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As my first post for the Author’s Toolbox Blog Hop, I wanted to talk about how communication affects our writing. As a communication’s coach, I find this topic quite interesting. Take a look at the other blogger’s posts here. You’ll learn all kinds of tips and tools for writers.
How well do you communicate?
They can write well, but when it comes to talking, they are tongue tied. Can a tongue-tied writer still write? The answer, of course, is YES! Even those people who have trouble talking one-on-one or face-to-face, often find writing as the best way to express themselves.
Take a look at video interviews with writers. They stumble around to find the best words to capture their thoughts. They sometimes pause for long periods before answering. And they often look exceedingly uncomfortable–like they’d rather be doing anything else. These writers prefer to be at their desk where they can put words on paper and not have to worry about all the nonverbal communication that affects real communication.
Writers must show what a character is thinking, feeling without using words. Does the character scowl, scratch his head, lean in, lean away, blink several times, stare without blinking. The list is endless, and it tells the reader exactly what is going on with the character. Writers who have trouble with face-to-face interaction often struggle with these nonverbal cues.
Indeed, most literary writers prefer to describe the character’s feelings in deep internal dialogue. Personally, I find that boring and after a while, I begin to skim through the narrative. In the book I’m currently reading, (see my review) the author spent pages and pages talking about how a character felt when that character made bad decisions in her life. The author used examples of things she gave up and things she should have done otherwise. But, when I finished reading the passage, I realized I still didn’t have a clue as to how the character felt. Was she regretful, angry, frustrated, sad. I had no idea. Had the author shown us through nonverbal cues instead of pages of rambling narrative, it would have helped me, the reader.
Some writers have no trouble with talking. They can tell you the best stories, using their communication skills to engage you face-to-face as well as on the written page. These writers often use dialogue to explore a character’s feelings. They tell us what’s going on through the spoken word on the page. It’s not narrative. Instead it’s dialogue with another character. But, again, I might caution. These writers, although better at nonverbal cues, sometimes forget about them in the heat of the dialogue. Words flying from one character to the next. Because I tend to fall in this category of writer, when I go back and edit my work, I often ask myself, “How can I show what this character is feeling through nonverbals.” In other words, show feelings not through internal dialogue nor dialogue with another character.
You may not be aware of it because communication style is so subtle. We’ve been communicating like this since we were two-years old. Learning what your style is will help you improve your writing.
And, by the way, your communication mannerisms will show in your writing. For example, if you use a certain expression, your characters will, too. This is something you might not see because the expression is so much a part of your communication style. Readers will spot it. If you use an unusual expression for one character, don’t use it for another. If one character says, “cool” to everything, don’t use that same expression with another. These expressions can help you distinguish between characters. The reader knows who’s talking by the style. One example I love is in the Netflix series, Longmire. Of course, that series was taken from a book! In that series, Henry, the Native American character never uses a contraction. He always says the full two words, such as, “do not, will not, he is.” This small communication idiosyncrasy was a brilliant way for the author to distinguish that character.
These are just a few of the ways communication style affects writing.
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Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve never really cosidered the connections before, but I will definately be mroe aware of it in my writing.
Hi ML, I’m glad I was able to share something with a little newer slant. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again!
Hi! I love the idea of characters having communication mannerisms that set them apart. It’s a good thing to remember when writing. Thanks!
Leslie
Hi Leslie, Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you enjoyed the post and, yes, definitely thinking about the nonverbal cues of our characters strengthens our writing.
I appreciate your insights and wish there was more constructive information on how to improve on them. Although I agree that many authors are shy when being interviewed, I always felt it was because they were… well shy and introverted like myself and not necessarily out of touch with verbal expression. 😉
It’s that what the emoji is for. hehehe
Anna from elements of emaginette
Hey Anna, Thank you for stopping by. Indeed some introverted people are great people studiers. They might depict the nonverbal cues better than those of us running our mouths! You’re absolutely right. Thanks for sharing.
Great post! I struggle with nonverbal cues on the page. It’s one of the things I look for when reading to see how other authors are doing it, and when I find an author who is doing it in an original way, I fall in love. I find that I’m an author who struggles for words in real life, almost like every conversation is on stage or in front of the camera, and I sometimes freeze up.
Hey Raimey,
Indeed, often those people, who freeze in face-to-face interactions, are great on the telephone or on paper. That’s just a little tidbit to know about yourself. There are lots of people like that, but we often don’t see them depicted in novels. Well… that is, unless your Fredrik Backman. His characters are wonderful because they depict the “weird” so well. I loved A Man Called Ove and Bette-Marie Was Here.
P.S. Do you have an author page on Facebook? If you do, can you email it to me pretty please? It helps so I can tag you when I add your posts.
Hey, Thanks for doing this. Here’s the FB author’s page. https://www.facebook.com/joanccurtisauthor/ I’ll send you that as well.
This is so true! Writing guides always talk about paying attention to how other people communicate with each other, but they rarely focus enough on paying attention to your own communication quirks.
Hi Dianna, yeah, it’s kinda a different slant when we realize how much our own communication style might influence our writing. Thanks for stopping by and for commenting!
Welcome to the blog hop. Raimey has done an awesome job organizing it. Now I’m going to have to look for my communication quirks within my stories. I’m sure they are there and I’ve never noticed them. I do like your comment about not having two characters use the same quirk. I was watching an episode of Suits and I noticed that all the characters tended to use the same swear word. Then I couldn’t stop noticing how many times that happened. Then I started counting. As you can see it was very distracting. Not what we want to achieve with readers…
Hi Kristina, The fun of writing is becoming alert to all these things. I’m reading a book now where the author made masterful use of the local dialogue. Unfortunately one of the characters came from the city. Yet, he slipped into some expressions that I’m sure city-folk would never use. It’s subtle, but as a writer, I noticed it and it pulled me from the story.
Raimey has done a great job and I appreciate all the people who hopped on my site today. What fun! What’s more I’ve learned so much from the other posts. This was a great idea for two reasons 1) It focuses on writing tips like nothing else does and 2) It brings new people to our sites.
I am definitely a dialogue writer! Usually my first drafts of dialogue are twice as long and half as character-building as they need to be. It can be tricky to “show not tell” but it definitely strengthens the work and the reader’s connection to the author!
http://micascottikole.com/2017/08/15/got-4-full-manuscript-requests-authortoolbox/
Good point, Mica! Dialogue is a great way to show so long as our characters don’t tell things they already know. That’s tricky. Sometimes we want our readers to know something and we think, “I’ll just get my character to say it.” But, if it’s something the character knows or should know already, duh, not a good plan.
Welcome to the #AuthorToolboxBlogHop! I can definitely see how your style as a communicator would influence your writing. What a great insight to share from your profession. Thanks so much.
Hey! Thanks for your comment and for stopping by. It’s been fun today, getting to know all the blog hoppers as well as visiting their blogs and reading their tips of the trade. So much to learn!! Really cool stuff.
I completely agree Joan. Dialogue is a huge piece in character development. I learned to write better dialogue when I enrolled in a screenwriting class years ago in college. It was an eye opener, but so worth it 🙂
Hi Erika, what a great idea. Screen writing is so different than novel writing. It could teach us a lot.
Make each character specific in his or her mannerisms and word choice. Great ideas. I love the book trailer as well. I enjoy a good mystery. I’m more of a cozy-type mystery lover. Thanks for sharing this with your followers, Joan.
http://victoriamarielees.blogspot.com
Hi Victoria, thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you like the book trailer. We wanted to give potential readers a little taste of the story. Working on character differentiation is a constant battle. Something I think about a lot. I really admire writers who do this well!
Thanks so much for sharing! I really appreciate reading your insights.
http://www.ficklemillennial.com
Hi Gina, Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad you found my thoughts insightful! Joan