1.  On a piece of scrap paper, come up with a “telling” sentence  An easy way to do this is to use the verb “to be” ◦ am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been ◦ EX: I am happy / You are the prettiest girl I know / My mom was so strong / They were the meanest kids in 8 th grade / I was trying to be tough / He was being such a brat / You have been so patient with me  Place your “tell” sentence into the red box on my desk and wait for further directions.

2.  Everyone will randomly draw a “tell” sentence from the box  Turn your “tell” sentence into a “show” paragraph. Remember how we did this yesterday: ◦ Avoid “to be” (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been). Replace it with a more precise verb. ◦ Answer who, what, when, where, why, how? ◦ Use your senses: what do you see, hear, smell, taste, feel? ◦ Start by brainstorming. Create a vivid mental image of the scene, then describe that scene down to the tiniest detail so that your readers can picture it too. ◦ Be prepared to share!

4.  It brings the text/characters to life  Communicates information about plot/characters

5.  Avoid overusing “said.” There are more precise dialogue tags.  All dialogue should: ◦ Be purposeful/provide the reader with some information. There is no need to include meaningless “filler” or to repeat information that we’ve already learned without the dialogue.  Ex: Jenny skipped into class with a huge smile on her face. “I’m so happy today!” she exclaimed. ◦ Be formatted correctly. ◦ Be realistic. How do people really speak? When we’re alone, do we usually speak aloud? More often, we are thinking silently in our minds.

6.  Example conversation: ◦ Hi have you seen my cat Bob said. No Bill said I have no idea where your cat is. If you see my cat will you let me know Bob questioned looking sad. Of course Bill replied with a tone of concern.

7.  Each time a new person starts speaking, skip to a new line and indent. ◦ Hi have you seen my cat Bob said. ◦ No Bill said I have no idea where your cat is. ◦ If you see my cat will you let me know Bob questioned looking sad. ◦ Of course Bill replied with a tone of concern.

8.  All speech (words actually spoken aloud by a character) needs to be inside quotation marks “like this” ◦ “Hi have you seen my cat” Bob said. ◦ “No” Bill said “I have no idea where your cat is.” ◦ “If you see my cat will you let me know” Bob questioned looking sad. ◦ “Of course” Bill replied with a tone of concern.

9.  All dialogue tags (said, asked, replied, etc.) need to be connected to the rest of the sentence using a comma. ◦ EX: “No” Bill said  This is a full sentence so it must end with a period ◦ EX: “No” Bill said.  The tag “Bill said” must be connected to the rest of the sentence. If you put a period at the end of the quotation, that would be incorrect. ◦ WRONG: “No.” Bill said.  Instead, we need to link the quotation and the tag using a comma. ◦ CORRECT: “No,” Bill said.

10.  “Hi, have you seen my cat?” Bob said.  “No,” Bill said. “I have no idea where your cat is.”  “If you see my cat will you let me know?” Bob questioned, looking sad.  “Of course,” Bill replied, with a tone of concern. ◦ *Note: If your quotation is a question (like in lines 1 and 3), it should end in a question mark instead of a comma

11.  Think of a situation where two people are having a conversation.  Tell me who the two people are, where they are, and what the conversation is about.  Together, come up with 10 lines of dialogue (5 lines per person). Remember that dialogue should be PURPOSEFUL and formatted correctly.  Be prepared to share!