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Writer’s Read

Wynelda Shelton

New Cardiff
by Charles Webb
Washington Square Press 2001
ISBN 0-7434-4416-7
$14.00 U.S.

I recently picked up a book at the library solely because of its cover. An apparently naked man is holding a huge maple leaf (large enough to cover him from shoulder to knee). Across the top of the book is a red banner that declares "Bestselling Author of THE GRADUATE" [sic]. I knew of "The Graduate." It was a movie, right? It was also a play? But I had never heard of Charles Webb, let alone known that he had written the book that the movie was based on.

I settled into this book so firmly that I was halfway through it before I realized that it was almost completely dialogue. I didn’t even notice it on my own. I put down the book to answer the phone, and when I picked it back up I noticed the reviews inside the front cover. "Charming... It is almost all dialogue, dialogue of such naturalistic pithiness that one seems to hear it in the mind’s ear… uncloyingly romantic and witty" was quoted from The Spectator. I agreed whole-heartedly with the review. The dialogue is so natural that reading "New Cardiff" feels almost like an act of eavesdropping. What I want to know is: how’d he do that?

The credits list seven other novels or books to Charles Webb’s name. That is a lot of writing, even without adding in false starts and items that never sold. Was he able to accomplish this feat through practice? By the tenacity of writing words over and over until writing became second nature?

Or is it pure talent? Can you really teach yourself to write dialogue naturally enough to carry through a whole novel? Maybe he has an innate sense for dialogue. Perhaps he has talent oozing through his fingertips. Or maybe his talent gave him the confidence to pull off something so audacious.

More likely it is a combination of the above two things with a hefty dose of good editing skills. The good news is that being active at Writers' Village University helps us to hone our own writing combinations. Practice comes through our classes, our interaction in the Study Groups. Editing skills come through both giving and receiving feedback. Confidence is shored up every time we complete an assignment or post to a Study Group.

Reading a book like "New Cardiff" can be rewarding. Engrossing enough to mask one of the writing techniques that define the book, it is inspiring. That’s what I want to do. Not that I want to write a novel that is almost all dialogue, like Webb. But like Webb, I want to reel the readers in and keep them hooked.

To do that, I’ll have to have faith in myself. And of course, practice, practice, practice!

THE END