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him. Yeah, Jacktown have riots and
everything up there. What the man likes is to rub against danger
without getting any on him. Make him feel like a macho man. You
know what I’m saying?” To me, this reflects a streetwise voice but
one that is not generic. The line about rubbing against danger
makes it smart and Leonard doesn’t have to diminish his black
character with, “You sho’ got that right, homey.”
    It’s not only spoken dialogue that can create
pitfalls. Internal monologue, and even the point-of-view voice,
must ring true. There’s a great line by mystery writer Margaret
Maron: “I is not me.” Your first-person fictional character doesn’t
have to speak the way you do. If you are writing your
autobiography, then your voice will emerge, but even then your
“writing voice” will be different from your speaking voice. For
example, a large number of people add the “th” sound to the end of
“height” when they say it, which is plain stupid, but it would be
even stupider if you spelled it “heighth” in your dialogue.
    Most modern novels feature
third-person-limited viewpoints, meaning the reader gets into the
character’s head and views the world through his or her eyes. This
allows you to make the most of internal monologue. I don’t know
about you, but I talk to myself a lot inside my own head. That
voice is different than what I would be saying if I were actually
using my tongue. And if you let your characters talk to you,
chances are good they will emerge with their own individual voices
and rhythms.
    You can read pieces of your dialogue aloud to
make sure they work for the ear, but remember that written dialogue
functions differently than actual speech. It doesn’t have to be
real, because real speech is filled with ums, ers, and utter
banalities. Don’t let a character ask about the weather unless
you’re writing a natural-disaster thriller. Even if you’re writing
non-fiction and using actual quotes, you’ll still have to decide
which sentences are of interest and value. Most of all, make sure
there’s a reason your characters are saying what they are saying,
and pay attention to how they are saying it. There’s enough hot air
and blabber in the world already.

    Scott
Nicholson—http://www.hauntedcomputer.com
    ###

    22. WRITE WHAT YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT, THEN
TRY TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SELL IT
    By Dean Wesley Smith
    http://www.deanwesleysmith.com

    The myth: Agents can give good career advice
to writers.
    This chapter on agents to me is the most
important of all the agent chapters. Agents thinking they can give
career advice to writers is so wrong in so many ways, it’s going to
be hard to figure out where to start first. And it disgusts me in
so many ways, I’m going to have a certain level of problem keeping
balanced on this. Fair warning. I think this myth is flat dangerous
to any artist working.
    So let me start first with the “art” aspects
of writing and work to the business.
    ART vs. AGENT CAREER PLANNING MYTH
    Every long-term writer I know does their best
with every project. We all put our hearts and souls into every
story, into every novel, into every project. There are no
exceptions. Sometimes we hit, sometimes we miss, sometimes we love
what we wrote and can’t sell it, sometimes we love what we wrote,
critics hate it. Sometimes we hate what we wrote, critics love
it.
    But, without fail, we always do our best at
the time we were writing the project. That’s Given #1.
    Given #2 is that every writer should write
what makes them angry, what makes them passionate, or what they
love. From the passion comes true art. (I have started two comic
book stores and own over 100,000 comic books. When I got to write
X-Men and Spider-Man, I was writing what I loved deeply and felt
frightened and challenged to even have the chance.)
    Given #3. No writer ever should think for one
moment about a project selling either before or during the writing
phase. Ever. You try writing to