How Do I Love Thee? Dialogue Tips to Avoid Being Cheesy

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fiction, Film, Films, Novels, Television, Writing

Sometimes writers get into the habits of making their characters sound a bit too cheesy when writing romantic love interests in books, plays, films, etc. Now, I’m not saying this amazing line is cheesy because it’s not, but if you met a man/woman/guy/girl on the street had some coffee with them and then they said this to you, you’d be running for the hills, right? Er…I hope you would be.

Make your dialogue real.

Look I love Hallmark movies. I do, I love them. Especially at Christmas time. I can’t wait to watch them because they make me happy. They don’t even have the cheesy dialogue I am talking about. If they can do it, you can too.

My best advice is think about your own life. What did someone say to you that swept you off your feet? What is a cheesy line or was it sincere?

I find that the best way to be sincere in dialogue is to continue to always be thinking about what the character wants in every scene. Everything comes back to character–notice this theme. It’s important.

You can also read books that you love and look for the dialogue.

One love story that I read every year is the YA The Fault in Our Stars—Gus never drops a line on Hazel Grace–he is a real person. He isn’t cheesy in the least. Sure John Green could have loaded up the cheese factor but he kept it real and that’s why teens (and adults) all over the world fell in love with their story.

*Speaking of Gus—he has a very unique way of speaking (back to an earlier post)

In films.. Star Wars…

“I love you.”

“I know.”

No magical line was needed.

It is all real and the love story works.

This is important and I read work all the time from writers who make the mistake of trying too hard to be clever and it just comes off cheesy.

If you haven’t been in love like this yet or can’t honestly remember the dialogue you and yours exchanged read, read tons and watch films and TV.

You can do it. I know it!

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www.judaniebean.com 

Tips for Tuesday–DIALOGUE TAGS

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dialogue, fiction, Film, Films, Novels, Story, Television, writers life, Writing, writing dialogue

Dialogue tags continue to stump many writers, new and experienced.

I’m not sure why this is, maybe it’s because we as writers feel the overwhelming need to paint a detailed picture. We want the reader to not miss even for a second what we mean—right?

She said angrily. She yelled with the noise of thunder. He howled like a wolf. –these are not needed.

My rule of thumb is when in doubt use SAID.

***The way a character speaks is so uniquely them that it should be obvious who is speaking but sometimes it’s not, so fine–use he said, she said, they said..

Don’t over think it.

In preparing for this blog, I found this article that does a great job of further explaining what I mean.

I have posted the link below. I hope you like it and I hope that it helps!

https://www.novel-writing-help.com/dialogue-tags.html

An exercise: tell your friend, spouse, neighbor, anyone a story about a conversation you had with someone else, do you ever overly describe the way they said it? HINT–you don’t. People don’t. Go do this and you’ll see what I mean.

If you do. If you are the type who uses adjectives to describe the way someone spoke–well that just might be YOU and the way you as a character speaks, but in books it pulls readers out. In screenplays and teleplays, it confuses the actors–or they will follow exactly instead of doing what comes naturally. I would say in scripts—NEVER qualify ever. Scripts don’t need tags.

Monday Writer Goals-Halló from Iceland

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am writing, fiction, Film, Films, Novels, reading, Television, writers life, Writing, writing goals

I’m in Iceland for the Iceland Writers Retreat which officially ended yesterday! It’s so amazing here. I love it. Today I have a free day and I’m planning to spend the day doing literary things.

The week is a lot for me to figure out this week because it will basically consist of traveling and readjusting back to California time, so here is what I will do TODAY.

Write because I’m super inspired after the past few days of workshops.

Read because I love getting lost in books.

Finally, explore the city a bit.

What are your goals for today or for the week??

**it’s okay to make daily goals when the week is too busy, unorganized or just too crazy. Be kind to yourself. 

Tip for Tuesday–DIALOGUE-Be UNIQUE

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dialogue, fiction, Film, Films, Novels, Story, Television, Writing, writing dialogue

I’m traveling to the Iceland Writers Retreat this week so this will be short but to the point.

Dialogue is so important in showing us who the character is. This is true for all writing. Screenplays and teleplays and stage plays rely so heavily on the way characters speak and what they say that it’s even more important to nail it.

This doesn’t mean being overly clever, it means being UNIQUE.

One example that I LOVE is the show, the GILMORE GIRLS. They have a very unique way of speaking. It’s very specific and so much that other characters in the show comment on the way that Rory and Lorelai speak. Watch it. You’ll love it, or hate it, either way, you will see what I mean.

Other shows that have GREAT & UNIQUE DIALOGUE ARE:

FRIENDS

THE BIG BANG THEORY (especially Sheldon)

FELICITY

GREY’S ANATOMY

Homework this week is to watch tons of TV and write down the names of shows that you love or hate because of the way they speak. Why do you feel that way?

Consistency/Continuity in Films

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Films, Moneyball, The Show, Writing

Last year, I think I wrote a blog on the film Moneyball, which I loved by the way, but there were some glaring, GLARING issues, like the little girl sang a song that hadn’t even been released at the time of the film-when it took place-the Boston Red Sox pennant winning was up in the office-this film took place before that. Today someone threatened my life because of that blog, telling me to get an effing life etc…now, honestly? Is that needed? I never said anything bad about the film, I was just saying that a film of that caliber should NOT have such mistakes in them. A lot of people/clients/friends/writers read my blog because I do give writing tips and lessons between reviews and such, and I think it’s very important that people know that something like that can ruin a story for someone else, so just get your facts straight. That’s all. I used Moneyball because it had just come out, not to slam the song The Show, or Moneyball. I was once on an animated film that part of took place in the ’70s, well they wanted a dance sequence with the Electric Slide, everyone got so upset when I raised my hand and said, “that dance wasn’t popular until the late ’80s, why don’t you have them do The Hussle or something?” (Actually the Electric Slide was invented in the ’70s but no one was doing it in bars etc. until much later.) The point is, if I notice it, others will, so just get it correct, it’s not that hard to check facts. In any case, I apologize if I offended anyone, but I stand by what I said, those mistakes are huge. The film made heaps of money so it’s really not that big of a deal if one writer/blogger has the opinion that song should not have been in there, is it? I say to the person who threatened me, you get a life. Honestly.