From: mumble@nomail.invalid   
      
   On 05/14/2014 08:44 PM, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor) wrote:   
   > On 5/14/14 7:19 PM, Brenda Clough wrote:   
   >> On 5/14/2014 7:19 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.   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> It is a mistake to model your dialog upon what you see on TV or in   
   >> movies -- screenwriters get big money for writing that dialog, and it is   
   >> not like life.   
   >   
   >      And you don't want it like life, either. Real-life dialogue sucks.   
   > A large portion of it is hesitations, rephrasings, self-correction, and   
   > so on. It's not usually terribly witty, it's tremendously repetitious,   
   > and rarely does it manage to address the information that should be   
   > imparted in dialogue in a fashion that's coherent to the average listener.   
      
   I agree, real-life dialog is too heavily dependent upon the associated   
   body-language, sights and sounds immediate to the location, and shared   
   information to be meaningfully transcribed.   
      
   At least the real-life dialog I'm involved in is... and sometimes even   
   I'm not sure what the other half of it means; I might not constantly say   
   "uh", but there's a high percentage of "huh?" and "you mean...?" with   
   the occasional "WHUT?" thrown in.   
      
   The goal seems to be creating something that works, not something that   
   is precisely authentic, if you really want something precisely authentic   
   you need a video camera and you need to recognize it as a "documentary".   
      
   Maybe there is an occasional author who can write suitably "authentic"   
   lifestyle-based dialog and pull it off without distracting from   
   everything else, but I for one don't see it as a bridge that has to be   
   crossed to get from hither to yon.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)