Dialogue

Good dialogue is essential to your story. Dialogue moves the action along better than any other medium. When possible have two people in your story, so they can talk to each other. If this is not possible and only one person is involved in a happening, perhaps you could relay that incident after it occurred through a telephone conversation or a chat over coffee. Staying in someone’s mind and listening to their thoughts is a boring place for the readers to be.

Be careful of the tags you use for dialogue. “He said” is better than “he articulated” or “he uttered.” After all, what is important is the information between the quotation marks, not the word used for “said.” An exception would be if you needed to show strong emotion or a certain voice tone that the words by themselves didn’t express. Examples: He shouted, he whispered.

The dialogue should be kept simple, natural, and conversational. However, don’t use the exact words a person would actually speak because in normal conversation, a person uses far more words than are needed. Actual speech needs to be whittled down so it is crisp and clear. Never let your characters ramble. It helps to read the dialogue out loud.

Whether you are writing fiction or a true story, without conflict there is no story.

There are three types of conflict:

1. Person vs. Person

2. Person vs. Self

3. Person vs. Environment or God

A short personal experience story will only have one conflict, whereas a book will build conflict upon conflict. However, one conflict may have more than one of the three components. When you are writing a short story, limit your characters to two to four. In a devotional or short anecdote, I’d limit them to one or two. Also, only have one conflict in all short pieces. In a book, you can keep introducing complication upon complication, solving some as you go along. But remember if you solve everything before the book is finished, your readers will put it down. Why should they continue reading? Build suspense; don’t tell it all. Surprise the readers. Don’t allow them to figure out the ending before you get there. Provide an interesting twist.

Set the Mood

As well as painting a scene, you need to set a mood within your nonfiction piece. Is your story lighthearted? Is it somber? The mood you set will show the readers what is coming and help them to better identify with you.

This excerpt is from a story in my book, Rest Stops for Single Moms.

Loving Too Little, Loving Too Much

Susan Titus Osborn

Staring out of my hotel window on that winter’s day in Washington, DC, I watched huge chunks of ice drift lazily down the Potomac River. I rubbed my arms and shivered—partly from the cold, but mostly from the memory forming in my mind.

I recalled the morning several years before when my husband, looking tired and tense, walked into the kitchen. He sat down at the breakfast table and said, “I care about you, but I don’t love you enough to live with you anymore.”

Paint a Scene

Often it is important to paint a scene when writing a story within your nonfiction piece. Where are you? Can we picture the location? Do the readers feel that they are actually there? Use all of your senses so the readers can live the experience with you. If you are painting a beach scene, hear the thunder of the waves crashing on the shore. Taste the salt from the spray. Smell the clean, crisp air. Feel the soft breeze brushing across your face.

This excerpt is from a story in my book, Rest Stops for Single Moms.

A Beacon of Light

Shivering, I zipped my blue windbreaker tightly around my neck. The damp air chilled me as I stood watching the fog roll in. I walked faster along the shore, hoping an increased heart rate would mean greater warmth to my body. Darkness was quickly settling in, but I felt determined to take my nightly walk. This was my quiet time.

The clouds overhead blocked the moon, so I carefully picked my way across the rocky portion of the beach to the sandy stretch. In the distance, I saw the beacon from the lighthouse on the point. I used its flashing light to guide me.

Creating Three-Dimensional Characters (Con’t)

Here’s an example of how I used my character sketch  of a pastor in Sri Lanka in my book, You Start with One, published by Thomas Nelson.

Colton greeted me, this morning wearing only a sarong.  He clapped his hands. Immediately a servant girl appeared and was given instructions.

Colton looked much more relaxed than yesterday when he had met us at the airport outside the capital city, Colombo. Standing only five feet tall, Colton had worn a white suit with a mandarin collar, the custom for Sri Lankan pastors. His stark white suit made his cocoa skin glow. His beaming smile and twinkling, almond eyes radiated friendship.

Graying at the temples, his thinning hair was combed straight back. A neatly trimmed mustache added an air of distinction to the minister.

I thought back to my first meeting with Colton, when he spoke at our church in California eight years before. On that occasion, he gripped the pulpit with his small, bony hands and waited for silence.

“My country is the second poorest in the world,” he had said.

Creating Three-Dimensional Characters

When writing nonfiction, your characters need to appear real whether they are real people or not. Your characters must seem real to you or they will never seem real to your readers. First develop your characters in your mind, which may take a long time to do. Then develop character sketches.

For your own files, draw detailed character sketches of your characters. What do they look like? What are their likes and dislikes? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Help the readers to identify with the problems of your characters. Help them to see their own problems in this non-threatening way.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Is your character male or female?  Why?

How old is your character?  Why not younger?  Why not older?

Give a physical description of your character.  What does his (or her) physical description tell you about the personality, theme, or conflict?

Describe your character’s emotions and personality.

What does your character believe about himself (or herself), the world, God, and life?

What problem(s) faces your character?  How did this problem arise?

How does your character think this problem can be solved?  Why won’t this proposed solution work?

What does your character need to learn, experience, or believe before the problem can be resolved?

What experiences (conflicts) could bring your character to this insight or change?

Will your reader grow or change?  Why or why not?

I use fiction techniques when I write true personal experience stories. All my stories seem to be about my oldest son, Richard. To have a story, you need conflict. My youngest son, Mike, is so easy-going, there isn’t much to write about. Let’s see if you can identify with the following story.

A Gentle Attitude

The front door was slammed angrily with a thud. My son stomped down the stairs and out of earshot. Only silence remained.

Why do I fight with my son? My stomach churned as I pondered this question. I had planned what to say to him, but when he stood there, hands on his hips, looking so defiant…

I stared out the window, watching his tall, lanky form disappear down the street. When he was young, he usually obeyed me. I could answer his questions. We agreed on most issues.

Now that he’d become a teenager, I didn’t have pat answers. Plus, I no longer had a spouse to confer with or to discuss the problems which seemed to arise daily as my son struggled to find his own identity.

Overwhelmed with emotion, I sank onto the couch and buried my face in my hands. The responsibility of raising a son alone was almost more than I could handle. Even when I carefully planned my words in advance, my emotions took over as soon as I opened my mouth. I’d read books by noted Christian psychologists on how to deal with teens, but the words seemed useless when I tried them out in real life. Why couldn’t I find a rule book with all the answers?

My eyes strayed to my closed Bible, lying on the coffee table. I couldn’t remember the last time I had opened it. In years past, I had faithfully spent time with God in His Word. Since my world had been turned upside down, I’d neglected God as well as myself and my son.

Hesitantly, I opened my Bible to the Psalms and began to read. The invisible weight on my shoulders gradually evaporated. I prayed, not for material things or a change in circumstances, but for wisdom in dealing with my firstborn.

The realization came to me that my child was growing up and that my role in his life was changing. My answers weren’t enough anymore. He needed to explore his own way, to find his own explanations to life’s questions.

My job was to love and support him. We might not always agree, but we could try to understand each other. This would require work on my part. When I disagreed with him, I needed to listen to his point of view. Talking openly with him, but not pushing my own ideas, was vital. Also, I needed to admit that I don’t have all the answers.

The front door opened and slammed shut again. I looked up into the eyes of a tall, young man who expectantly waited for my response.

“I’ve been thinking while you were gone, and I’m beginning to see your point of view,” I said. “I don’t necessarily agree with you, but I think I understand how you feel, and I respect your opinion.”

I stood up and hugged my son.

He returned my embrace and softly said, “Thanks, Mom.”

See how I used action and dialogue to move the story along?

Devotionals may be introspective or they may involve a personal experience anecdote. Stories may be true personal experiences, totally made up, or a combination of the two. Articles and nonfiction books should always include examples of the points being made. These are all done in a story format.

Stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Write the beginning and the end before you go back and fill in the middle. You may change some things as you go along, but you must have a game plan.

In the first paragraph of your story, you must hook the reader. Open with an exciting beginning that makes the reader want to read on. Open with the viewpoint character. Write your story as seen from one person’s viewpoint. Paint a brief picture of your main character. Show their personality. You want your readers to see the characters and identify with them.

Good writing techniques are the same whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction—whether you are writing something as short as a devotional or a long as a novel or a nonfiction book.  And no matter what you are writing, you can incorporate fiction techniques.

Chuck Colson once said that his nonfiction books were story-driven, and that was the up-and-coming trend. People love to read about other people, and everyone loves a good story. How did Jesus make his points? He told stories; He used parables.

When using fictional techniques, since you are normally telling a story, it’s best to create a running synopsis instead of just an outline. After you’ve formulated your focus sentence, write your synopsis. Eventually this will form the basis for your personal experience story, devotional, or short anecdote in an article. This also works for stories in nonfiction books, which is what I write, and is the basis for novels.