My personal preference in writing is to hear conversation which sounds real, even if that's not the way that most people actually speak. It also matters to speak without barriers, focusing your character regardless of who they might be (skin color as opposed to yours).

In his essay "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing" he says: "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." He also hints: "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."

Quentin Taratino defends his decision to use racial epithets:
As a writer, I demand the right to write any character in the world that I want to write. I demand the right to be them, I demand the right to think them and I demand the right to tell the truth as I see they are, alright. And to say that I can't do that because I'm white, but the Hughes brothers can do that because they're black, that is racist. That is the heart of racism, alright. And I do not accept that ... That is how a segment of the black community that lives in Compton, lives in Inglewood, where Jackie Brown takes place, that lives in Carson, that is how they talk. I'm telling the truth. It would not be questioned if I was black, and I resent the question because I'm white. I have the right to tell the truth. I do not have the right to lie. (CharlieRose.com. Friday, December 26, 1997. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/5166. Retrieved January 30, 2011)


David Mamet is exception is in this regard. Here are two characters talking in Glengarry, Glen Ross. Notice the pauses which can be made in manuscript form by doing ("...") after a word or sentence.

Moss No. What do you mean? Have I talked to him about this [Pause]
Aaronow Yes. I mean are you actually talking about this, or are we just...
Moss No, we're just...
Aaronow We're just "talking" about it.
Moss We're just speaking about it. [Pause] As an idea.
Aaronow As an idea.
Moss Yes.
Aaronow We're not actually talking about it.
Moss No.
Aaronow Talking about it as a...
Moss No.
Aaronow As a robbery.
Moss As a "robbery"? No.

This has been reposted from www.troykirby.com where the author writers about what is on his mind, whether that be characters, plot, crime fiction or movies.

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