The Ha-ha: Read this book! Especially if you're a writer who wants to learn how to write dialogue

The Ha-Ha just came out in paperback and if you haven't read it, now's the time.

Yeah, I know, I know, this is a blog about romance novels; but if I read romance novels when I write them, well, I get all out-of-step. Like trying to Samba while the Tango music is playing, you know?

Here's why you MUST read The Ha Ha by Dave King (note it's not by David King or D.F. King or anything pretentious like that. Just Dave. Awesome.): the main character is mute. He can't speak.

And if there's one thing that there's WAY too much of in fiction today (especially romance novels!) it's dialogue. I have a good friend who says the best way to write dialogue is to write it, then cross out 75%. I think 90% might be a better bet for most writers. In my final edits, I often cross out at least a good half of utterances, and every slash makes the scene better.

But I digress. The main character can't speak and this makes the book so unusual, so magical, so wonderful, so unexpected.

Okay, maybe the book gets a bit sappy in the middle, as everything goes the way it should. But the ending had tears streaming down my face. And when I finished, I thought, damn, I ought to get off my duff and go to the gym. But how will I explain to my Body Pump class where I've been since I can't speak...

Oh, wait, it's the character in the book who can't speak.

I had become him.

Beautiful.

Read this book!