Food and Society Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Food and Society - Coursework Example Issues falling under this heading involve such things as health and safety, food labeling and even what constitutes 'organic' food (Drake University, 2012). Food policy has many benefits, all of which are multiplied when the policies themselves are especially effective. Such systems spark changes in dietary energy and nutritional balance, in effect helping to promote child growth, while staving off all manner of diseases. Apart from this, having a good policy also helps to increase a country's income through agricultural development, which also works recursively by improving the nutritional status of people - a phenomenon most readily observable in developing countries. The need for food policy, on the other hand, should be readily obvious. Atkins and Bowler (2001) note the instrumentality of food in economic, political and socio-cultural issues, as well as its role in ensuring health and pleasure in everyday life. Lang and Heaseman (2004) add to this, talking of the significant impa ct of the emergence of global markets not only on the kind of food being consumed, but also on issues such as health, food security, social justice and overall quality of life. In fact, food policy has been globally acknowledged as an important facet of public policy (Cardwell, 2004; Conway, 1997; Coleman et al, 2004). Needless to say, while food policy is not quite as thrust into the limelight as other global issues such as terrorism, its far-reaching implications and consequences make it equally important, if not even more so. One especially important food policy issue in this day and age is malnutrition. Contrary to popular belief, however, malnutrition does not always refer to a lack of food, but may also come about as the result of eating too much of the wrong kinds of food, and too little of the right kinds. This means that while those who eat too little are most likely malnourished, it will not necessarily follow that one who eats a lot can automatically be assumed to be heal thy - on the contrary, one who falls under the latter description could very well be classified as obese. This paper, then, shall aim to connect the issue of obesity and, to a lesser extent, malnutrition to the hospitality industry, and to come up with ways in which it can be addressed. Malnutrition and Obesity: A Food Policy Issue Malnutrition in general is said to result from a poorly balanced diet, wherein one's consumption of nutrients is skewed in some way, shape or form (Sullivan and Sheffrin, 2003). A report by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2009 told of more than a billion people dying of hunger, with 17,000 children specifically dying everyday (CNN, 2009). In fact, it has been attested that malnutrition kills upwards of 9.5 million school-aged children each year. Such a high body count becomes even more understandable - and more terrifying - when one accounts for the interaction between malnutrition and certain killer diseases. Malaria, for instance, is already known t o claim many lives on its own; combined with malnutrition, however, it becomes capable of racking up a mortality rate comparable to that of the infamous Black Plague. Malnutrition usually, but not always, refers to a lack of food intake; however, as Pinstrup-Andersen and Watson (2011) point out, malnutrition can easily be about taking in way too much food, or even not taking the

Social Issues Surrounding Child Welfare Services Essay Example for Free

Social Issues Surrounding Child Welfare Services Essay Children are part of a family, while a family is a basic unit of social structure representing a single household in a community. The need to address the issues and problems surrounding these two social groups is a social concern that has led to the creation of different social welfare and development organizations and units.   For the purpose of identifying the issues and problems surrounding family and child welfare, let us not take family and child as two different social actors. As Shireman wrote in the book â€Å"Critical Issues in Child Welfare,† â€Å"There is no dichotomy between the welfare of the child and the welfare of the family. Any policy that supports family life supports the welfare of children. Child welfare is, therefore, about the welfare of children and families† (1). In the United States, despite the continuous attempt of the government and other welfare organizations to eradicate the problems related to family and child welfare programs and services, different issues still persist to question the policies created to address such problems. In order to identify this problems and issues, let us first briefly discuss the background of this problem. Family and Child Care in U.S. According to a press release from US Census Bureau News, in 2004, 61 percent or approximately 45 million of the United States’ 73 million children population, with ages 18 years and below, were living with their biological parents. Of these 45 million children, over 42.2 million lived with married foster parents, while approximately 4.1 million lived with stepfather and biological mother. Meanwhile, 19.3 million children in the U.S. lived with one parent particularly with single mother. More to this, an estimated 12.2 million children witch is 17% of children’s population lived with half sibling, stepparent, and/or stepsibling. Concerning the family and child welfare services program, the U.S. government in the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993 created the Family Preservation and Support Services which aims to encourage the State â€Å"to develop, establish, and operate a program of community-based family support services and family preservation services† (Layzer, Goodson, Bernstein, and Price ii). The family support program offers related services and programs to families in the given communities. Meanwhile, the family preservation services give assistance to families who are experiencing family problems and crisis. Moreover, this program also encompasses the children’s issues and problems. Issues Surrounding Family and Child Welfare Family and child welfare policies, being a social concern, have been subjected to criticism by different groups in the society like media, non-government organizations, cause groups, and even state legislators. Consequently issues on family and child welfare surfaced, ranging from difficulties in identifying and measuring the extent of involvement and intervention of the state in solving marital and familial issues to the availability of funds to support the different programs relating to family and child welfare. With regard to state intervention in cases of child abuse and violence, unless the family violence has been judged seriously enough for court intervention, the child could be detached from his or her parent’s home and brought to a foster home. In this situation, problems arose concerning the basis of measurement used in identifying the seriousness or weight of the abuse or violence inflicted on the child. The child’s separation from his or her family, particularly from his mother, was perceived to be critical and dangerous to the child. Thus, it is the abuser who should leave the home and face the consequence of his action. As Schechter and Edleson put it, â€Å"intervention should ensure the child’s safety, help the mother protect herself and her children, and hold the perpetrator of the violence accountable† (qtd. in Shireman 44). The issues of whether a child should stay short-term or long-term in the foster home or with their foster parent or kinship’s care is also subjected to critical issues concerning the possible effects of their detachment from their family. Most child welfare services are confronted with hard decisions of whether to satisfy the other needs (including the education) of children or just provide them with what is necessary like safety, nurture, guidance, food, and clothing. Linked to this issue are the roles of the courts, law enforcement, and child welfare services (Shireman 53). The state’s budget allocation for family and child welfare is also a subject of controversial issues. Financial analysts noted that the funds for family and child welfare programs were often misused. An estimated $20 billion is being spent yearly for different child welfare programs and services. While a huge amount is being dedicated to child welfare support programs, only little amount is allocated for preventing child neglect and abuse (Urban Institute n.p.). In addition to this, despite the budget allocation for the health component of child welfare, many foster children are not provided with an access to needed mental and health care services (Geen, Sommers, and Cohen 1). Furthermore, the low budget allocated for hiring social workers often leads to employment of staffs that are less qualified and are not professionally trained to work in such program and service (Shireman 3). Another problem is related to the issues involved in kinship care being an alternative foster care for abused and neglected children instead of placing them in child care homes. Like in child care housing, the kin care givers are also entitled to child-only payments coming from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families as fees or incentives for their hardship and services. Among the support services that kin care givers must receive are state subsidies for child care and housing and food stamps. Yet, many kin care givers fail to receive such support services (Urban Institute n.p.). In addition, the state is unable to monitor the condition of a child placed in kinship care. As a result, the child care programs designed to â€Å"reunite them with their parents or find them an adoptive home† were not implemented (Macomber, Geen and Main 1). Lastly, the shortage of foster homes due to increased number of referrals and increasing number of women employment also poses problems in child care program. Such scarcity questions the protection and safety being provided for children. In addition, foster home shortages also make it difficult to conduct thorough assessment on children whether they should stay long-term or short-term in foster home (Shireman 253). Looking at these issues and problem, we could say that without properly addressing the problem of family and child care welfare, the occurrence of family abuse and neglect, homelessness, family conflicts, and others is likely to continue. Thus, proper solution should consider prevention than cure. Works Cited Geen, Rob, Anna S. Sommers, and Mindy Cohen, M. â€Å"Medicaid Spending on Foster Children.† The Child Welfare Research Program Brief No. 14 August 2005: 1-11. 7 Apr. 2009. http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/311221_medicaid_spending.pdf. Layzer, Jean I., Barbara D. Goodson, Lawrence Bernstein, and Cristofer Price. National Evaluation of Family Support Programs Final Report: Volume A: The Meta-Analysis. Cambrigde: Abt. Associates Inc., 2001. 7 Apr. 2009. http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/fam_sup/reports/famsup/fam_sup_vol_a.pdf. Macomber, Jennifer., Ehrle, Rob Geen, and Regan Main. â€Å"Kinship Foster Care: Custody, Hardships, and Services.† Snapshots of America’s Families III No. 14 Nov. 2003: 1-2. 7 Apr. 2009. http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310893_snapshots3_no14.pdf. Shireman, Joan F. Critical Issues in Child Welfare. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Urban Institute. â€Å"Child Welfare: A Program of the Urban Institute.† Urban Institute: Issues in Focus. 2009. 7 Apr. 2009. http://www.urban.org/toolkit/issues/childwelfare.cfm. U.S. Census Bureau News.   â€Å"Majority of Children Live With Two Biological Parents.† U.S. Census Bureau. 17 Nov. 2008. 7 Apr. 2009. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/011507.html

Bilingual Education vs English Immersion Programs :: essays research papers

Bilingual Education vs English Immersion Programs Bilingual Education is defined as any school program that uses two languages. In a more theoretical sense it is any educational program whose ultimate goal is for the participants to be fully versed in all facets of both languages (i.e., able to listen, speak , read, and write in both languages). The definition of a coordinated, developmental bilingual approach has emphasized the goal of being equally fluid in both languages. Realistically, this has not been the goal for most K-12 bilingual schools in the United States. More commonly in the United States we are using the words â€Å"bilingual program† to describe a program that will provide literacy and content in the primary language, while building English fluency, to the point where all instruction will occur in English. These programs are label transitional bilingual programs as their ultimate goal is to transition all students into an English only learning arena. One of the down sides of these programs is that they are no t maintenance (development)bilingual programs which are designed to preserve and develop student’s primary language while they acquire English as a second language. Bilingual Program Models All bilingual program models use the students' home language, in addition to English, for instruction. These programs are most easily implemented in districts with a large number of students from the same language background. Students in bilingual programs are grouped according to their first language, and teachers must be proficient in both English and the students' home language. Early-exit bilingual programs are designed to help children acquire the English skills required to succeed in an English-only mainstream classroom. These programs provide some initial instruction in the students' first language, primarily for the introduction of reading, but also for clarification. Instruction in the first language is phased out rapidly, with most students mainstreamed by the end of first or sec ond grade. The choice of an early-exit model may reflect community or parental preference, or it may be the only bilingual program option available in districts with a limited number of bilingual teachers. Late-exit programs differ from early-exit programs primarily in the amount and duration that English is used for instruction as well as the length of time students are to participate in each program (Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, 1991). Students remain in late-exit programs throughout elementary school and continue to receive 40% or more of their instruction in their first language, even when they have been reclassified as fluent-English-proficient.

Plato & Medea :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In ancient Greece women were viewed as many things. They were not viewed as equivalent to males by any means. Women were portrayed usually as submissive domestic, and controlled. They played supporting or secondary roles in life to men, who tended to be demanding of their wives, but expected them to adhere to their wishes. In the tragedy Medea, written by Euripides, Medea plays the major role in this story, unlike most Greek stories with women playing only minor roles, but she also demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any other Greek women. In Euripides’ Medea the main character, Medea, Displays many traits that breakdown traditional Athenian misogyny by displaying her as proactive in taking her revenge, having cruel and savage passions, and being a very manipulative women.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Medea shows herself to be a proactive, determined woman who is ready to do what she has been planning throughout the story. In the begging of the book she starts to threaten revenge on her husband, Jason, â€Å"If I can find the means or devise to pay my husband back for what he has done to me†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (pg 9). Medea is just touching on her anger that she has built up within her for her husband. The traditional Athenian women would be mourning the loss of her husband, and may feel angry with him but would never swear to revenge him for his doings, and lastly actually do them. Women are usually portrayed in this situation being so dependent on their husbands that they will still do anything for him as so he will continue to help support the children and possibly his ex-wife.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Medea when she decides it is time for her to kill her children struggles with the idea for a minute, â€Å"†¦do not be a coward, do not think of them, and how you are their mother†¦Oh I am an unhappy women.†(Pg 40). This is how a traditional Athenian woman would think, but she would be unable to commit to her plans and kill her own children. Medea on the other hand lets her passion and hatred for Jason take over her reasonable and straight thinking self, as she kills her own children while listening to them pray to God for help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Medea’s cruel and savage passions take overtake her reasoning as the story proceeds. Medea’s views differ of that of the traditional Athenian women in that, Medea believes that â€Å"†¦women, though most helpless in doing good deeds, are of every evil the cleverest contrives.

Should Divorced Parents Remarry?

OUTLINE I. Introduction Thesis statement: divorced parents should not remarry for the following reasons. II. Body A. Divorced parents remarry which will have negative impacts on their children 1. Children will be placed in a complex situation. 2. Parents’ remarriage will give children pernicious influences on their behavior and study. B. Divorced parents will face complex relationships when they remarry 1. Stepparents will get into troubles with stepchildren. 2. Stepparents have to face unresolved issues related to the first marriage. C.Counterargument and refutation. 1. Counterargument. a. Children might have a perfect family with both mother and father which help them mature. b. New spouses in stepfamilies may have strong and harmonious marital relationship. 2. Refutation. a. Remarriage has negative effects on children. b. There are many conflicts happening in stepfamily. III. Conclusion Because of the above reasons, it is better for divorced parents not to remarry. Should d ivorced parents remarry? Remarriage of divorced parents is always a controversial issue in our modern society.Some of divorced parents choose remarriage as another chance or hope with a new family while many others decide to become a single parent. As making the decision to remarry, divorced parents have to choose a new partner who is suitable not only for them but for their children as well. Havemann and Lehtinen (1990) quoted a sociologist, ‘the difficulty which remarried family must wrestle may be tremendous’ (p. 280). Divorced parents can get into big troubles which people in first marriages will never foresee.In our opinion, divorced parent should not remarry for some rationales. Firstly, divorced parent remarriage is mainly responsible for children’s stress, depression, severe behaviors and bad schoolwork. Children not only can be the unwitting victim of a network of jealous and angry people but also suffer from conflict of loyalty. A study cited by Lutz (a s cited in Strong, Devault & Sayad, 1998) showed that many children felt stressful and worried because they were put in difficult predicaments. For example, a teenage girl felt heavily stressed.Although she lived with her mother and stepfather, she had to spend her weekends with her maternal grandparents and her paternal grandparents. She was always asked to report what happened at the other place and guard secret about it (R. H. Lauer & J. C. Lauer, 2007). Moreover, Visher and Visher (as cited in Devault et al. , 1998) see that many children in the stepfamilies who suffer the conflict of loyalties and loss of love from their parents can be in a state of great anxiety, confusion and they could behave unpredictably.In addition, according to Wallerstein and Kelly (as cited in Schwartz & Scott, 1994), remarriages of divorced parents not only cause children’s tension but also affect their study. The boys, for instance, had negative attitudes and did not concentrate on study in sc hool because their father and stepmother refused to send their biological mother money (Havemann & Letinen, 1990). Secondly, remarried parents will face stepchildren’s disputation and unresolved issues related to the first marriage.Children at any age tend to oppose and begrudge their stepparent, a newcomer in their family (Lauer & Lauer, 2007). In fact, they usually show their distrust, suspect, and resentment toward their stepparent. Even when stepmother try her best to be closed to stepchildren and satisfy their needs, the stepchildren still do not accept her as their real mother since they think that she is trying to replace their biological mother (DeVault, Sayad & Strong, 1998). By any cost, children try to â€Å"drive a stepparent out of the home† (Havemann & Lehtinen, 1990, p. 82). As a result, remarriages indeed have been devastated and disrupted by teenage stepchildren (Havemann & Lehtinen, 1990). Besides, not only stepchildren but also ex-spouses can be a co mplicated problem with remarried couples. Especially, former marital habits have a negative impact on the rapport between new spouses (Schwartz & Scott, 1994). A woman in her 30s, for example, told some troubles about her remarriage. Her husband bought her a nice nightgown, however he had a ritual of buying small size which fit his ex-wife but it did not fit her.Similarly, she also had a mistake that she called her current husband by her ex-partner’s name (Havemann & Letinen, 1990). In addition, keeping in touch with ex-spouses is inevitable. For instance, Sager and his associates reported that Mrs. Prince was annoyed because her husband has some calls continuously with his ex-wife many times a day for problems involving his biological children (Lauer & Lauer, 2007). Opposing people may claim that divorced parent remarriages may help the children to recover from emotional trauma of their parent’s divorce.Furthermore, on account of becoming older and more experienced th an in the first marriages, new spouses in stepfamilies might have strong and harmonious marital relationship. However, as stated previously, parent remarriages put the children in a problematic position and cause their emotional troubles. For stepdaughters, both Hetherington and Joshua Fischman (as cited in Schwartz & Scott, 1994) found that they experience more depression and have more negative behaviors.Besides, there are many conflicts happening in a stepfamily, which affects new spouses’ harmony like stepchildren’s disagreement and relationships with ex-spouses. Children’s behaviors have negative effects on the marital rapport, namely they act against stepparents and make a resentful atmosphere (Schwartz & Scott, 1994). Furthermore, stepsibling relationship is also one of the biggest problems in stepfamily because it can lead to stepsibling rivalry (Schwartz & Scott, 1994).As a result of such disharmony, â€Å"it is often difficult for remarried family to f eel like a real family† (Schwartz & Scott, 1994, p. 389). In conclusion, complicated problems with stepchildren and ex-spouse and negative impacts on children are two most severe issues in remarriage. Both the quality of the marital relationship and the stability in remarriage are poor. The statistics indicate that divorce people who remarry have a higher divorce rate than those in first marriages (Schwartz & Scott, 1994).Therefore, to our view, it is better for divorced parents not to remarry, which benefits both them and their children. Words: 852 * References DeVault, C. , Sayad, B. W. , & Strong, B. (1998). The marriage and family experience (7th ed. ). Belmont, Wadsworth publishing company. Havemann, E. & Lehtinen, M. (1990). Marriages and families (2nd ed. ). Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lauer, R. H. & Lauer, J. C. (2007). Marriage & family (6th ed. ). New York: Phillip A. Butcher. Schwartz, M. A. & Scott, B. M. (1994). Marriages & families. Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Need Motivation Enter a Writing Contest

Need Motivation Enter a Writing Contest The most assiduous writer comes face to face with writers block occasionally. The hand tires of embellishing the 59th promotional copy for Kirks Paving and Tiling Solutions Ltd, the soul wearies of deconstructing the 16th time Joe Hero battles sundry demons. Creative juices dry up, creative muses leave the building, inspiration imitates a certain 1985 DeLorean and vanishes in a puff of smoke, leaving behind only the dusty smoldering ashes of a burned-out freelancer or novelist. So you seek a jump-start. Because you are a writer, and write you must. Disregard everything vague youve ever heard about writing competitions. Oh, tts just a lottery . . . mumble . . . Â  mumble . . . What? Dont let the fear of scams and swindlers hold you back. Not all contests are created the same. As long as youve done your homework Here are seven solid reasons why participating in a writing contest could be the smartest move you make for your freelance career this year: 1. That winning feeling . . . is such a confidence booster! The high you get when your work is acknowledged to be better than others is a kick like no other. Drugs couldnt do it justice. Its like orgasming on words. Reluctant to approach that high-profile agent with your debut manuscript? To hell with hesitation! Drunk on your contest success, you can achieve anything. 2. The tangible benefits . . . include cold hard cash, certificates, trophies and merchandise. That fresh brew definitely smells and tastes better in your new winners coffee mug. 3. The reverberations . . . can range from a hooked agent and a baited publisher, to a public reading, a slew of interested offers of representation, an invitation to a residency, a place on a coveted workshop or course program, an interview on the local radio show, and ultimately a shiny new book on the shelf with your name on it. The effects of winning a contest can be far-reaching and long-lasting. That writers conference youve been requested to attend as a finalist? Guess who will be first in line to pitch their new book to a host of agents and publishers also in attendance? You, thats who. 4. The street cred . . . establishes your bonafides irrevocably. Call it platform or portfolio, you earn the title of serious writer. You increase readership, build relationships, gain prestige. A glowing testimonial from an impressed editor can add stars to your limelight. An eager advertiser keen to give you his dollars can raise your game to a whole new business stratosphere. More exposure equals more sales. 5. The practical advantages . . . are not far behind. Submitting exclusively to a contest at a time allows you to rest a piece, and review it with fresh eyes later and make improvements. Working under a tight deadline, to a strict word limit, can hone your self-editing skills to a fine razor-edge, allowing you to cull words and cauterize verbiage at a moments notice. Â  All that practice makes perfect. Save on hiring editing services much? 6. The feedback . . . from judges can be invaluable. You can revise a short story all the way into a novel. A well-analyzed critique from a respected and experienced doyen of the literary industry is worth its weight in entry fees. 7. The motivation . . . obligingly returns. Ideas come flocking back in droves when youre presented with a theme, prompt or topical challenge. Writers block, begone! So the next time you feel like putting up an Out of Order sign on your minds doorstep and fleeing the whole sorry scene, stop writing. Start competing instead.

Mastering the Art of Dialogue - Freewrite Store

Mastering the Art of Dialogue - Freewrite Store Some writers find that producing authentic-sounding dialogue comes naturally to them. For a much larger majority, however, mastering the art of dialogue is something that takes a lot of time, effort and experimentation. Even if you find it easy to write passages of dialogue, that doesn’t mean that you’re getting it right. There’s more to mastering dialogue than being able to fill page after page with your characters’ conversations. That’s a lesson that I learned the hard way. I wasn’t fazed by writing dialogue - in fact, I actually enjoyed it - but I didn’t get the balance right, and my writing suffered as a result. My first novels and short stories were full of long passages of, well, meaningless dialogue that didn’t really move the story along. When I went back, several years later, to rewrite those initial books, I cut one manuscript from 120,000 words to 89,000 words, just by tightening up my dialogue. In this article, part of a series on developing and strengthening your writing techniques, we’re going to be looking at 3 of the common dialogue mistakes that writers make and discovering how you can master the art of dialogue by practicing 3 (relatively) simple methods. I can’t promise to make you love writing dialogue, but I can help you to exercise your dialogue-writing muscles in a productive way. Why is it So Important to Get Your Dialogue Right? Dialogue plays a huge role in your writing, so if you’re not getting it right, then you’re less likely to be succeeding as an author. Readers are picky creatures, and they notice things like badly-written dialogue or dialogue that isn’t effective. As writers, we’re slaves to the wants, needs, and desires of our readers, so it’s not like we can just expect them to accept that we have our own way of writing dialogue. If they don’t like our dialogue, they won’t be back - and they’ll probably leave scathing reviews about how disappointed they are. That’s the worst-case scenario, of course, and there are different degrees of bad dialogue (which cause anything from mild annoyance to outright outrage in our readers). The thing you need to understand is that dialogue serves so many functions in a novel that getting it wrong can have a huge impact. In a novel dialogue: Reveals emotion Breaks up the narrative Moves the story along Reveals character traits Do You Make These 3 Dialogue-Writing Mistakes? There are more than three dialogue-writing mistakes that you can make, but these are both the most common and the most problematic. Try to be hyperaware of these mistakes, so you can catch yourself in the act of making them and avoid a lot of editing later. #1 Letting Grammar Rules Rob Your Dialogue of Authenticity When I was in school, I didn’t learn grammar rules. I was born in the United Kingdom, and at the time there was a theory that children didn’t need to be taught the rules of grammar. I’ve no idea why that was the case, but my earliest stories weren’t hindered by worries about grammar. Then I studied English Language and grammar made its bold entrance into my writing. It wasn’t all bad. Some things improved. Unfortunately, my dialogue wasn’t one of them. I’ve discovered that being a stickler for grammar rules only leads to one thing in dialogue: inauthenticity. When I was shackled by grammar rules, my dialogue became formal and unnatural. Like this: Ashley set her handbag down on the dresser. â€Å"Good evening, Martin,† she said. â€Å"Good evening, Ashley,† Martin replied. â€Å"I must inform you that Mrs. Edmundson telephoned during your absence. It was requested that you return the call at your earliest convenience.† Now, there may be instances when it’s okay to use this kind of dialogue - if it portrays character traits, for example, but as a rule of thumb, in dialogue, you don’t need to stick to grammar rules 100%. Your sentences still need to make sense, but people don’t strictly adhere to grammar rules when they talk, so neither should your dialogue. Ashley dumped her bag on the dresser. â€Å"Hey, Martin,’ she called as she walked into the kitchen. ‘Hi, honey,† Martin said, looking up from his laptop. â€Å"Your Mom called while you were out; said can you give her a call back?† Doesn’t this sound way more realistic? #2 Using Dialogue to Explain Back Story in an Obvious Way Every time I see this in a novel, I cringe. I get why authors make this mistake, and I’m probably guilty of doing it myself. Using dialogue to explain back story or offer important facts that the reader needs to know is really common, but for readers, it’s just, well, wrong.Let’s look at an example: â€Å"As you know, Matt, we’ve been researching this aspect of our family history for ten years now,† Theo began. â€Å"Yes, that’s right, Theo. We got started when we had to do a project when we were at high school, didn’t we? It’s been quite an adventure! We’ve discovered some really scandalous things back in the 1700s.† â€Å"I know!† Theo replied, chuckling. â€Å"But, now we can do the Ancestry DNA and find out even more. I sent for the kit last week and it arrived this morning.† There’s nothing natural about this exchange. The characters clearly know all these things so there’s no reason why they’d need to tell each other the details - it’s purely for the readers’ benefit, and that is quite jarring. If you really must convey some backstory in dialogue (though there are lots of other ways to explain your backstory in a creative fashion), then you need to ensure that the conversation sounds more natural. Like this: Theo grabbed the Ancestry DNA kit off the counter and spun round to face his brother. â€Å"Hey, Matt, what’s your favorite thing that we’ve found out about the family history?† he asked. Matt thought for a moment. â€Å"I dunno. There’s so much scandal to choose from,† he replied. â€Å"But I guess it’d be the baby being left on the steps of the church. I mean, that’s what got us hooked on the whole family history stuff.† â€Å"Yeah,† Theo agreed. â€Å"I can’t believe we’ve been investigating this stuff for ten years! It’s like some weird addiction.† â€Å"Better to be addicted to research than the kind of stuff that the other kids who did the same project in high school got addicted to,† Matt said, sighing. â€Å"You heard that Johnny OD’d last week?† Conveying backstory in this way makes the conversation sound more natural and authentic, and it’s not an obvious dump of back story into a dialogue exchange between characters. #3 Overusing Character Names This is one of my pet peeves when I’m reading a novel. It interrupts the flow and makes dialogue sound really unnatural. Take this for an example: â€Å"Hey Dominic, how're things going?† â€Å"Not bad, Alex. How about you?† â€Å"Oh, everything’s going fine, Dominic. Are you still working at the same place?† â€Å"Yes, Alex. I’ve been working there for ten years now. I heard you’d moved up the career ladder.† â€Å"You heard right, Dominic! Got myself a promotion last year, and I’m in the running for another one this year, too.† Think about the conversations you have on a daily basis. Do you use the other person’s name in every question you ask or response you make? I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that you don’t. It’s not natural. Once, maybe, but not in every turn as this example shows. It just sounds weird - and although I get that you might try this technique to avoid overusing dialogue tags, just don’t do it. Please. There are much better ways of structuring your dialogue without dialogue tags that don’t make you resort to writing such artificial dialogue. Make Dialogue-Writing Your Superpower: 3 Methods You Need to Deploy Becoming a dialogue-writing superstar isn’t tremendously difficult. It just requires that you change the way you approach writing scenes of dialogue. These 3 methods have helped me improve my dialogue skills - and they can help you, too. #1 Record Real-Life Conversations As a Reference We have conversations with people all the time, but unless you’ve got some kind of memory superpower, it’s unlikely that you remember exactly how the conversations pan out. We remember the gist of conversations, and maybe certain phrases, but conversation is so common that it’s not something we’re likely to remember verbatim. It can be really helpful to have recordings of real-life conversations that you can refer to when you’re writing. This can help make your dialogue sound natural, and can also help with working with dialogue styles and how the way people speak can convey aspects of their character. A word of warning, though. Never, ever record a conversation with someone without asking their permission first. Tell them why you’re recording, and if they’ve got reservations, just don’t record the conversation. Recording your interactions with people without their knowledge can get you into trouble, and it’s really not worth the risk. It’s likely that you’ll have plenty of people who won’t have issues with you recording - it’s just important to be transparent about it. #2 Don’t Strive to Be 100% Realistic I started out trying to make my dialogue realistic, and while I pretty much succeeded in doing that, it wasn’t the best way to approach dialogue. You see, realistic dialogue is full of†¦ well, fluff. We have conversations with people that go off on tangents, are packed with small talk and sentences that kind of trail off. Humans interrupt each other, don’t always use the most concise means of explaining themselves, and often stammer or spend time searching for the right word. If you put all of that in your novel, you’ll absolutely be creating 100% realistic dialogue, but you’ll leave your readers confused, frustrated, or simply running for the hills and vowing never to read anything you write ever again. Okay, that last one is a bit over-dramatic, but it’s how I feel when I read books with â€Å"realistic† dialogue (even though I’m guilty of doing it myself!). Of course, while your dialogue shouldn’t be 100% realistic, you need to get the right amount of realism into your dialogue. It’s a delicate balancing act between too much realism and too little. You still need to incorporate a certain amount of aspects of real human speech, or your dialogue won’t sound natural. If that sounds like trying to navigate a minefield while blindfolded, here are some tips to help you get the balance right in your dialogue: Read your dialogue aloud as you write it. This enables you to notice how the exchanges sound, and you’ll notice if it sounds stilted, contrived or unnatural in any way. You can identify passages of dialogue that don’t flow well, and you may also find yourself tripping over words - which is a big indicator that your dialogue is not as natural as you’d like it to be (or, maybe, if it’s a thick dialect, too realistic). Give your characters different speech patterns - and don’t be afraid to steal these from people you know. Having your characters speak in a certain way - using certain words, dialect aspects and so on - that you’re familiar with makes it easier to create the right amount of realism. Have your characters interrupt each other or trail off in what they’re saying.Be cautious with this one, and use it sparingly. It creates realism, but if you use it too much, you’re going to start annoying your readers. Be careful with accents and dialects. While accents and dialects play a big part in creating distinctive speech patterns for your characters, don’t go overboard with this. It’s okay to have your characters to use some dialect words, but if you have a character with a thick accent, and you convey this in dialogue, it can get†¦ messy. Establish that your character has an accent or dialect, but don’t let this make your dialogue passages confusing or unreadable. #3 Working With Dialogue Tags and Action Beats Dialogue tags (he said, she said and so on) can become intrusive in passages of dialogue if they’re not used in the right way, but they’re also necessary to help readers know who’s saying what. Beginners to the craft of writing often fall into the trap of trying to avoid using ‘said’ all the time, by coming up with all kinds of creative ways of using dialogue tags. There’s nothing wrong with ‘said’, and, in fact, it’s one of the least intrusive of all dialogue tags. You can use other dialogue tags, of course, and it’s a good idea to use other verbs to attribute dialogue occasionally. Readers are so familiar with the word ‘said’ that actually they don’t really pay it much attention - like words such as ‘the’ and ‘and’. One thing that you should avoid when you’re writing dialogue is using adverb dialogue tags. Adverb dialogue tags are those such as ‘she said angrily’, or ‘he muttered grumpily’. Adverb tags are all too common in fiction - and while readers don’t particularly hate them, they’re actually a sign of a lazy writer. What I mean is that using a tag like ‘she said angrily’ is a cheat - you’re telling your readers that your character is angry without taking the effort to use your character’s words to show that they’re angry. You can show it in their actions, too. Just don’t cheat by resorting to the adverb tag. That brings us onto action beats. Action beats are the parts in your sections of dialogue where you describe things like facial expressions, gestures and (sparingly) your characters’ thoughts. It’s good practice to use action beats in your dialogue to avoid having monotonous ‘he said/she said’ tags. Let’s look at an example: Without action beats: â€Å"The hospital called me today,† Becca said. â€Å"What did they say?† Michael said. â€Å"The results came back,† Becca said. â€Å"My counts are back to normal!† â€Å"That’s wonderful news!† Michael said. With action beats: Becca took a deep breath and turned to face her husband. â€Å"The hospital called.† â€Å"And?† Michael froze with a glass of water halfway to his lips. â€Å"The results are in - and my counts are back to normal!† â€Å"Oh, thank God!† Michael set the glass down on the counter and threw his arms around his wife. Action beats give much more impact to your passages of dialogue and can be used to convey all kinds of emotions, responses and so on. Try it out on some existing passages of dialogue and see for yourself what a difference it makes. Becoming a Master of the Art of Dialogue You won’t always get your dialogue right. Even when you’re a master of dialogue-writing, you’re still going to slip up sometimes. Even the biggest names in the fiction-writing world do that sometimes. You can, however, continue to exercise your dialogue-writing muscles so that you don’t have to think so hard about structuring and constructing your dialogue as you’re writing. Over time, it will become more natural to write authentic and effective dialogue. You’ll make fewer mistakes, use dialogue tags in the right way, and your readers will appreciate the effort that you’ve put into honing your craft as a writer. What are you waiting for? Start practicing the art of writing kick-ass dialogue! Mastering the Art of Dialogue - Freewrite Store Some writers find that producing authentic-sounding dialogue comes naturally to them. For a much larger majority, however, mastering the art of dialogue is something that takes a lot of time, effort and experimentation. Even if you find it easy to write passages of dialogue, that doesn’t mean that you’re getting it right. There’s more to mastering dialogue than being able to fill page after page with your characters’ conversations. That’s a lesson that I learned the hard way. I wasn’t fazed by writing dialogue - in fact, I actually enjoyed it - but I didn’t get the balance right, and my writing suffered as a result. My first novels and short stories were full of long passages of, well, meaningless dialogue that didn’t really move the story along. When I went back, several years later, to rewrite those initial books, I cut one manuscript from 120,000 words to 89,000 words, just by tightening up my dialogue. In this article, part of a series on developing and strengthening your writing techniques, we’re going to be looking at 3 of the common dialogue mistakes that writers make and discovering how you can master the art of dialogue by practicing 3 (relatively) simple methods. I can’t promise to make you love writing dialogue, but I can help you to exercise your dialogue-writing muscles in a productive way. Why is it So Important to Get Your Dialogue Right? Dialogue plays a huge role in your writing, so if you’re not getting it right, then you’re less likely to be succeeding as an author. Readers are picky creatures, and they notice things like badly-written dialogue or dialogue that isn’t effective. As writers, we’re slaves to the wants, needs, and desires of our readers, so it’s not like we can just expect them to accept that we have our own way of writing dialogue. If they don’t like our dialogue, they won’t be back - and they’ll probably leave scathing reviews about how disappointed they are. That’s the worst-case scenario, of course, and there are different degrees of bad dialogue (which cause anything from mild annoyance to outright outrage in our readers). The thing you need to understand is that dialogue serves so many functions in a novel that getting it wrong can have a huge impact. In a novel dialogue: Reveals emotion Breaks up the narrative Moves the story along Reveals character traits Do You Make These 3 Dialogue-Writing Mistakes? There are more than three dialogue-writing mistakes that you can make, but these are both the most common and the most problematic. Try to be hyperaware of these mistakes, so you can catch yourself in the act of making them and avoid a lot of editing later. #1 Letting Grammar Rules Rob Your Dialogue of Authenticity When I was in school, I didn’t learn grammar rules. I was born in the United Kingdom, and at the time there was a theory that children didn’t need to be taught the rules of grammar. I’ve no idea why that was the case, but my earliest stories weren’t hindered by worries about grammar. Then I studied English Language and grammar made its bold entrance into my writing. It wasn’t all bad. Some things improved. Unfortunately, my dialogue wasn’t one of them. I’ve discovered that being a stickler for grammar rules only leads to one thing in dialogue: inauthenticity. When I was shackled by grammar rules, my dialogue became formal and unnatural. Like this: Ashley set her handbag down on the dresser. â€Å"Good evening, Martin,† she said. â€Å"Good evening, Ashley,† Martin replied. â€Å"I must inform you that Mrs. Edmundson telephoned during your absence. It was requested that you return the call at your earliest convenience.† Now, there may be instances when it’s okay to use this kind of dialogue - if it portrays character traits, for example, but as a rule of thumb, in dialogue, you don’t need to stick to grammar rules 100%. Your sentences still need to make sense, but people don’t strictly adhere to grammar rules when they talk, so neither should your dialogue. Ashley dumped her bag on the dresser. â€Å"Hey, Martin,’ she called as she walked into the kitchen. ‘Hi, honey,† Martin said, looking up from his laptop. â€Å"Your Mom called while you were out; said can you give her a call back?† Doesn’t this sound way more realistic? #2 Using Dialogue to Explain Back Story in an Obvious Way Every time I see this in a novel, I cringe. I get why authors make this mistake, and I’m probably guilty of doing it myself. Using dialogue to explain back story or offer important facts that the reader needs to know is really common, but for readers, it’s just, well, wrong.Let’s look at an example: â€Å"As you know, Matt, we’ve been researching this aspect of our family history for ten years now,† Theo began. â€Å"Yes, that’s right, Theo. We got started when we had to do a project when we were at high school, didn’t we? It’s been quite an adventure! We’ve discovered some really scandalous things back in the 1700s.† â€Å"I know!† Theo replied, chuckling. â€Å"But, now we can do the Ancestry DNA and find out even more. I sent for the kit last week and it arrived this morning.† There’s nothing natural about this exchange. The characters clearly know all these things so there’s no reason why they’d need to tell each other the details - it’s purely for the readers’ benefit, and that is quite jarring. If you really must convey some backstory in dialogue (though there are lots of other ways to explain your backstory in a creative fashion), then you need to ensure that the conversation sounds more natural. Like this: Theo grabbed the Ancestry DNA kit off the counter and spun round to face his brother. â€Å"Hey, Matt, what’s your favorite thing that we’ve found out about the family history?† he asked. Matt thought for a moment. â€Å"I dunno. There’s so much scandal to choose from,† he replied. â€Å"But I guess it’d be the baby being left on the steps of the church. I mean, that’s what got us hooked on the whole family history stuff.† â€Å"Yeah,† Theo agreed. â€Å"I can’t believe we’ve been investigating this stuff for ten years! It’s like some weird addiction.† â€Å"Better to be addicted to research than the kind of stuff that the other kids who did the same project in high school got addicted to,† Matt said, sighing. â€Å"You heard that Johnny OD’d last week?† Conveying backstory in this way makes the conversation sound more natural and authentic, and it’s not an obvious dump of back story into a dialogue exchange between characters. #3 Overusing Character Names This is one of my pet peeves when I’m reading a novel. It interrupts the flow and makes dialogue sound really unnatural. Take this for an example: â€Å"Hey Dominic, how're things going?† â€Å"Not bad, Alex. How about you?† â€Å"Oh, everything’s going fine, Dominic. Are you still working at the same place?† â€Å"Yes, Alex. I’ve been working there for ten years now. I heard you’d moved up the career ladder.† â€Å"You heard right, Dominic! Got myself a promotion last year, and I’m in the running for another one this year, too.† Think about the conversations you have on a daily basis. Do you use the other person’s name in every question you ask or response you make? I’m going to take a wild guess and assume that you don’t. It’s not natural. Once, maybe, but not in every turn as this example shows. It just sounds weird - and although I get that you might try this technique to avoid overusing dialogue tags, just don’t do it. Please. There are much better ways of structuring your dialogue without dialogue tags that don’t make you resort to writing such artificial dialogue. Make Dialogue-Writing Your Superpower: 3 Methods You Need to Deploy Becoming a dialogue-writing superstar isn’t tremendously difficult. It just requires that you change the way you approach writing scenes of dialogue. These 3 methods have helped me improve my dialogue skills - and they can help you, too. #1 Record Real-Life Conversations As a Reference We have conversations with people all the time, but unless you’ve got some kind of memory superpower, it’s unlikely that you remember exactly how the conversations pan out. We remember the gist of conversations, and maybe certain phrases, but conversation is so common that it’s not something we’re likely to remember verbatim. It can be really helpful to have recordings of real-life conversations that you can refer to when you’re writing. This can help make your dialogue sound natural, and can also help with working with dialogue styles and how the way people speak can convey aspects of their character. A word of warning, though. Never, ever record a conversation with someone without asking their permission first. Tell them why you’re recording, and if they’ve got reservations, just don’t record the conversation. Recording your interactions with people without their knowledge can get you into trouble, and it’s really not worth the risk. It’s likely that you’ll have plenty of people who won’t have issues with you recording - it’s just important to be transparent about it. #2 Don’t Strive to Be 100% Realistic I started out trying to make my dialogue realistic, and while I pretty much succeeded in doing that, it wasn’t the best way to approach dialogue. You see, realistic dialogue is full of†¦ well, fluff. We have conversations with people that go off on tangents, are packed with small talk and sentences that kind of trail off. Humans interrupt each other, don’t always use the most concise means of explaining themselves, and often stammer or spend time searching for the right word. If you put all of that in your novel, you’ll absolutely be creating 100% realistic dialogue, but you’ll leave your readers confused, frustrated, or simply running for the hills and vowing never to read anything you write ever again. Okay, that last one is a bit over-dramatic, but it’s how I feel when I read books with â€Å"realistic† dialogue (even though I’m guilty of doing it myself!). Of course, while your dialogue shouldn’t be 100% realistic, you need to get the right amount of realism into your dialogue. It’s a delicate balancing act between too much realism and too little. You still need to incorporate a certain amount of aspects of real human speech, or your dialogue won’t sound natural. If that sounds like trying to navigate a minefield while blindfolded, here are some tips to help you get the balance right in your dialogue: Read your dialogue aloud as you write it. This enables you to notice how the exchanges sound, and you’ll notice if it sounds stilted, contrived or unnatural in any way. You can identify passages of dialogue that don’t flow well, and you may also find yourself tripping over words - which is a big indicator that your dialogue is not as natural as you’d like it to be (or, maybe, if it’s a thick dialect, too realistic). Give your characters different speech patterns - and don’t be afraid to steal these from people you know. Having your characters speak in a certain way - using certain words, dialect aspects and so on - that you’re familiar with makes it easier to create the right amount of realism. Have your characters interrupt each other or trail off in what they’re saying.Be cautious with this one, and use it sparingly. It creates realism, but if you use it too much, you’re going to start annoying your readers. Be careful with accents and dialects. While accents and dialects play a big part in creating distinctive speech patterns for your characters, don’t go overboard with this. It’s okay to have your characters to use some dialect words, but if you have a character with a thick accent, and you convey this in dialogue, it can get†¦ messy. Establish that your character has an accent or dialect, but don’t let this make your dialogue passages confusing or unreadable. #3 Working With Dialogue Tags and Action Beats Dialogue tags (he said, she said and so on) can become intrusive in passages of dialogue if they’re not used in the right way, but they’re also necessary to help readers know who’s saying what. Beginners to the craft of writing often fall into the trap of trying to avoid using ‘said’ all the time, by coming up with all kinds of creative ways of using dialogue tags. There’s nothing wrong with ‘said’, and, in fact, it’s one of the least intrusive of all dialogue tags. You can use other dialogue tags, of course, and it’s a good idea to use other verbs to attribute dialogue occasionally. Readers are so familiar with the word ‘said’ that actually they don’t really pay it much attention - like words such as ‘the’ and ‘and’. One thing that you should avoid when you’re writing dialogue is using adverb dialogue tags. Adverb dialogue tags are those such as ‘she said angrily’, or ‘he muttered grumpily’. Adverb tags are all too common in fiction - and while readers don’t particularly hate them, they’re actually a sign of a lazy writer. What I mean is that using a tag like ‘she said angrily’ is a cheat - you’re telling your readers that your character is angry without taking the effort to use your character’s words to show that they’re angry. You can show it in their actions, too. Just don’t cheat by resorting to the adverb tag. That brings us onto action beats. Action beats are the parts in your sections of dialogue where you describe things like facial expressions, gestures and (sparingly) your characters’ thoughts. It’s good practice to use action beats in your dialogue to avoid having monotonous ‘he said/she said’ tags. Let’s look at an example: Without action beats: â€Å"The hospital called me today,† Becca said. â€Å"What did they say?† Michael said. â€Å"The results came back,† Becca said. â€Å"My counts are back to normal!† â€Å"That’s wonderful news!† Michael said. With action beats: Becca took a deep breath and turned to face her husband. â€Å"The hospital called.† â€Å"And?† Michael froze with a glass of water halfway to his lips. â€Å"The results are in - and my counts are back to normal!† â€Å"Oh, thank God!† Michael set the glass down on the counter and threw his arms around his wife. Action beats give much more impact to your passages of dialogue and can be used to convey all kinds of emotions, responses and so on. Try it out on some existing passages of dialogue and see for yourself what a difference it makes. Becoming a Master of the Art of Dialogue You won’t always get your dialogue right. Even when you’re a master of dialogue-writing, you’re still going to slip up sometimes. Even the biggest names in the fiction-writing world do that sometimes. You can, however, continue to exercise your dialogue-writing muscles so that you don’t have to think so hard about structuring and constructing your dialogue as you’re writing. Over time, it will become more natural to write authentic and effective dialogue. You’ll make fewer mistakes, use dialogue tags in the right way, and your readers will appreciate the effort that you’ve put into honing your craft as a writer. What are you waiting for? Start practicing the art of writing kick-ass dialogue!