By Ed
Protzel, Author of The Lies That Bind:DarkHorse Trilogy, Book 1
One of the
things that originally drew me to classic Southern fiction was its compelling
dialogue. From Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire, we’ll never forget broken Blanche DuBois’ pitiful “I have
always depended on the kindness of strangers,” nor even Stanley Kowalski’s
simple, desperate “Stella!” In Faulkner’s great Absalom, Absalom!, Charles Bon’s “—So it’s the miscegenation, not
the incest, which you can’t bear” reveals in one sentence the novel’s social
themes with authority.
In my
interview on LA Talk Radio’s “The
Writer’s Block,” hosts Jim Christina
and Bobbi Bell asked how I created such powerful dialogue in my antebellum South
thriller, The Lies That Bind: DarkHorseTrilogy, Book 1. Frankly, my reply to them wasn’t very revealing, and
I’ve thought about what I should have said ever since. So, expiating my sin of
omission, here are some keys to writing
memorable dialogue.
Characters with Strong Points of
View
If you
have strong, intelligent characters with strong points of view—obsessions are
especially excellent—they’ll tell you, the writer, what they want to say. All
you’ve got to do is transcribe their words. I generally find my characters
telling me what they desperately need to express in a scene I’m working on when
I wake up in the morning, when taking a shower, or even exercising. These often
prove to be the best lines in the book.
For
example, in The Lies That Bind, the
wealthy Missus French runs the town, but because of her traumatic past with
men, she is now a recluse who disdains people. So when her heir, Devereau,
cajoles her to make her [dreaded] annual Easter pilgrimage to the church in
town, she reveals her complete estrangement from society and its institutions
with: “I don’t see why I have to go to church simply because That Man rose from the dead.”
Limitations Lead to Irony/Humor
Novels
also contain dialogue that, because the reader has superior position, makes the
character’s misstatements ironic, humorous, and fraught with meaning. In
Faulkner’s masterpiece, Absalom, Absalom!, Wash Jones’
never-say-die exclamation about the Southern war effort, “They kilt us…but they
ain’t whupped us yit, air they?” is unforgettable. In my novel, minor character
Ellen is a young innocent who believes she is being guided by God to free all
the slaves in town, so she secretly sews a ridiculous gown she believes is
seductive. When her naive scheme takes her unannounced into Devereau French’s
bedroom, revealing the terrified Devereau’s most awkward secret, Ellen is so
confused and self-conscious, all she can say is, “Don’t you never tell nobody
you seen me wearing this”—which readers often quote to me.
When you
write a novel, you live intimately with your characters for a long time. If you
listen closely to their needs and desires, they’ll write some unforgettable
dialogue for you. But be sure you quote them accurately and honestly—it’s only
fair :)
___________________________________________________________________________
Ed Protzel
has the
unique perspective
of a mixed-heritage Jew-Cherokee, who lived for a time in an orphanage and
later as a teen runaway, gives Ed Protzel special insights into characters that
are outsiders, men and women on lonely quests seeking justice, love, and
fulfillment against society’s blindness. The Lies That Bind, a darkly
ironic antebellum South thriller,
is the first book in Ed’s DarkHorse Trilogy. Ed has also written
five original screenplays for feature film and developed scripts/projects for
20th Century Fox. Ed earned his master’s degrees in English
literature/creative writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and his
bachelor’s in English at the University of Hawaii. Ed had a dual career for
over twenty years, working as an investments advisory manager for Fortune
100 firms, while
writing screenplays and novels. Ed’s expertise as a novelist and
screenwriter is in the American tragicomedy movement (Faulkner, Twain,
Tennessee Williams, Flannery O’Connor), science fiction, Shakespeare, and a
variety of historical periods, including World War II, the American Civil War,
and Fourteenth Century Europe. The final two books in his DarkHorse Trilogy include
many of the same major characters as the original: Honor Among Outcasts, set in Missouri during the Civil War
(2017), and Something in Madness,
set in the 1880s (2018). Ed is
married and lives in St. Louis, where he writes full time and teaches college
English as an adjunct. His social media links are website: http://www.edprotzel.com/
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