Finally back! Theresa and I met with lots of writers (and she met with lots of industry sorts) and... well, I don't remember much else. Lots of arguments about semicolons in fiction (that's just the sort I hang out with, alas). I'm sure more will occur to me once I get some sleep and file my final grades in my summer classes.
Theresa, there was something I said would make a good blog post-- oh, yeah, about how pauses in dialogue should be in the narrative, not in punctuation. Remember?
Alicia
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I'm not Theresa, but I'd love to hear your take on this! It's something that sometimes irks me about a lot of writing... the dialogue doesn't have a natural flow, with natural pauses, outbursts and so forth that reflect the emotions and thoughts of those speaking.
I like to create those pauses by inserting thoughts (in the case of the person whose POV I'm writing in) and observations of actions and facial expressions (of others in the conversation).
Any chance you'd be willing to blog about those semicolons? I'm a fan of them (in moderation - everything in moderation), but I know a lot of people who aren't.
Comic timing hangs on the duration of the pause and semicolons — along with dashes — can add an element of variety (along with the occasional parentesis)...but only if done well.
My punctuation is a nightmare, so this would be a welcome post, especially if it touches on dialogue.
Welcom back. We missed you.
I always like starting the day with a typo.........
I'm going to ask the anti-semicolon contingent to guest-blog and explain her position (before I totally decimate it, that is :). Only fair, don't you think?
Wouldn't you know, the more we argued, uh, debated, the more it became an argument, I mean debate, about point of view.
Alicia
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