"Think visually? I can see that happening."

Once In a Lifetime

Talking heads do more than pop on the radio to burn down the house and be taken to the river once in a lifetime.  They sneak into our work and dull down a story into submission.

Why are they so attention-draining?  That's because talking heads do nothing ... nothing but talk.  Duh!

But they're so easy to write.  Imagine getting into a typing rhythm as you "hear" the dialog in your head as it happens between your characters.  I wish I could say my knowledge of this was strictly academic.

These are not the Talking Heads you're looking for.  Move along.

Movements (and I'm not talking classical music)

So much of what makes comic books and movies and stage plays work is movement.  Dialogue tickles the intellect, but movement captures the eye.  This is especially useful when the writer gets to "speechifying."

A recent webinar I recently attended on social networking discussed selling to a listener and how we all can get into a habit of sorts where that person is asked again and again to agree to something -- an offer, a concept, a set of jokes.

Take a look at people around you when you are in a restaurant or coffee shop or supermarket or book store.  No one simply stands in place and speaks.  We gesture.  When our feet are tired, we might lean or swap from side-to-side.  We scratch, we grimace, we never remain still.

When reading prose, the eye tends to speed up during dialogue.  Perhaps it's because we don't have to interpret the descriptions into movement inside our mind's eye.  We "hear" the words and don't give a lot of conscious thought about the characters' environment.

It's like reading MAD Magazine where there's something in the foreground that commands our attention, but behind the speakers, there's this world of activity and practically another story altogether taking place. 

You'll find that inserting movement breaks up the rhythm and adds life to the scene.  No matter if it's on stage, on the screen, or held together with two staples, movement helps add color to a scene.

In comic books, taking heads can bring a story to a screaming halt. Thanks to great artist/storytellers like Jack Kirby, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Dillin, and the like, the reader comes to expect activity on the printed page.  In the still-educational How To Draw Comic Books the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema, the team spends a couple of pages where even the talking heads can be made more interesting by changing the angle of the reader's point of view or by allowing them to pose more dramatically than standing with their hands in their pockets.

For myself, if more than three lines of dialog occur without my adding some sort of movement, then it's because I"m not paying attention.  For a play for the stage or screen, I'll let a page and a half -- which amounts to about  90 seconds -- slide by before I add some movement whether the scene needs it or not ... which it will.

When you write, play what you write in your mind like a movie.  When your own tolerance for non-movement is reached, make the talking heads do something.  Why should YOU be doing all the work?

Sorry for no blog post last week.  We had some consultation to do, one involving an upcoming book from Freelance Words, the other with a new business that will make you feel like a super-hero.  More on that as details firm up.

If you have an insight into the creative process, you are cordially invited to pitch a guest blog.  Drop me some e-mail with some details.

As for contacting us, we are almost omnipresent!

E-Mail: bkmorris56@gmail.com
Website: www.freelancewords.com
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We are entering a time when we would do well to remember that all isn't lost.  We still have things to be thankful for, people to appreciate, and folks who appreciate us.  Remind someone how important they are, okay?

I am thankful to those of you who let me know you enjoy this blog and that you're getting some useful information from it.  I'm also thankful to those of you who subscribe via Amazon.com and by filling in the box in the upper right hand corner of this page.

Please have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving as well as a safe and thrifty Black Friday weekend.

Until next time, be good to yourself, be good to each other, and keep on creating!