http://behlerblog.com/2012/10/25/read-with-intention/ Publishing from my side of the desk Sat, 18 May 2013 06:22:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://behlerblog.com/2012/10/25/read-with-intention/#comment-18305 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 18:22:35 +0000 http://behlerblog.com/?p=7277#comment-18305 Thanks for the suggestion. I’m off to reread Welcome to Temptation.

]]> http://behlerblog.com/2012/10/25/read-with-intention/#comment-18303 Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:36:52 +0000 http://behlerblog.com/?p=7277#comment-18303 In my latest story, the hero had to be forced into thinking he’d killed his wife to get out of a nasty dilemma. I could have gone on about how guilty he felt, I suppose, but what came to me when he saw her (she was still alive but he’d just gotten out of his coma and didn’t believe it) was “Haunting me already, are you?”
If I have a problem with dialog it’s that I put so much into the dialog I often forget to include all the action-y bits around it.
Another good thing about intentional dialog is that the author can use it to advance the plot without having to hit the reader over the head with bits of plot-advancing prose.
I’m not sure there are books that can teach this stuff. The name of the game is paying attention. You have to listen to people talk, and learn to discern what they mean from what they say. Then reverse it.

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