Roger Ebert, about his mother in Life Itself
Just as actors find it difficult to play 'normal' characters, writers too find it hard to incorporate everyday speech into their writings. It's easy to write for a loopy, flamboyant character; just tap into that secreted zaniness in your own mind. But an ordinary person? How the hell do we do that?
When we talk, it's unconscious. A lot of the time, we say what we feel like with the tiniest of filters, depending on who we're conversing with. There's no careful calculation behind our talking.
I guess that's why writing dialogue for an ordinary person is so hard. Just as it is with actual people, it's the subtle nuances in what a person says or does that gives them that extra dimension, and it's the job of the writer to 'push the character through the door'.
Sometimes, as I watch television and films, I feel that ordinary dialogue is being lost, particularly so in moments of great distress. Too often I hear: 'I loved you', 'Please don't leave me', etc, and too often do I feel very little emotion. There's nothing wrong with phrases like that, of course (people really do say that), but it's their overuse that's starting to wear thin.
Which is perhaps why I was so moved by these words. There is something simple yet heartbreaking in what she says. It's genuine, it's matter-of-fact, and most importantly, it's human. In six words, Roger's mother has done something that too many films have failed to do: she has moved me.
Sometimes, when we write, we get caught up in our imagination. We create worlds filled with life and characters brimming with personality. But in that, we begin to write unrealistically where perhaps a little realism could be appreciated. Don't stress and fret over how ordinary people would behave, go out and talk to people. Listen to what they say. Quote the important stuff. Write about it. There's nothing more evocative than a human voice.
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