The Art Of Conversation

"Dude"
"Mate"
"How goes it?"
"You know..."
"Man."
"Yeah."

In literary terms the above is practically pointless and probably a waste of space. In real life that conversation could be a deep and meaningful moment between two friends because communication is not strictly about the words. The relationship, the history, the story, the tone of voice, the speed of delivery, the physical proximity, the facial expression and probably a great deal more all contribute to the meaning of words being shared.

As an aspiring writer the descriptive side of things I thoroughly enjoy and feel that I'm showing a certain about of promise in this creative area. However trying to write dialogue is proving interesting at best and very troublesome at worst!

I cannot help but draw parallels with my life and what I am writing and the influence both have on each other. I occasionally sit back and just listen to conversations and how people interact with one another, and sometimes I do this to myself (I usually get quite worried at this point!). Without knowing the full picture, which I admit is very difficult to know, some conversations can seem very superficial, weird, inappropriate, horrible, ad nauseum etc. What's worse is when I look at some of mine and realise that they quite often are like that.

If I'm particularly quiet, it could be a number of things, and if at some point in the future you read a novel by yours truely and something reads familiar, my thanks to you for helping me with the art of conversation.