Observing & Writing Dialog With Mohana Rajakumar

Please meet Mohana Rajakumar, this week’s featured author!

Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar is a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. Moving to the Arabian Desert was fortuitous in many ways since this is where she met her husband, had a baby, and made the transition from writing as a hobby to a full time passion.  She has since published seven e-books including a mom-ior for first time mothers, Mommy But Still Me, a guide for aspiring writers, So You Want to Sell a Million Copies, a short story collection, Coloured and Other Stories, and a novel about women’s friendships, Saving Peace.

Her recent books have focused on various aspects of life in Qatar. From Dunes to Dior, named as a Best Indie book in 2013, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf. Love Comes Later was the winner of the Best Indie Book Award for Romance in 2013 and is a literary romance set in Qatar and London. The Dohmestics is an inside look into compound life, the day to day dynamics between housemaids and their employers.

After she joined the e-book revolution, Mohana dreams in plotlines. Learn more about her work on her website at www.mohanalakshmi.com or follow her latest on Twitter: @moha_doha.

First, please tell us a bit about what you write and why dialog is important in your work.

People exist in communities and a large part of this includes talking: whether arguing, agreeing, or loving. You can’t have good writing without dialogue because we need to know how these character feel about each other without being told.

Listening is an integral piece of "people watching". Do you "people listen" automatically, or do you make a deliberate effort?

I need to make more of an effort to listen; I’m a notorious interrupter, especially when I’m excited about what people are saying (or angered). Interrupting is really rude so I’m going to try my best to stop!

Humans exchange a lot of information paraverbally, that is, through intonation, pacing/rhythm, volume, and enunciation. What paraverbal cues are you most sensitive or tuned into as an author, an observer, and a participant?

Volume is big for me; if I hear an increase in volume, “I get my back up” as the saying goes or I go on offense. It’s a trigger and I can’t help it. Now with two young kids, I work at lowering my voice when I want to make a point.

Do you enjoy writing dialog? Is there anything about writing dialog that you find challenging?

There’s that one moment between two characters – particularly in a budding romance – that can have aha! feeling that is magical. Trying to find it though, can be very, very difficult.

What have you learned about yourself and your relationships by observing real life & fictional dialog?

We don’t speak in speeches; we interrupt, agree, make assuring or disapproving noises. Human communication is full of little notes that move it forward and back; a constant dynamic, flexible process.

Do you have any characters with catchphrases or verbal habits? What are they? How do these personal quirks add depth to your characters?

In Love Comes Later, one of the main characters, Sangita is known for her quick wit and how rapidly she replies. This is characteristic of her thirst for life and overall high energy level.

Do your characters ever interrupt, cross-talk or change the subject? Do you use communication interference in your dialog? Why/Why not?

All. The. Time. I find the “---“ dash difficult as a reader sometimes but I know it’s an essential part of writing to simulate real communication.

Please share with us a dialog gem that you've recently overheard or participated in. What do you think makes this dialog interesting?

I often find it difficult to give feedback in a neutral way and have been working on this skill (without being angry or raising my voice). So this victory last week was really exciting because I asserted a boundary without being mean.

Me: “I asked you not to do that.”

Him: Laugh

Me: “That was the second time.”

Him: “Oh, sorry.”

It’s amazing how challenging this skill can be to practice. Kudos to you!

Please share with us a dialog gem from your own writing. (If published, please share the title & link to purchase site.) What do you think makes this dialog interesting?

The following is from a scene where Sangita and Abdulla are arguing about his fiancé being on a secret trip to India with Ravi, Sangita’s brother.

Sangita straightens herself and comes as close as she can to staring down someone still half a head taller than she is.

“He is a man with principles,” she says.

Abdulla shakes his head.

“Hind is engaged—”

“That didn’t stop him from running off with her!”

Sangita sags against the countertop. “They went as friends,” she mumbles. His eyes fly up in what is quickly becoming a standard reaction.

“This very contradiction has plagued me for so many nights since Hind and Ravi left ten days ago…” she trails off at his stunned look.

He takes another gulp of coffee, breathes, and waves a hand, indicating that she should continue.

“Finals, graduation paperwork, and finding a job… I’ve had no time to think about this. I had to put my doubts away. So the two people I love the most in the world are together. What can be bad about that?”

Is there anything else about observing and writing dialog that you’d like to add?

Someone is attributed with having said, “Listen twice as much as you speak.” Sound advice – impossible to implement! – but oh, so essential for a writer.

Author Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Mohanalakshmi-Rajakumar/e/B002PMRI1U
Author website: http://www.mohanalakshmi.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@moha_doha
Facebook: www.facebook.com/themohadoha

Youtube:www.youtube.com/themohadoha

Pinterest:www.pinterest.com/mohadoha

Well, folks, this marks the last week of the Observing & Writing Dialog series! It has been a tremendous pleasure learning from each author I’ve interviewed and I am grateful to all each of you who participated, read and/or commented on my blog and elsewhere.

I had a lot of fun organizing this series and it’s been a catalyst for me to examine my own use of dialog in writing and in daily life. In fact, this was such an enjoyable endeavor, I’m considering one or more follow-up interview series about other elements of writing.

Would you like to read more interviews with authors about their writing?

Are you an author interested in being interviewed about your writing? Do you have topic suggestions for a follow-up series?

Please let me know! Comment, tweet, e-mail or send me your thoughts via mental telepathy*!

*Receiving  telepathic messages only during the month of April because I’m an April Fool!

Observing & Writing Dialog With James Wymore

James Wymore is my featured guest this week and, since I had technical difficulties and am late in posting this interview, I hope you’ll help me make it up to him with an extra warm welcome and generous clicks on his links!

On a lifelong search for fantastic worlds hiding just out of sight, James Wymore writes to explore.  With three books and six short stories in print after just one year, he continues to push the boundaries of imagination.  Journey with him at http://jameswymore.wordpress.com

First, please tell us a bit about what you write and why dialog is important in your work.

I write science-fiction and fantasy.  Because my worlds are fictional, it’s even more important to have good dialogue.  Dialogue is how characters establish their personality, fears, and desires.  A believable character can help readers suspend disbelief and accept the world those characters live in.  If they don’t connect with the characters through the dialogue, they won’t like the story.

Listening is an integral piece of "people watching". Do you "people listen" automatically, or do you make a deliberate effort?

When I was a young writer, I once recorded a conversation with friends and transcribed the whole thing onto paper as an experiment.  Although I’d enjoyed the conversation, it produced the most boring dialogue ever.  I learned that dialogue is not “real.”  Although I occasionally catch a bit of conversation that will pique my interest or inspire me, good dialogue has to flow out of the characters and advance the story.

Humans exchange a lot of information paraverbally, that is, through intonation, pacing/rhythm, volume, and enunciation. What paraverbal cues are you most sensitive or tuned into as an author, an observer, and a participant?

Body language and inflection, such as for sarcasm, can be difficult to portray well in dialogue.  Small actions help, but they can slow the pace down if not done sparingly.  This is why we can be fascinated with somebody in a live conversation, but find the same words dull on paper.  I tend to watch people’s eyes in live conversation.  So most of the paraverbal cues I write have to do with people making eye contact, looking to the side, or nodding.  I love innuendo, puns, and similar usages, though they can be tricky in dialogue.

Do you enjoy writing dialog? Is there anything about writing dialog that you find challenging?

Yes, I love writing dialogue.  The challenge for me is knowing where to break up the flow with actions or description so it doesn’t slow the conversation down but it keeps the imagination flowing.  When the characters are in trouble and the pressure is building, that’s when the right dialogue is awesome.

What have you learned about yourself and your relationships by observing real life & fictional dialog?

I’m that person who always thinks of just the right thing to say about five minutes after the moment has passed.  Luckily, I can still put it in a book.  Although it’s an unfair metric of measurement, I sometimes find myself comparing real life conversations to character dialogue in books.  I’ve found the really good conversation of my life, while not translated word for word, could become great dialogue.  Many of my most memorable conversations with friends have led to whole books and worlds I had to create from the spark of an idea we talked about at a barbecue in the summer.

Do you have any characters with catchphrases or verbal habits? What are they? How do these personal quirks add depth to your characters?

In the Actuator series, I have a character named Choi Yong-kyeong, friends call him Dragon Star, who is a Korean American.  I am not a fan of writing accents into the dialogue because it’s hard to read.  But I wanted something there to set him off as speaking just a little bit differently.  My genius editor, Chrystal Schlayer, suggested maybe he would not use any contractions.  Soon after making the change I knew it was a perfect fix.  It’s a subtle reminder to readers that his English isn’t perfect, it sets him apart from other characters, and it isn’t annoying by the end of the book.

Do your characters ever interrupt, cross-talk or change the subject? Do you use communication interference in your dialog? Why/Why not?

I have characters interrupted by other people or events.  It can add suspense to not hear the rest of something the character was saying, especially if it answers important questions.  It’s also realistic because life doesn’t wait for a pause in a monologue to happen.

Please share with us a dialog gem that you've recently overheard or participated in. What do you think makes this dialog interesting?

“If you are ever going to throw away metal bowls, or other meal containers, please bring them to me instead,” the Chemistry teacher said to his students.

     “What for?” one inquisitive teen asked.

     “For the thermite lab, we can burn them.”

     “Cool!” the students muttered.

     “What about colanders?” a girl in the back asked.

“Those especially, but they are starting to get valuable.  Much harder to find.   All the Pastafarians are buying them up, driving up the price.”

The students looked back and forth at each other.  The girl finally asked, “Pastafarians?  Don’t you mean…”

“Atheists,” the teacher said.  “Flying Spaghetti worshipers.  They use them for hats.  But if you have any, we can certainly use them.”

(I found this exchange hilarious.  Most of the students didn’t have any idea what the teacher was referring to, but he just kept going on as if it were the most normal conversation in the world.  The sudden change of topic to something completely out of the blue gives a perfect snap-shot of this science teacher and the things on his mind.)

Please share with us a dialog gem from your own writing. (If published, please share the title & link to purchase site.) What do you think makes this dialog interesting?

Here is a bit of dialogue I wrote from a short story called Forbidden Future (in an anthology by the same name).  I think the words tell more about the characters than volumes of description or actions could.

Once he ripped the flap off the envelope, and spread the papers across the receptionist’s desk, he called his wife back.

“What is this?”

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “It’s just not working.”

“But we talked about getting counseling.  Shouldn’t we at least try before we give up?  I already have some names of people I was going to suggest.”  He quickly entered ‘marriage counseling’ and their zip code into the search bar on his browser.  “Ellerman Family Services has a really great program and they’re less than a mile from our house.  We could go in the mornings after I get off.  They even have child care.”

“Too little, too late.  This has just been going on too long.  I won’t ask for more than what’s fair and you can have visitation whenever you want.”

“That’s not what these papers say.  This is the standard every other weekend nonsense.  You know that’s not fair.”

“You’re just not the man I married anymore,” she said.

“What are you talking about?  I’m exactly the man you married.  Same job, same everything.”

“Well maybe it’s that, then.  I thought you wanted more than to be a janitor.  You always said working graveyards would just be temporary until you finished your degree.”

“So that’s the real issue?  You’re embarrassed because you think I’m just a janitor?  This is a time-machine!  Don’t you understand how big that is?”

“I know you think it’s important,” she said.  He couldn’t stand her condescending voice.

“Look, can we talk about this later?  I can’t deal with this right now, I’m working.”

“Working?”   She actually laughed.  “Heaven forbid your divorce should interfere with dusting that stupid machine and reading books all night.”  She hung up.

Is there anything else about observing and writing dialog that you’d like to add?

My favorite books and movies have dialogue so amazing that I find myself quoting them all the time.  Books like “The Importance of Being Earnest” and movies like “Mystery Men” hold a veritable mine of dialogue gems.  I hope in my life I can learn to get so much character out of so few words.  Other times a whole story might build up to a single, perfect sentence.  “Go ahead, make my day.”  Such words hold amazing power.  I stand in awe of and hope to emulate writers capable of wielding language with so much impact.

Website/blog:  http://jameswymore.wordpress.com

Twitter: @JamesWymore

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/JasWymore

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/James-Wymore/e/B00BI1FZI2/

Observing & Writing Dialog With Amy Lynn Spitzley

Amy Lynn Spitzley

Please help me make welcome this week’s feature author, Amy Lynn Spitzley!

Amy Lynn Spitzley lives, writes, daydreams, and walks by the shores of a Great Lake in Traverse City, Michigan. She has two goofy children and one British husband. She finds writing for teens is where it’s at because they tend to be informal, character driven, and causal. (Plus, the dialogue is really fun!)

When not writing, she can be found creating collages or making faces at formality until it gives up and hides under the kitchen table.

First, please tell us a bit about what you write and why dialog is important in your work.

I write young adult fantasy, or variants of it. My first book, Scrapbook of my Revolution, is urban fantasy, and my upcoming book, Viola Doyle, is classified as neo-Victorian. Why is dialogue important in fantasy? Because it sets the tone, like it does anywhere. A modern teenager speaks differently than one did in the 1800’s. When I’m reading, I notice slip-ups in dialogue immediately. One word can do it. “Guys” didn’t exist in the Victorian days any more than “lads” does in America now…but “lads” still does in England. I like knowing my setting and making sure the people speak for it without sounding stiff.

Listening is an integral piece of "people watching". Do you "people listen" automatically, or do you make a deliberate effort?

Both! When I wrote Scrapbook of my Revolution I hung out in front of a popular bookstore downtown in the summer evenings. It was my only time to write and I think some of the speech I heard seeped into the story. There are times when I try to listen to kids, too, but for the most part I just take in what’s around me.

Humans exchange a lot of information paraverbally, that is, through intonation, pacing/rhythm, volume, and enunciation. What paraverbal cues are you most sensitive or tuned into as an author, an observer, and a participant?

To me these are the most important. If the cadence of your sentence is off, it’ll all be off. I see this in new authors trying to write British dialogue, for example. It’s not about incorporating slang. It’s about using everyday words in a slightly different way. “I’ve not got that,” is going to sound more authentic than “Hullo, guv’nor!” in almost any context.

Do you enjoy writing dialog? Is there anything about writing dialog that you find challenging?

 I do like it. Actually it’s one of my favorite things to write. The hard thing is trying to get rid of stuff like ellipses and dashes. In real life people generally trail off at the end of a sentence but if you show that all the time it’s impossible to read. The balance can be interesting to achieve.

What have you learned about yourself and your relationships by observing real life & fictional dialog?

Well, I mumble a hell of a lot! I embrace some slang words and hate others, and I’m sure it looks totally arbitrary to anyone else. I think, to some extent, we all have our own little mini-languages, you know? Also, I’m very informal. I embrace that in myself. I don’t do uppity well, and I don’t write it well, so my characters tend to be on the casual side, too.

Do you have any characters with catchphrases or verbal habits? What are they? How do these personal quirks add depth to your characters?

Sure. It makes sense to. It was pointed out to me that some of the teens in Scrapbook were sounding a little alike, for instance, so I gave Daniel the phrase “Right.” He doesn’t use it constantly, and he’s not a main character, but I do think it tends to help make him HIM. Also, Bree swears the most, Kev uses the overt sexual references, and Amber ends up being more of the peacemaker than she wants to, even in her dialogue.

Do your characters ever interrupt, cross-talk or change the subject? Do you use communication interference in your dialog? Why/Why not?

Well, yeah, cause I write ‘em real! You can’t do that sort of thing all the time but dialogue without interruption is just an exercise in what not to do.

Please share with us a dialog gem that you've recently overheard or participated in. What do you think makes this dialog interesting?
 

Oh man. Well…I have a son, age 11, who has mild Asperger’s Syndrome. Most of the things that he says are interesting and unexpected. He loves puns, for instance, so one day when I was saying goodnight to him I came up with a bad pun I thought he’d love. I don’t even remember what it was, but he just looked at me.

“What?” I said. “I thought that was a good one!”

“Amateur,” he told me.

Now, needless to say I tickled the hell out of him for that, but I think it’s interesting because it’s not what you expect a kid to say, and it shows the parent being brought down to size. The kid is clever, I’ll give him that!

This is a delightful example and made me grin!

Please share with us a dialog gem from your own writing. (If published, please share the title & link to purchase site.) What do you think makes this dialog interesting?

Here’s one from Scrapbook of my Revolution, available here. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17715904-scrapbook-of-my-revolution?bf=1000&from_search=true

http://www.amazon.com/Scrapbook-Revolution-Amy-Lynn-Spitzley/dp/1620071878

“So, how long you all been together, then?” the Hobo asked.

“Not long.”

“Just this year.”

“Amber got us together.”

Three of us spoke at the same time, and everyone laughed. The Hobo thumped his hand on the arm of the recliner he sat in.

“Enthusiasm!” he said. “I love it. Passion’s a grand thing when it’s not misguided.”

“Don’t get him goin’,” moaned Clay.

“Hobo’s met more’n his fair share of misguided types,” David explained.

The Hobo ignored his bandmates. “Heard of a bloke called Baronson, haven’t you?”

“Vaguely,” I said. “Not exactly a friend to us.”

“Not exactly, no. He came to our concert a few days ago, just to complain about our practices. Now, we don’t take kindly to bein’ bitched at…”

“Although some of us are well used to it,” muttered David.

Daniel choked on a laugh. The Hobo plowed ahead, intent on making his point.

“Yeah, well, that one’s a right head case. Finally had to pitch him out.”

“You threw Abraham Baronson out of your concert?” Casey repeated.

“On his arse,” said Clay.

“Nah, we were nice about it,” disagreed Junior, still tapping away with his sticks.

“He left without convincin’ us to change our policies. And he made the acquaintance of a very large, well-paid mate of ours,” said the Hobo. “But he only hurt his pride, as they say.”

I think this is interesting because although accents are implied, they aren’t overused. They differentiate between the characters, but you get other bits telling you that some of these guys speak differently than the others. It’s got some humor and it’s got a lot of people speaking, but I don’t think it’s too convoluted. It’s not JUST speaking, either. There are a few other things happening, gestures and tapping with drumsticks, to set the scene.

Is there anything else about observing and writing dialog that you’d like to add?

I think you’ll know if you do it well.

People will tell you. It’s the sort of thing that’s noticeable, that makes a book sparkle. If you don’t feel like you’ve got it, keep trying! It can be learned. Better to keep polishing it than keep crappy dialogue in a book. Your people need to speak like themselves, but they can’t tell the whole story, either. Good dialogue needs to mesh with the rest of the story. It needs to be GOOD. Anything else is unacceptable.

http://curiosityquills.com/viola-doyle-unconventional-gift/

Purchase pages for Scrapbook-- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17715904-scrapbook-of-my-revolution?bf=1000&from_search=true

http://www.amazon.com/Scrapbook-Revolution-Amy-Lynn-Spitzley/dp/1620071878