Thread: Is Harry Potter Literature?

Originally Posted by Truth-Teller

Yes, you were. Do you know how to read or are you blind?

In Lee, Faulkner and Hammer there is no variation [in dialogue tagging] and characters "just say things." That makes Myth unhappy.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Mike C

Horrible, isn't it? I feel like I've just committed a blasphemous act. I feel dirty.

You've made the rest of us feel dirty too.

Originally Posted by ClancyBoy

In Lee, Faulkner and Hammer there is no variation [in dialogue tagging] and characters "just say things." That makes Myth unhappy.

Hope this helps.

Well, I guess I agree with Myth then.

****. Ain't that a b*tch?

I think we're all on the same page, though.

Dialogue should not just be he said, she said, but have a wide range of variety--but not so wide it begans to fall into overexaggeration, such as: "he grated," "she jerked out," or "he said abjectedly," "she said contemptiously," "he replied, exaggerating the words." Keep dialogue simple, colorful, and we should know who is talking to whom, especially when there are three party conversations or more.

Try to avoid adverbs as realisticaly as possible. Also, the active verbs need to suit the content of the speech:

For example,

"Give it back," he pleaded, "It's mine!"

Not,

"Give it back," he proclaimed, "It's mine!"


"Fuck you!" she screamed.

Not,

"Fuck you!" she declared.

"Fuck you," he commiserated.

"Saids" are pretty much invisible. A reader doesn't really notice a battery of he said/she saids. If your dialogue doesn't convey the emotion or meaning you intend without the use of other vocal verbs, then you aren't doing your job as a writer.

Originally Posted by lin

"Fuck you," he commiserated.

You failed, sir, you've failed.

Go eat your damn tortilla.

I notice if there's a LOT of saids, cause then they AREN'T invisible. A minor said here and there I don't care about, even a few on a page.

But yeah, I agree. Variation is what we need.

Originally Posted by mythologicalrealities

But yeah, I agree. Variation is what we need.

No, it isn't. I thought I demonstrated that...?

Do you really think To Kill a Mockingbird would be improved by the dialogue tags Mike_C added to them?

Please don't make me call you an impenetrable dumbass in public. That wouldn't help either of us.

Well, no, not in To Kill a Mockingbird.

But that is a classic.

I guess it depends on the style... I mean, in To Kill a Mockingbird, characters do say things.

In Harry Potter, characters are having an argument or something and they are 'saying' things.

Dialogue and tags depend on the context, the genre, and the writers own style.

I read a lot of fantasy, I guess that's where this view comes from. I can't bear to think of someone dying on the battlefield, gasping their last breath and 'saying' to their closest friend that they're actually in love with them. Bad example. Oh well.
I read action books where characters actually don't 'say' things.

Classics will be always be classics, and I do enjoy reading them. But more books are being written nowadays that are action books. And these books don't really go well with the word 'said'.

Ah. I think I understand. You like fantasy to use all the different words because if they used "said" most of the time it would look out of place next to all the other shitty, clichéd writing.

Well yeah, pretty much. In the classics it works, but not in most of the books that are being printed today. And a lot of them are clichéd.

It's all to do with what fits in with what the writer is saying.

I want to go on record saying that I believe it's possible to write fantasy that isn't shitty.
If it works for the classics, it will work in fantasy too.

Originally Posted by mythologicalrealities

I read a lot of fantasy, I guess that's where this view comes from. I can't bear to think of someone dying on the battlefield, gasping their last breath and 'saying' to their closest friend that they're actually in love with them. Bad example. Oh well.
I read action books where characters actually don't 'say' things.

Go back and read the Mike Hammer excerpt again. Can you honestly say that isn't incredibly dramatic?

Originally Posted by ClancyBoy

I want to go on record saying that I believe it's possible to write fantasy that isn't shitty.
If it works for the classics, it will work in fantasy too.

There's a little bit of good fantasy out there. George R. R. Martin is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, though. And Tolkien, though his dialogue is pretty weak.