Guest Post: Writing Dialogue by Bill Walker

Bill Walker is the author of A Note From An Old Acquaintance, published earlier this year, and soon to be reviewed on the BCF Reviews Blog.

One of the most difficult aspects of writing, in my humble opinion, is dialogue.  It is also one of the most important.  In fact, I would wager that most people wouldn’t care to read a book without it.  So, how does one develop an ear for dialogue?  After all, we hear people around us speak all day long, every day.  Dialogue should be a snap, right?  Wrong.  In real life people speak in fragments that would look awful on the printed page and sound even worse in the reader’s mind, and I’m not even counting if it makes sense or not.  Your dialogue must serve the story and can’t afford to waste time going off on tangents like all of us do in real life.

When I first endeavored to write professionally, while I could turn a decent descriptive phrase, or two, dialogue was my weak point, my Achilles heel, as it were.  It sounded phony, stilted and wooden.  No matter what I wrote, I hated the dialogue.  And then I started using a technique that seems to work for me.  I started casting my characters in my mind, using either real people, such as people I knew or famous actors and actresses, or simply vivid constructs, and assigned them voices and accents.  I then deliberately imagined each scene as a little movie of the mind, to be played over and over again as I tried different lines of dialogue.  Now, this may seem like a no-brainer, but this may not work for everyone.  Because of my desire to be a filmmaker I tend to think cinematically.

Once you start doing this, and it will still take practice, the dialogue will flow more naturally, because you as the writer will inhabit the role of each character as you write them.  In effect, you become the ultimate actor.  One thing you should avoid, however, is too much dialect.  While Mark Twain got away with it, modern readers don’t want to wade through pages of words with strange and unique spellings.  Instead of making your characters more vivid, you distract the reader, pulling them out of the story.  And you NEVER want to do that, if you can help it.

Through my little cinematic technique you can use normal language, slanting a word or two, or using certain phrases unique to that character to make him or her sound Irish, for instance.  They don’t have to speak like the Lucky Charms leprechaun and in fact they shouldn’t, unless you want to stray into the land of cliché.  In any event, give my technique a try and see if it works for you.

Guest Post: Speaking Indigo by Janine Talty

Dr Janine Talty is the author of Indigo Awakening; A Doctors Memoir of Forging an Authentic Life in a Turbulent World.

As a child, Janine found herself bewildered by a world full of challenges that she could not understand. She felt isolated, unable to cope with the regular life issues that other children managed easily. She could not comprehend math or spelling-yet she could see energies that others could not see, and had levels of awareness than no-one around her possessed. She exhibited unusual artistic and healing talent.

http://indigoawakening.com/

Speaking Indigo

Indigo’s are constantly being guided by their inner knowing.  At times this knowledge runs head first into the brick wall of their free will.  You are in constant dialogue with what you know and what you think.  The knowing drops deeply into your energetic system as it does for non-indigo’s who are familiar with this level of awareness. However, for the Indigo, the choice is not for your current conscious mind to make.  All decisions come from the core instructions, the manual that you follow emphatically on faith that is based in a paradigm you have yet to create.  You continue to grow and prepare in your own unique individual ways to one day take your place in the organization of the grand planetary drama that has yet to unfold.

As the wordless knowings contained in the deepest crevasse of your consciousness continue to show up in your physical reality you have begun to question everything that is.  What is reality – really?  Is it simply the world of matter that we can touch, taste and see?  Or is it something that we have yet to discover?  The Buddhists believe that reality is whatever we chose it to be.  As yours continues to reflect the deeply held knowings that have always been with you, you realize that nothing is truly real.  This observation will help you get through the next phase of your journey.  As the world changes around us and we learn to let go of all that our human comrades have ever known, we will need to rely on this simple truth.  Nothing really matters.  It is all an illusion that has been created for our viewing pleasure and has now been manipulated to suit an agenda that is not our own.  We must know how the game is played before we are able to transform this realm back into its intended peaceful state.  You must arm yourselves with this knowledge; fore it is also part of your grooming process.  Don’t shy away from becoming familiar with the dark, for it is in perfect balance with the light.  Darkness is simply an absence of the light, that which we cannot yet see.  It is neither good nor bad.  It is just that which is yet to come into clear focus.

One of the unique qualities of an Adult Indigo’s experience is the interconnectedness their life begins to demonstrate.  Your early childhood knowings start to undeniably show up in the physical.  You cannot discredit these realities.  The senses and images of your childhood “fantasies” are in fact premonitions of a reality yet to come. You are true masters of the art of manifesting thought into form, but in your case it is a preordination that you understand and live between the cracks of being in this world, but not being a part of it.  Not only in theme, but in detail your early childhood visions take form.  As you walk through this process, even you are amazed by the accuracy of the wisdom that continues to drive you forward in the process of fully becoming who you are and what you have come here to do.  As you watch the Universal Forces yield to you all that is necessary for your unique journey you marvel at the complexity and ease in which life gives over its divinely sweet fruit.

Connecting to your mission may take some commitment on your part.  These answers do not come without a price.  Be accepting and open to follow your heart where ever it may take you.  You have learned the gift of symbolic site and can see in the darkness of uncertainty.  Some of you will need more concrete confirmations and others will trust without question.  If you are a previous inhabitant on this planet there may be some heavy karma to clear, it is all part of the process.  In order to hold the energies that will be accompanying the shift, your instrument needs to be free of any and all resistance.  These tasks are not easy and are usually accompanied by massive physical challenges.  Some will come in the form of injury or illness while others will come in as social struggles in relationships or financial survival. Take a step back and look at it from the broadest perspective.  Remember to ask “what is the lesion here?  Why have I drawn this into my experience?” In these questions you will be given the answers that will help define your true purpose at this most incredible time in our collective history.

Janine Talty, D.O., M.P.H.

Guest Post: Working and Writing by Ben Kane

Ben Kane

I’ve been a veterinarian for seventeen years now. Like many people who dream of such a career, I started off with a childhood love of animals. Dogs, cats, rabbits, cows – as a boy, it didn’t matter to me. Discovering the gentle, life-affirming James Herriot books helped build up a mental image of being a ‘doctor for animals’, as did the fact that my dad was already in the profession. Alongside my love of all creatures great and small ran a deeply rooted love of history. Don’t ask me where it came from, but I devoured any book I could find about the Romans, the Vikings, the Crusades, the Napoleonic wars, World Wars One and Two – in fact any conflict at all! I still ended up putting veterinary medicine number one on my university application form though. The main reason, from what I can remember, is that although I loved history, I couldn’t see myself as a teacher. There was certainly no concept in my mind of being a writer.

As with most people starting out on a career, my job as a veterinarian took over my life. Straight out of college, I worked in ‘mixed’ practice for nearly three years, which meant dealing with cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and cats. Stints in purely ‘small animal’ and ‘exotic’ (snakes, birds, fish) practice followed in the UK, before the need to travel struck home.

In 1997, I went on a solo trip to the Middle East, following part of the ancient Silk Road. During this trip, I visited many of the ‘stans’, countries which were formerly part of the USSR. In Turkmenistan, I walked the ruins of Merv, an enormous walled city which was attacked and demolished by the Mongols in the 13th Century. As I wandered through the vast site, nearly a mile square, in temperatures of more than 110F, what became evident was that the city’s history was far more ancient. Merv had originally been founded as Antiochia – by Alexander the Great – in the 4th Century BC. Furthermore, Roman prisoners of the battle of Carrhae had been taken there by their captors, the Parthians. Fascinated by this, I did some research upon my return. This confirmed what I had read in Merv, and the seeds of The Forgotten Legion were sown in my mind, and I had my first thoughts of writing a military fiction novel.

After a prolonged (nearly three years) trip around the world, I returned to the UK in early 2001. The devastating outbreak of Foot & Mouth Disease had just started, and believing it was my duty to help, I volunteered soon afterwards. The job took me to Northumberland, where much of Hadrian’s Wall is situated. During the terrible months of slaughtering animals that followed, I was able to visit many amazing Roman sites on the wall. The stunning locations and little museums fired up my imagination as never before, and I decided to write a novel about the Romans at last.

Over the next six years, I went back into normal veterinary practice, bought a house and settled down somewhat. Crucially though, I also started writing, a process which I quickly grew to love. Despite the long hours – 60+ per week – and ‘on-call’ nights and weekends of my veterinary job, it became an obsession. I wasn’t happy unless I could write every day. During my lunch break, I’d use my laptop in the staff room, my car or a cafe. Several days a week, I’d get up at 5am to do a couple of hours before going to work. For years, most weekends were non-existent except for 12 hours a day of writing.

In early 2006, I was fortunate enough to get signed by my literary agent, whose input and help with my writing skills was enormous. Discarding what I had written up till then – until another day – The Forgotten Legion emerged into the light. In summer 2007, I signed a 3 book deal with Random House in the UK. By the time of the book’s release in May 2008, I had gone part-time as a veterinarian. The pressures of family life, writing and a high-octane job are too much to continue forever without the risk of burnout. Currently on a sabbatical from veterinary, I hope to be able to say that I’m a full-time writer in the very near future.

Ben Kane, MVB, MRCVS.
www.benkane.net