Writing from the Dialog

After reading A Taste of Salt by Martha Southgate, I have changed my writing style. She writes her novels from a first person perspective of each character. The tricky part in writing this way is getting the context descriptions to fit in. Its quick and easy to write what a character should be saying, its a lot harder to write how they said it or where they said it without breaking the narrative.

If you read her books you will discover an author that seems effortlessly fluent in her writing. She has taken out most of the bumps that change the rhythm. I am studying her writing style to get a handle on the "Aunt Betty" rescue narrative that I am writing.

Taste of Salt is a book about a black girl growing up in Cleveland who is enamored by the sea. She becomes a marine biologist on the East coast. Her family struggles with alcohol addiction. Mom a registered nurse, her dad an auto assembly person that reads the classics after working hours provided the background for her growing up. Her brother who was a trainer for the Cavaliers, a professional basketball team in Cleveland lost his job from using, despite repeated attempts to engage in rehabilitation. Her father becomes estranged due to his alcohol addiction. When that happened his reading after work stopped.

There is little sub cultural dialog in her writing. The reader does not have to "translate" from white to black English. The author is well versed in writing a story from an educated black perspective.

The reader can just roll right along into the narrative dialog as it tells the story. The diad is often the reader and the character in the book rather than the character and another character in the book. This adds to the intimacy of the writing.

As a public figure Martha Southgate  was outspoken in objection to the movie and the book The Help. When she was interviewed by the morning talk shows about The Help, she said that it was well written but should have had an authentic black author writing it since it was written from black person's perspective.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy this book.
: ) Pat