Please consider this space for your ongoing craft questions. Do post whatever it is you’re struggling with HERE—any and all questions, from minor to existential—so that all of us can share and relate. I promise to tackle them one by one, usually in the form of writing prompts. Sometimes we have to wrestle with our challenging writing issues in small, formal ways to create seismic changes in our work.
Anyway, THE THREAD IS OPEN! I welcome your questions and comments.
I am wondering how to let foreign words be part of the electricity of the environment when it is a new cultural setting for a character. When is it okay not to translate the phrases? Is there a way to blend two languages together so we get a sense of the character's in-between status of the world they are in?
Thanks for kicking this off, Catherine. This is a terrific question and one that many of us struggle with. I'll be happy to address this in next Monday's writing prompt.
Any tips for dialogue? I have three goddesses on a celestial farm who are always talking! How do I keep who is who clear? Any tips for multiple-person dialogue? Or should I just kick one out of the tool shed? But if so, then how does that character learn about what was talked about? Thanks!
Haha! I love the image of all these goddesses one-upping each other! Let me address writing distinctive dialogue in a prompt next Monday. Thanks for the question!
I am wondering how to let foreign words be part of the electricity of the environment when it is a new cultural setting for a character. When is it okay not to translate the phrases? Is there a way to blend two languages together so we get a sense of the character's in-between status of the world they are in?
Thanks for kicking this off, Catherine. This is a terrific question and one that many of us struggle with. I'll be happy to address this in next Monday's writing prompt.
Any tips for dialogue? I have three goddesses on a celestial farm who are always talking! How do I keep who is who clear? Any tips for multiple-person dialogue? Or should I just kick one out of the tool shed? But if so, then how does that character learn about what was talked about? Thanks!
Haha! I love the image of all these goddesses one-upping each other! Let me address writing distinctive dialogue in a prompt next Monday. Thanks for the question!