DAY 3 TOPICS

Writing ScheduleDialogue FormatCharacter Development

Writer’s Notebook: Share Something

Share one or more new entries with your partner.

Prepare to be solicited: volunteersthe habitually modest

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 6: Portrait of a Writer

Invisible writing: turn off your computer screen, and craft a character description of yourself as a writer.

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 7: Make a Plan

a. With regard to who you are as a writer right now, what’s working for you? What’s not?

b. What writerly self-related changes need to be made to make the most of the next 6 weeks?

c. Create a soft and hard writing schedule you’ll stick to for the next month.

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 9: Observations about Dialogue Format

I asked the boy, "So, you must like cartoons."

"Uh-hmm," he said."Well, you probably like Bugs Bunny,

right? You know, I loved Bugs when I was a little girl."

"I like the ones with guns in ‘em. Bugs don’t carry a gun."

  

Make a list of dialogue-format observations.

BE SURE YOUR DIALOGUE SOUNDS REAL

MAKE DIALOGUE COLLOQUIAL

Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights:

"Why, Master Heathcliff, you are not fit for enjoying a ramble, this morning. How ill do you look!"

FICTIONAL DIALOGUE MUST HAVE IMPACT, FOCUS, &

RELEVANCE Life-like conversation (transcribed):

"Hello?""Oh, hey, Laura. It’s Jane.""Oh, hi. Wait, can you hold on? . . . Okay, hi.""Hey, what’s up?""Good. I mean nothing. How are you doing?""Good. Where are you?""On my cell.""I mean, where.“"Oh, on my way home from work, like, on Colorado Boulevard.""Yeah?""Um, yeah."

Fictionalizing it:

"Hey, Laura. It’s Jane. What’s up?"

"Good. I mean, nothing. How’re you?"

Spinning it to capture impact, focus, and/or relevance:

"Hey, Laura. It’s Jane."

"Oh, hi there . . . was I supposed to call you?"

"Yeah, you were: it’s Wednesday. Are you still up for

hanging out tonight? I was able to get the two tickets for–"

"–I have to wait and see what Simon’s doing first.“

Also, notice how dialogue reveals character.

PROVIDE STAGE DIRECTIONS

Gregarious people talk with their hands. Seductive people run fingers through their hair or touch their

lips often.Nervous people laugh too loud.

Attention seekers act outrageously.Anal people gather toothpicks from the ashtrays and throw

them away.  

versus she tried to seduce him or Max was nervous  

No floating heads allowed!!!Remember to contextualize dialogue

and include setting in the stage directions mosaic.

ISSUE OF SUBTEXT

"I hate you," she said, slamming the front door.

"I hate you," she said, hitting him playfully on the arm.

ISSUE OF SUBTEXT

In Annie Hall, Diane Keaton and Woody Allen, who have recently met, stand on a terrace carrying on a nervous conversation.

She says: "Well, I-I-I would–I would like to take a serious photography course soon." But what she’s really thinking appears in a subtitle: "He probably thinks I’m a yo-yo."

Then he says: "Photography’s interesting, ‘cause, you know, it’s–it’s a new art form, and a, uh, a set of aesthetic criteria have not emerged yet." But his subtitle says, "I wonder what she looks like naked?"

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 9: Observations Continued

After Sam’s parents left for the evening, I quickly reviewed the written directions they had left for me: "No soda or snacks after 6:00. Bedtime is no later than 8:00 p.m. Cell phone number: 555-1212." I entered the livingroom, where Sam sat stiffly on the floor at the base of the television, mechanically placing potato chips into his mouth. His eyes appeared glossed over–it seemed as if he merely stared through the screen.

"So, you must like cartoons, Sam," I said, as I sunk into the overstuffed couch.

"Uh-hmm," he muttered, without looking away from the screen. He loaded another chip into his mouth: crunch, crunch, crunch.

"Well, you probably like Bugs Bunny, right?" I reached for the National Enquirer which sat on the coffee table. "You know, I loved Bugs when I was a little girl."

Sam stopped mid-chew and turned to me with crinkled brows, "I like the ones with guns in ‘em. Bugs don’t carry a gun." 

Make observations about the format in this revised version.

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 10: Dialogue ExercisePROMPT: Envision a romantic pair (i.e., a wife and husband or a girlfriend

and boyfriend) sitting at a table in an upper-scale restaurant. One of these characters suspects the other of being unfaithful (in some way), and let’s say the other is (in some way) guilty. Write a dialogue exchange between the two where the sore topic is never referred to directly but instead simmers beneath the words spoken, and don’t enter the thoughts of either character.

Key Elements

· write in 3rd-person point of view (you have no access to the insides of their heads)

· utilize correct dialogue format

· make the speech colloquial

· be consistent in the speech representation of each (e.g., one might be chatty and a bit nervous while the other says as little as possible)

· attempt to make every line count (remember IMPACT, FOCUS, AND RELEVANCE)

· offer tags, where appropriate

· provide tailored stage directions, from start to finish (i.e., set up the scene, offer physical descriptions to supplement dialogue, don’t forget to use the setting to your advantage)

CHARACTER LESSON

Levels of Characters MAIN SECONDARY EXTRAS

Secondary and extra characters can be round or flat.

Describe the levels in Carver’s “Cathedral.”

 

FLAT—small characters who are characterized by minor roles and/or actions.

 

If you flesh out small characters too much, they will begin to carry emotional weight that will mislead readers or steal focus from the stars of the story.

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 11: Rough Character Idea

Soft Writing: Discuss your main character idea(s) with

your writing partner.

Hard Writing: Commit to a rough idea of who your

main character is. Don't worry about the details or the storyline, at this point in time: simply tell me a bit about her/him.

REVEALING CHARACTER Showing versus Telling (i.e., scene versus exposition)

SHOWING WINS!!!! 

In real life, you don't sit down and lay out the beautiful and ugly things about yourself all at once. Intricacies revealing beauty and ugliness are revealed gradually.

Showing gives the reader more with which to engage actively.

FOUR METHODS

SHOWING A CHARACTER'S TRAITS

ACTION SPEECH

APPEARANCETHOUGHT

All four work together to create the symphony that is your character.  In real life, we experience people in a variety of ways, often simultaneously, and mixing the methods, as writers, recreates this sense of reality.

 The strings, winds, brass, and percussion of an orchestra unite into a harmonious or purposeful discordant whole: in writing fiction, you are the composer who must unite the discordant sounds into a harmonious whole.

POINTS OF VIEW

1st:  I, we 2nd:  you, you          3rd:  he, she, it, they, Marita Cruz

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 12: Third-Person Point of View

Write in third-person POV: your character sees his or her own reflection.

Challenge: do not use a mirror for the reflection.

 

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 13: First-Person Point of View

Scroll down so you are unable to see JR 12.Write in third-person point of view: recreate the

same scene.

What are the differences between 1st- and 3rd-person points of view, rhetorically speaking?

 

RHETORICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POINTS OF VIEW

FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW ASSUMPTIONS

reliability is questioned "biased" and, therefore,

skewed representation is provided

showing lens: the main character is the camera—can only see what the camera sees

the reader can only know what the character knows  

THIRD-PERSON POINT OF VIEW ASSUMPTIONS

"reliable" perspective "fair" representation is

provided showing lens: the camera

considers the whole scene with the main character as part of the whole

the reader can know what the character doesn't (i.e., there is license for the writer to fill in the blanks via exposition)

the main character's thoughts are not easily inserted in scenes

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 14: Interrupting/Jump Starting Action

a.  Cut and paste either your first-person or third-person POV segment in the new journal entry space.

b.  Add to the scene by having someone interrupt your character via action and dialogue.

WRITING EXERCISE

JR 15: A Blessing

You have the remainder of the class to respond to the words “A Blessing.” Write as much as you can, as quickly as you can.