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As any good journalist will tell you, it's best to let your sources tell the story. That's true of fiction or news writing, and it's done with quotes.
For one thing, the use of quotes varies the voice of the story. What do I mean by voice? Every writer has a voice, a certain tone to his or her writing. That's a good thing. Every writer's voice is different, so it gives variety to the world of literature. At the same time, big chunks of narrative in the writer's voice can bog down your writing—like having the same speaker drone on for too long. Almost all writers (including me) are in love with their own voices, but it can get very boring for the reader. That's why it's a good idea to break it up by letting someone else do the talking. As I already said, that’s done with quotes.
Nonfiction Writing
Let’s
start with journalistic writing. Why? In
my opinion, it's easiest to add quotes
to news or feature writing. You've
interviewed a variety of sources (at
least, I hope you have, otherwise you
need a different article). Now all you
have to do is pick the quotes that best
tell your story. While that can seem
daunting when you have a long interview,
you’ll soon find it’s easy to separate
the useful quotes from trash—the wheat
from the chaff, as it were.
As
you get more experienced with news
writing, you'll learn to weave quotes
into your story or, even better, make
them the foundation on which you build
your story. If you're not at that point
yet, a good rule of thumb is to place a
relevant quote every few paragraphs.
Voice
aside, the biggest plus to adding quotes
in nonfiction is that it lends authority
to your writing, especially if your
sources are credible experts in their
fields. Finally, using quotes in
nonfiction lends a special human touch
to writing that, if the writer isn’t
careful, can become too much about facts
and figures.
Fiction
Writing
It's
a little more difficult to add quotes to
fiction. That’s not because it's hard to
make up things for your characters to
say. It can be refreshing to be able to
make people say whatever you want them
to say. However, it is a challenge to
make sure those quotes aren't also in
your own voice. If every character
sounds the same, it makes your situation
worse, not better.
On the
other hand, if your characters are too
overdone, the dialogue can become
laughable. I’m sure you can think of an
example from your own reading—an
Irishman with a brogue so stilted and
behavior so stereotypical that the Irish
wouldn’t have him, for instance. Anyway,
you can see how tricky quotes in fiction
can be. Still, if you achieve the right
balance, it takes you work to the next
level, making it worth every bit of the
effort you put into it.
If
you’re still shaky about using quotes in
your writing, try this:
Write
a scene, any scene, in straight
narrative. That is, write it only from
your narrator’s point of view. Then, go
back and write the same scene, but this
time describe the same scene using only
dialogue. Tough? Probably. But it will
help you refine your use of quotes so
you’re comfortable using this powerful
writing tool.
A Bonus
Secret
Finally,
I’ll tell you a secret...readers love
white space. How is that relevant to
quotes? No matter what genre, quotes
generally add white space to the page.
Pull almost any book off the shelf and
look at a page of dialogue. Then compare
it to a page of straight narrative.
Doesn’t it look like less work to read?
Readers think the same way. White space
makes them think they can get through a
page quickly, so they're more likely to
keep reading—and that's good for you!
About the Author
Andrea's writing background includes
features, editorials, reviews, profiles,
poetry and fiction. She was the winner
of the MOTA short story contest in 2002
and received honorable mentions for
fiction from Writer’s Journal magazine
in 2002 and 2004. Check out her blog at
http://creativewithwriting.blogspot.com
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