Did They Really Say That?

Have you ever picked up a book and the dialogue simply exploded off the page? Have you ever been struck by the sparkling, witty exchange between hero and heroine? Or sarcasm so thick, you needed a chainsaw to cut through it (sorry, that’s a cliché but I couldn’t help myself)? Or the fights, where the words are thrown like missiles through the air (and not one of them is the F bomb)? Have you ever wished you could have said that in the heat of an argument? Or wished your loved one could be that romantic?

I’ve often wondered how authors do that – you know, take simple ordinary words and make them come alive, make the reader feel the anger of a quarrel or feel the romance blossoming just by the dialogue. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve giggled out loud by something the heroine said or gasped because the venom in the words hit me like a sledgehammer or sighed because the hero said something so sweet, so beautiful, it made my heart melt.

As a writer, I find this the most difficult thing to do – twist those common place, everyday words into something that makes the reader gasp or sigh or laugh, but there are some authors who do it effortlessly (or so it seems). And isn’t that one of the pleasures of reading? To see what a normal, mundane word can become in the hands of a master?

Happy reading!

Marie