While I enjoy almost all of the aspects of writing
speculative fiction like developing new scientific concepts and intriguing plot
twists, I do not particularly enjoy one critical aspect: constructing
dialogue. After reading Gary Provost’s
outstanding guide, Make Your Words Work, I
have adopted the mantra that if it isn’t compelling dialogue, I won’t keep
it. That isn’t to say that every
utterance has to be Shakespearean in construction and universe-shattering in
importance, but I would like my dialogue to be informative, revealing of
character and occasionally humorous. I
think one of the most artful crafters of dialogue in scifi today is John
Scalzi. He uses dialogue as the medium for telling his stories which helps
maintain his reader’s interest and deeply humanizes some complex and alien
(ha!) concepts.
In my latest work I wrote the following dialogue:
“I am requesting a
transfer to logistics after this one. No way I am putting up with Sharkie’s BO
for another mission. Damn girl, they got
body chemistry mods that can cure that!”
“I ain’t changing
shit. My stink lets you know it’s me and
not Elvis,”
“You’d win this war
for us, if R & D would bottle your BO and bombard them with it.”
I realize this is pretty adolescent writing, but I would
like to share how much work goes into transforming pedestrian writing into
something original and palatable. Tune in to my next post to find out the final
form.
