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Say What? Say What? Say What?"

How important is dialogue in a story? I asked myself this question as I’m going through the editing process of my upcoming novel, Gotta Get It Back. Short answer – it’s HUGE!

You see, dialogue is what makes the characters come alive. It increases the pace of the story and makes it more dynamic. Moreover, it gives the characters a voice and allows them to engage each other on paper. It also gives readers a reason to pull up a chair and get to know the characters, what drives them nuts, why they have attitudes and why their emotions and motivations matter. And I love it when my characters can tell me what’s up!


Here’s a snippet of what’s to come:

I sat down on the padded swivel kitchen stool. After sucking in a deep breath, I asked my father, “Have you been drinking?”

“James, Chapter 1, verses two through three gives us encouragement…”

My father could make a sermon out of anything. “Okay, don’t have a Bible in front of me right now, but what do you need encouragement for now?”

“You, my dear daughter. I need words of wisdom from the book of James to encourage me to find strength when we face trials. I have sinned and now the congregation knows the truth.”

“What? How did this happen?”

“Ethel, love her but sometimes that woman can be so naive that she goes around trusting the wrong folks.”

I wondered how long it would take before his wife ran her mouth about me being her husband’s love child. “And who might that be? Don’t tell me Sister Sarah?”

“Ding, ding, ding. You win the prize.”

Why wasn’t I surprised? That woman was in the middle of every church gossip that ever graced the steps of Junction Baptist Church. I heard my father take a gulp from what I hoped was a cup of coffee. Drinking liquor never made anyone think clearly.

“But this trial will make me grow. I’m not a man to hide things and if they want to let me go after serving the community for all these years. Well…let it be what it be.”

I heard the defeat in my father’s voice. “Hold up. This is not the man I know. You grew that congregation. You started an after school tutoring program, a mentoring program for the neighborhood kids, a coat drive. Should I go on? Trust me, you won’t go down without a fight.”
          
So, Say What? Say What? Say What? Talk to me and tell me what’s up!  Leave me a comment on my Facebook page at
 https://www.facebook.com/thewritepen or email me at dlawmba@gmail.com.

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