Wednesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

POWERFUL DIALOG: SHORTER IS OFTEN SWEETER

By: Annette Lyon

In the famous movie The Fugitive from the early 90s, Tommy Lee Jones has a fantastic line that people still quote and remember And it's all of three words.

He delivers the line when he's got Harrison Ford's character almost caught, standing at the edge of a water pipe that opens hundreds of feet above a river. Jones's character is simply doing his job to catch an escaped convict.

Ford's character, who was falsely convicted, cries out: "I didn't kill my wife!"

Jones's reply is simple and powerful, and delivered with slow deliberation, almost without emotion from fatigue. "I. Don't. Care."

Now that is effective dialog.

There's more to that line. The story goes that the script originally had several sentences there, a mini speech for Tommy Lee Jones to deliver as to why this isn't personal; he's doing his job, and yada yada.

Jones as an actor had the instinct that shorter is better, to trust the audience to get it. That doing so will be far more effective.

He cut the speech entirely and replaced it with those three words, "I don't care," that communicate more to the audience in three seconds than a three-minute speech could.

Writers could use this as a lesson on how to write good dialog.

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To read the rest of the post, click here:

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

• How a Book Becomes a Movie | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/QtaD5
• Do you write to write? Or write to sell? | Writers In The Storm http://ow.ly/QtdjF
• Mythcreants » Writing a Short Story vs a Novel http://ow.ly/Qtdpp
• Writing in the First Person | Self-Publishing Advice for Writers http://ow.ly/QtdCt
• Writers On The Move: Multiple Points of View: Good or Bad? http://ow.ly/QtdKA 5 Ways to Improve Your Email Newsletter Performance http://ow.ly/QtdRX
• Mythcreants » How to Personify the Seven Deadly Sins http://ow.ly/QtdXU
• 7 ways to promote your book while watching TV - Build Book Buzz http://ow.ly/Qte2V
• Writing on the Wall: Powerful Dialog: Shorter Is Often Sweeter http://ow.ly/Qteh3
• Diversity in Children’s Books Is Hard to Find—But Important | Chicago magazine | Politics & City Life June 2015 http://ow.ly/Qtf6F
• 5 Novel Writing Tips from a First-Time Plotter http://ow.ly/QtfiD
• 22 Ways a Blog Can Sell Books — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/Qtfuo
• Can We Learn from Reading “Bad” Writing? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/QtfEe
• Author, Jody Hedlund: 4 Steps for Organizing Plot Ideas Into a Novel http://ow.ly/QtfMP
• ProBlogger Podcast: Can You Really Make Money Blogging? - @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/QtfQC
• Graphs to Inspire and Depress the Indie Author – BookBaby http://ow.ly/Qtg4N
• Everything Is Writing http://ow.ly/Qtgl5 “I love writing, but I hate all the other stuff that comes with it!” We cry. “If only...!”
• Laundering Lines: Converting Excess Exposition into Dialogue | Drew Chial http://ow.ly/QtgEe
• Beach Reads and Why the Novella Rocks | Writers In The Storm http://ow.ly/QtgUD
• Writability: Platform Building for Beginners: Where to Start? http://ow.ly/Qth4W
• 3 Crucial Editing Phases All Authors Need to Sell More Books http://ow.ly/Qti5L
• Three Ways to Organize Your Ultimate Home Writing Space (Plus Infographic) - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/Qtzzz
• Anne R. Allen's Blog: Your "LOOK INSIDE!" Book Preview: Will it Turn Readers Away or Close the Sale? http://ow.ly/QtBuE

Happy writing and running, Kathy