Is that so, Mister Chumley Warner?

At the heart of any good novel is dialogue. Depending on the type of novel you are writing, and the type of reader you want to connect with, this will lead to how much dialogue you place in your novel, and where you place it. For the MANfiction author, you want authentic, masculine dialogue. You don’t need a lot of similes and metaphors. You need a few one-liners, and plenty of zingers, that hit with the force of a Mack truck slamming into a brick wall. Even if you have a neutral name, there should be no question in the reader’s mind that your character is all male.

 Extended scenes of dialogue are okay, as long as they serve a higher purpose, and move the story along. And don’t forget to tell your reader where the characters are, unless you have the character talking to himself, which creates a whole other set of issues. You don’t want to skip on the details of the other character in the scene, even when that character is female.

 Placing your main character in precarious situations and being forced to talk his way out of them is okay. But it needs to be believable. Just as too many scenes with your main character punching his way out, despite the level of his adversary, might seem a bit far-fetched. In MANfiction, your character needs to bleed, even if it’s only temporary. It brings out the human aspect that much more.

 Little idiosyncrasies in speech patterns go a long way to distinguishing your main character from every other in fiction. So don’t overdo it. Spend some time listening to men talk and interact. In the end, you’ll be glad you did, and your story will improve because of it.

Robert Downs is the author of Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator. A sample chapter of his MANfiction mystery debut, as well as other interesting information about the author, or his main character, can be located at his website http://RobertDowns.net
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Falling Immortality

Falling Immortality

Casey Holden, former cop, current PI in Virginia Beach, VA, screens his clients the way he screens his women, based on whichever drop-dead gorgeous woman happens to waltz through his door first and manages to hold his attention. So when Felicity Farren, widow-at-large, struts into his office asking him to solve the two-year-old murder of her husband Artis, she intrigues him. When Casey starts digging, he learns the murder isn’t what it seems to be and he doesn’t have a big enough shovel to unearth the truth. And to top it all off, his former rival at the police department, Greg Gilman, is determined to disrupt his investigation. Casey’s challenge is to learn what really happened to Artis, and why Gilman can’t seem to remove his head from his butt. And he’ll need all of his wits to complete the task.

Friends or Bromance?

MANfiction is all about guys, so the main character will most likely be male. And when you have one, more than likely another one will be waiting in the wings, or will be central to the story, or your main character. In that case, you may have what is called a bromance. Is that such a bad thing?

In pursuit of a good story, I would argue that it’s not. Good stories can have two men working together, arguing together, and getting out of trouble together. In the end, it makes for a more realistic story. Take brothers. I fought with mine constantly, but in the end, I was a better person for being forced to fight my way out of trouble with my fists. And your main character will be as well.

So what do you need for the perfect bromance? You need the perfect complement to your main character. If your main character tends to take a step backward, you need a person that jumps in with both feet. If your main character has a mouth the size of Arkansas, you need a person that has lips sealed tighter than a man in the middle of Antarctica.

What does the bromance do? It gives your story heart, and it adds another dimension between all of the fight scenes. And your reader will certainly thank you.

Robert Downs is the author of Falling Immortality: Casey Holden, Private Investigator. A sample chapter of his MANfiction mystery debut, as well as other interesting information about the author, or his main character, can be located at his website http://RobertDowns.net
——————————–

Falling Immortality

Falling Immortality

Casey Holden, former cop, current PI in Virginia Beach, VA, screens his clients the way he screens his women, based on whichever drop-dead gorgeous woman happens to waltz through his door first and manages to hold his attention. So when Felicity Farren, widow-at-large, struts into his office asking him to solve the two-year-old murder of her husband Artis, she intrigues him. When Casey starts digging, he learns the murder isn’t what it seems to be and he doesn’t have a big enough shovel to unearth the truth. And to top it all off, his former rival at the police department, Greg Gilman, is determined to disrupt his investigation. Casey’s challenge is to learn what really happened to Artis, and why Gilman can’t seem to remove his head from his butt. And he’ll need all of his wits to complete the task.