tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post4813527905418898321..comments2024-03-22T01:00:38.320-04:00Comments on I.N.K.: To Quote or Not to Quote--Invented Dialogue!Linda Salzmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17217322360480267856noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post-31326749878059239582010-08-31T08:39:02.130-04:002010-08-31T08:39:02.130-04:00I agree with those who say invented dialogue shoul...I agree with those who say invented dialogue should not appear in nonfiction. However, even the alternatives are not technically historically accurate. <br /><br />In "Boys of Steel," I used dialogue (upon the suggestion of an editor, actually, but not the one who ended up buying it), and it WAS all taken from interviews. In other words, my characters did "say" those things. However, they did NOT say them at the exact historical moment I placed them in the book. They said them in retrospect and I slotted them in my narrative "retroactively." <br /><br />This is better than fabricated, in my opinion, but it does not have true historical integrity. In any event, I noted in the back matter the source of this dialogue, and more than a couple reviewers and observers commended that. (I was convinced to do this even more strongly when I found at least eight reviews of other nonfiction in which the lack of attribution was faulted. I should blog about that.)Marc Tyler Noblemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10732005290440645718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post-42173737420880770282010-07-15T17:23:34.113-04:002010-07-15T17:23:34.113-04:00As a nonfiction writer, I strive for accuracy and ...As a nonfiction writer, I strive for accuracy and nothing less. Sometimes there is a need to modify a quote if the grammar is incorrect or the quote is too wordy, but I don't ever change the meaning of the quote. Currently, I have to fix a quote by an Austrian fellow because it doesn't make sense due to language issues. <br /><br />I think it's perfectly fine to use quotes from the writing of historical figures except I've used "he wrote" versus "he said," but either works.<br /><br />Creating quotes is not anything I would ever do unless I was writing fiction.Linda Zajachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11930130216892471502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post-21774400004918443462010-07-15T14:53:59.890-04:002010-07-15T14:53:59.890-04:00Vicki, I think your example does not fall under my...Vicki, I think your example does not fall under my pet peeve category precisely because you tell the reader what it is. Does that make sense?Tanya Lee Stonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10929653271162646498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post-10004466557534482392010-07-15T14:53:10.764-04:002010-07-15T14:53:10.764-04:00Peni, I absolutely agree that intention and clarit...Peni, I absolutely agree that intention and clarity is paramount here, so the "Votaire's attitude may be summed up as" is key to how the reader will take it. Also, I think when you are giving an oral history walking tour in San Antonio (had one of the best meals of my life there, btw!), that is a different venue altogether. No one is expecting you to document or footnote the dialogue you are using, and they are also unable to refer to it later--it does not become a part of the written record. I think that matters.Tanya Lee Stonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10929653271162646498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post-70931710814813791412010-07-15T11:01:42.478-04:002010-07-15T11:01:42.478-04:00In the biographies I've written, I never inven...In the biographies I've written, I never invented dialog but when my source material had a he said/she said quote I used it as if the characters were talking. The notes at the back cited the references.<br /><br />Is this the same thing as invented dialog? Is it inadmissible hearsay in a court of law? Does it fall into your definition of invented dialog?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07214356318088069618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1337206901491734394.post-15837619618919169472010-07-15T08:20:33.839-04:002010-07-15T08:20:33.839-04:00I think the important thing here is: "How cl...I think the important thing here is: "How clear is it that the dialog is invented?"<br /><br />When I'm showing people around San Antonio and telling them the dramatic stories that crop up every five feet or so, I'm constantly using invented dialog to convey the essence of the situation before we reach the next landmark. "So Santa Anna says: 'What part of no quarter did you not understand?" And the doctor says: "But sir, this is <i>Davy Crockett!</i> Think of the PR!" <br /><br />Nobody thinks that's real dialog. Similarly, most people reading Marguerite Henry's novelized biographies of horses realizes what the dialog is for, and learning to tell this sort of work from a real biography is part of the genre learning process.<br /><br />But when I'm reading a popular work of non-fiction and I can't tell where something in quotation marks comes from, I get antsy. If it's inside quotes, it needs to have either a source or a disclaimer, such as: "Voltaire's attitude may be summed up as 'I disagree with everything you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.'" That particular quote is something Voltaire never said himself, but it got into the collective consciousness that he did because his first biographer did the same thing I do and folks didn't catch on. <br /><br />And that is just as problematic in adult non-fiction as it is in non-fiction for kids.Peni R. Griffinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01781761011389542245noreply@blogger.com