Dear Tongue-Tied…
Try something that helps John Green’s dialogue and first person narration feel casual and thus “real”: He replaces the articles a, an, and the with the demonstrative adjectives this and these. From The Fault in Our Stars: “There was this tunnel that these two kids kept crawling through over and over…” When I sub in the usual articles, the sentence gets stiffer and thus feels less like a real person talking: “There was a tunnel that two kids kept crawling through over and over…” I prefer the subtlety of this technique to writing you know or like into dialogue. Give that a whirl and see how it works for you. Mix it in with other techniques, of course, as variety helps give writing a natural flow.
Happy writing!
The Editor
I can see how certain characters would say either. The thing I’ve always believed about dialogue is that it’s specific to characters. And “real” people come in multitudinous shapes and sizes.
I see what you mean, and I’m pleased to note that I have done this subconsciously. 🙂
That is BRILLIANT! I’ve never heard of that before and can’t believe how great it worked in your example. Thanks so much! 🙂