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Got told my dialogue sounded like a Wikipedia entry

My writing group's moderator told me none of my characters sounded like real people. She pointed out a line where my detective said 'I shall proceed to the crime scene' and asked if anyone talks like that. So I spent a weekend reading transcripts from actual police interviews in Chicago. Now I force myself to read every line of dialogue out loud before I keep it. Has anyone else had to totally redo how they write conversations?
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3 Comments
patricia558
Reading it out loud is a solid reality check, for real.
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nora110
nora11025d ago
Typing it out first helps me catch the worst of it before I even open my mouth. Catching it on paper is way less painful than saying it out loud.
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diana_west27
Hold up, you actually spent a whole weekend reading police transcripts?
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