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Originally Posted by gmw
Well, I wasn't sure we really really wanted to resurrect a 7-year-old thread, but if that's what we're doing...
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{shrug} seemed rude not to reply...y'know.
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Dialogue is hard to do right. Authors should not attempt to write exactly how people speak, they must write how it seems that people speak.
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Amen, brother.
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Exclamations and dialect take an already difficult problem and make it even harder. Like a lot of writing it's more art than science. You want just enough hints that a reader will understand what you mean and do the work for you. Too many hints and you will be annoying, too few and everyone will sound like the same person in your readers' heads. You want that Goldilocks point where everything is just right, and for that you have to rely on your own ear and help from your editor and beta-readers. Luck, practice and talent (order is variable).
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Yes, and it's also true that really talented writers can get away with things that those just learning their craft can't, of course. :-)
Hitch