From: jwkenne@attglobal.net   
      
   On 2014-05-15 22:20:47 +0000, Brenda Clough said:   
      
   > On 5/15/2014 4:02 PM, William Vetter wrote:   
   >> On Wednesday, May 14, 2014 7:19:40 PM UTC-4, bre...@sff.net 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.   
   >>>   
   >>> However, it is not difficult to hear real-life conversation. Restaurants   
   >>>   
   >>> and bars are good for this, especially those who do not have TVs or loud   
   >>>   
   >>> background music. Conventions and meetings, offices (all the time spent   
   >>>   
   >>> in doctors' waiting rooms can be usefully spent eavesdropping in the   
   >>>   
   >>> office staff). Public transport, movie and theater lobbies, airport   
   >>>   
   >>> lounges -- there are millions of places to hang and listen to people.   
   >>>   
   >> Go to a go go bar during the day shift.  You can study women all you   
   >> want, stare at them, and nobody will challenge you, because it's the   
   >> norm there.  Some of them are ethnic, homegirls, done a little time,   
   >> were hookers in Europe.  A lot of types that authors try to write about.   
   >>   
   >> Learn to say "maybe later" to all of them, or it will get expensive.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >>   
   >   
   >   
   > And if you do that, be well aware that they are not all women, or even   
   > most women.   
      
   Increasingly, they are. A few years ago I saw a newspaper piece about   
   former stockbrokers in NYC who had turned to stripping, and I just   
   yesterday read an interview with an Eng-lit PhD (and self-identified   
   feminist) who's decided that being a stripper not only pays several   
   times as much as being an "adjunct", but is also more fulfilling, not   
   to mention that it makes it easier to follow her husband if his job   
   transfers him, and she gets more hours a day with her kids.   
      
   --   
   John W Kennedy   
   "There are those who argue that everything breaks even in this old dump   
   of a world of ours. I suppose these ginks who argue that way hold that   
   because the rich man gets ice in the summer and the poor man gets it in   
   the winter things are breaking even for both. Maybe so, but I'll swear   
   I can't see it that way."   
     -- The last words of Bat Masterson   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)