Yo-derp: a word on Yoda's dialogue

Since the Thanksgiving holiday is usually an occassion for cable TV to run a Star Wars marathon (usually on SpikeTV), I thought it appropriate to comment from a writing perspective. I love Yoda, but some of his dialogue is downright painful:

"Around the survivors, a perimeter create!"

It may possibly be the worst Yoda line in all the films. Fittingly, it comes from one of the prequels, Attack of the Clones, the lowly middle film between kid-Vader podracer and the one where Anakin gets all burnt up.

Yoda has his cute way of speaking that cleverly jumbles common wording:

"Always in motion is the future."
"Wars not make one great."
"Save the lives of the Jedi, we must."

But a lot of times, he says things straight up. The balance is nice. If he did Yoda-speak all the time it would be annoying, and we already have to deal with the fact he's a puppet.

Thinking over Yoda's dialogue makes me analyze my own writing. If I'm forcing a certain dialect, it has to be relevant enough to the character or the situation to be used. Too much of a weird speaking pattern pulls a reader out of the story. Yoda-speak is effective to establish his character, but it's annoying if he only talks that way.

Are there any examples you have of bad dialogue that have helped you craft your own writing?

Or if you just want to comment about Star Wars, that's cool, too.

Anderson's Books YA Author Panel November 21, 2011

I thought I could resist another multi-author panel at Anderson's Books (Naperville, IL) but I'm weak, I admit. A fellow writer and YA fan on twitter reminded me of the event, and well, why not?

Here's the panel list (all writers of Young Adult and children's books):

*realized A.S. King and Jackie Kessler's names are switched in this promo photo

Since there were so many authors, the event was emceed by David Levithan, who wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green, and if that doesn't move you, he also co-wrote Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist which was made into a movie with Michael Cera & Kat Dennings (and is arguably one of the best recent teen movies) and if that still doesn't give you context, he is also an editor for The Hunger Games series.

Whoa.

Anyway, David was the perfect host and gave about 5 or 10 minutes to each author to talk about their book and a little bit about writing. I didn't initially recognize Heather Brewer's name, but I sure recognized her book series:

These are everywhere! They're like a mainstay in any section of YA books at Target and big box retailers and I always see them endcapped at bookstores.

Jay Asher (of Thirteen Reasons Why) and Carolyn Mackler talked up the intriguing premise of their book The Future of Us about two teens who log onto AOL in 1996 and end up seeing their Facebook profiles 15 years in the future. Talk about crossover potential! I can see YA fans my age and younger readers liking this concept. I know I'm all over it. Here's an article from EW.com about the book.

Jackie Kessler discussed her series about the four horsemen of the apocolypse with a twist; an anorexic girl is convinced to play the role of Hunger in the book by the same name. She said she wanted to explore the theme beyond her original inspiration, which was a side story from an older X-Men series comic with a similar premise, but there was no depth to her backstory.

And then there's Stephanie Perkins, who I've heard so much praise for with Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door. She has such a lively personality, it makes me want to read her books even more.

Jeff Hirsch and Coe Booth I had seen in September at Anderson's YA Lit conference, and A.S. King and C.J. Hill talked about their books as well, which all had very different concepts and styles. It's cool to see the variety of books out there now. It's certainly not all paranormal romance - I don't think a single book discussed at this event fell into that category.

Have you read any books by these authors? Who is your favorite?

TV review links: Once Upon a Time, Grimm

A few weeks ago I blogged about the premiere of Once Upon a Time which takes fairy tale characters and tosses them into our world under a curse (hey, just what are you saying here, TV people?!)

Since some of you who read my blog are interested in the writing I do elsewhere on the internet, I wanted to share the link for the slackerheroes.com article I wrote. Here it is if you want to check it out:

Once Upon a Time: The Literary and the Literal

Another writer did a piece on Grimm, the other fairy-tales-in-real-life show to premiere this fall. I actually liked Grimm more than I expected to, it has an easier premise to buy than Once Upon a Time does, in my opinion. Read more here:

Grimm Picks Up

If you're a fan of either show, go ahead and leave a comment on the slackerheroes site. Thanks everyone!