Dialogue w/David

First, you may want to look at David’s fantastic PowerPoint presentation, which contains tons of useful info, tips, and tricks: https://youtu.be/h3iO0fLfTbs.

Writing Warm-Up

  • What was the last long conversation you had?

  • Can you remember any of exact sentences you spoke?

  • Can you remember any of the exact sentences that were spoken to you?

  • Write those down. Try for at least three. Don’t worry if you’re not getting them word for word.

  • Why do you think these sentences are memorable to you?

What Is a Character, Really?

  • Characters need agendas (wants)

  • Characters are revealed by what they say and what others say about them (they are not what the writer says about them)

  • But characters who talk about themselves are sometimes lying.

Characters Agendas

  • For our first exercise, let’s consider this idea that characters who talk about themselves are sometimes not telling the truth.

  • What are some situations where a person would speak about themselves but not be entirely truthful

  • (Write down as many as you can - 5 mins)

  • What reason would someone have to talk about themselves and embellish facts?

  • What purpose would the tactic of lying serve?

  • Note that this doesn’t need to be harmful. i.e. are there justified instances of characters withholding truth?

Prompt #1: Chose one of the scenarios you’ve just come up with and using dialogue only, have your character tell an untruthful story about themselves which serves their agenda.

Prompt #2: Tell the Truth with Dialogue

Now take that exact same character and have them confess that the story they have told is not the truth.

  • What do they say?

  • Why are they admitting the lie?

  • How do they feel about ‘coming clean’ here?

  • Don’t stop. Don’t censor. Remember, you can only use speech here.

  • 10-15 minutes.