The Tool-Kit: Narrative Voice and Dialogue
If in exploring the Itch you meet a link which leads to Typepad’s ‘closed’ sign, don’t despair: virtually all important posts have in fact been migrated over here to Substack. We are still working our way through the massive job of updating the thousands of links in the hundreds of posts, but meanwhile just use the ‘search’ facility to find the Substack version of the post you’re looking for - and feel free to message us if you get stuck!
HEARING VOICES : what is voice, and why does it matter so much?
19 QUESTIONS TO ASK (and ask again) ABOUT VOICE : whether you're having trouble finding the voice for a project, or had feedback that it's not distinctive enough.
STYLE AND VOICE : a post which explored the difference between the two, and why I think 'voice' is a much more useful thing to talk about.
VOICE AND TONE : the effect of a similar plot is entirely different depending on how it's written. Is your false-accusation-of-adultery story Othello, Figaro, Feydeau, or Much Ado About Nothing?
RHYTHM - THEN RHYME - THEN REASON : Why the sound and rhythm of your words is the foundation, not merely the flourish, of your prose. (£)
IS YOUR NARRATIVE VOICE DULL, BLAND OR GENERIC? Here’s what it means and what do to about it.
WRITING DIALOGUE : how do it well, how to make it better.
PING-PONG DIALOGUE : a common habit and what to do about it.
SPEECH TAGS: how to use them best : why "he said" is often the answer but not always, and how to handle the latter.
Itchy Bitesized 11: "WHO SAYS THIS?" MAKE SURE THE READER KNOWS WHO'S TALKING.
SPEECH TAGS: WHICH WAY ROUND SHOULD THEY GO? ‘…Jack said’ vs ‘…said Jack’
WRITING EMOTION : is less really more? And how do you make it real? (£)
DESCRIPTION : how to stop your descriptions being slabs of scene setting, and turn them into storytelling.
6 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR DESCRIPTION : more on the how and why of evoking places, people and everything else.
KILL THAT "OFFICE-SPEAK" : how to get the zombie nouns, aggressive passives, abstract nouns and hedgy vagueness out of your creative writing.
