Why are you so talented? Tell me true, I want to know your secret.
Ugh, “talented” I don’t even know, stop stop.
I can only assume you’re talking about writing, which, objectively, is something I can say I do pretty well, at least on the technical end. I’m about to graduate with a BA in English, so I’ve spent four years reading some of the best literature out there and having my writing critiqued by everyone. Obviously, that’s academic and a completely different animal, but I’m deflecting because I have no idea what to say. Though honestly I unlearned a lot of bad fiction habits by unlearning those same bad habits in academic writing, like leaning too heavily on present participles (bad!).
One thing I try to do (with varying levels of success) is to read all of my dialogue out loud and make sure it sounds like real speech. Even in a different setting like ASOIAF, people still sound like people, and people use contractions and imperfect grammar and don’t speak in paragraphs and so forth.
And the other thing I try to do is to contrast the “realistic” dialogue with pretty descriptions and a flowy sort of style that reflects the mood I’m going for. ”Try” I say because… yeah. What I intend to do and what happens are rarely the same thing.
I still can’t plot for shit, either, which is why you pretty much only get one-shots from me.
And, um, yeah.
*hairflip*
