >> backgrounds. And they socialize mostly with others of similar   
   >> backgrounds.   
   >>   
   > I expect I've socialized with a fair range, given my SCA involvement. I   
   > suspect the problem is that I don't have an ear for it, don't notice and   
   > remember how different people speak.   
      
   I think that not everyone will notice, and those who do notice will be   
   more likely to notice positives rather than negatives.   
      
   Many authors, at least most of the authors I've read, have what amounts   
   to a single voice.  When I run across a book that has "authentic"   
   dialog, where different individuals use different "lifestyle dialects",   
   if it's well done there's a bit of spice added to the gruel but I'm not   
   accustomed to seeing it done very much, or remarkably well done when it is.   
      
   What I think is important is the story, its underlying message, how   
   smoothly it reads, and how the reader reacts.   
      
   How many active writers have sufficient time when they are not writing   
   to socialize with a wide variety of people anyway, writing seems to be a   
   rather all-consuming activity while one is actually doing it, and not   
   many books are written "in an afternoon".   
      
   The obvious risk associated with using multiple widely varying voices in   
   dialog is that if it isn't done exceedingly well, the reader may find it   
   jolting enough to cause the book to be put aside for something else.   
      
   I think that character dialog mostly needs to be consistent with what   
   the character "knows" about what's doing on, people seem more likely to   
   ask "how come s/he didn't know ...?" or "how does s/he know ...?".   
      
   I'd guess that the "novelist" tends toward introspection and isn't that   
   social, unlike the "journalist" (who shouldn't be making up dialog anyway).   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)