Dialogue is my favorite way to create characterization in a story. It can convey thoughts and relationships quickly, with whatever emotion is needed. You can show a character's background through dialogue - where they live, when they live, their basic personality. 

Good dialogue will help readers become invested in your characters and, by extension, your story. However, it requires the writer to balance several elements at once:

1. Character personalities
2. Pertinent information
3. Advancement of narrative
4. Relationship to others in conversation
5. Flow of dialogue between characters
6. Tone of dialogue
7. Correct slang for the period and region

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Finding A Balance

One of the biggest challenges in writing about Hartsend Kentucky is finding the right balance for using regional dialogue. When I wrote the first draft of the novel, I didn't worry about how the dialogue might sound to anyone else. I just tried to make it sound authentic. After I'd gotten over the finished-first-draft high, I went back and reread it. Simply put, I was astounded at the number of times 'y'all' appeared in the manuscript. That is how people in Kentucky tend to speak to one another, but I had to admit it didn't make for the best reading. I removed many of the 'y'alls' in my first edit.

Shortly after I completed the second draft, I met a non-Kentuckian who had visited there. Her comment - "Good grief! They say 'y'all' every other word!"

Then there are items like:

1. Burgoo: A spicy meat stew
2. Bless your heart: An expression that can either be used to show concern or snark, depending on context
3. Good Lord willing and the crick don't rise: Used in conversation. It means 'If no problems occur'- "I'll see you later, Good Lord willing and the crick don’t rise."
4. He was raised in a barn: He has no social skills
5. Tickled: Pleased
6. Ugly: Describing a person's attitude, not their appearance

I had to decide which of these were essential to the story and which could be left out. The ones used didn't require lengthy explanations, but readers needed enough information to get the gist. It is a delicate balance. 

Teenage characters posed a challenge, since I needed to keep these things in mind but also remember slang terms used at the time the story takes place (1970). As a refresher, I used my blog post on 1970s slang called Catch My Drift.

https://www.danalemaster.com/post/catch-my-drift

First Look

In the planning sessions for First Look: A Death In Hartsend, we discussed several ways to help the reader establish connections to the story. It seemed logical to work with character interviews, a method writers often use when they are beginning to develop a story. I have found it especially helpful to interview two characters who will interact as part of the narrative. You learn about each character, and you also learn about the relationship between them.

To give a few examples from First Look: A Death In Hartsend:

Page 5

Main character Jodie Cantrell and her best friend, Heather Lindsay, are fourteen and ready to enter high school. They talk about their dreams for college, where they plan to room together.

JC: We need one school for both of us. Sports writing program for Heather, law for me.

HL: I thought you wanted investigative journalism.

JC: That was last week.

Page 11

Buddy Hart and Edgar Denton were friends but have become estranged. Buddy is on time for the interview. He and the interviewer have to wait for Edgar.

Edgar Denton enters. He flops into a chair.

BH gives him a look of annoyance.

BH: Ed, you'd be late for your funeral.

ED: Not for yours.

Page 20

Roy Marshall and Art Kearney are longtime friends, but Roy can't resist needling Art about a careless mistake from their teen years.

AK: You're going to bring this up until my dying day, aren't you?

RM: After if things work out right.

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‍First Look: A Death In Hartsend is available from Amazon. https://a.co/d/2Q0gld