1. Creative Writing Mr. Way 9-27-13

2.  Write interesting, believable dialogue.  Standard ELA12.W.2.1.c: Describe with concrete sensory details the … specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters.

3.  Believable dialogue  Who are the characters?  Where are they, and (how) does the scene impact their interaction?  Dialects and accents  Pacing  Avoid “ping pong” dialogue  No soliloquy, please  Don’t just stand there

4.  If you don’t give them personalities, they’ll just end up both being you talking to yourself.  If you don’t give them back stories, they’ll have nothing to say.  If you don’t give them a desire, they’ll just respond to the protagonist flatly, adding nothing.

5.  If these guys are having a conversation, you’d probably expect some strain in their voices.

6.  Is somebody in a hurry to leave? Is somebody distracted by something else?  These factors will impact how they behave, what they say.  Are they outside? Is somebody physically uncomfortable?  Is it hard for them to hear each other for some reason?

7.  I don’t recommend putting these in unless you’re extremely familiar with the one you’re using.  Writing words in an accent takes a long time and is difficult to do well, plus the reader may not have heard it before so they won’t even get it.  If you do your research, you can give a character an accent or make them speak another dialect, but don’t do it unless you’re an expert.

9.  Dr. Albert Mehrabian, conducted several studies on nonverbal communication. He found that:  7% of any message is conveyed through words  38% through certain vocal elements  and 55% through nonverbal elements (facial expressions, gestures, posture, etc).

10.  Communication is mostly not from the words themselves.  In order to convey meaning when the reader only sees the words, you have to:  Tell about the tone of voice  Tell about the posture, where relevant  Tell about hand gestures  Tell about facial expressions

11. “Edith, I wish I didn’t have to be the one to tell you. My dear; your husband has just been killed in a car accident.” “I can’t believe it.” “It’s a terrible thing.” “But I just talked to him – only a few minutes ago. On the phone.” “Yes, that’s what makes it so awful.” “What am I going to do now?” “Somehow, you’ll come through this.”

12.  Unless there’s a play going on within your story.

13.  Don’t let one character go on and on.  Your characters are in a conversation – they have to respond and react to each other.  Even when one person is telling a long story or explaining something complex, the other person will still nod, ask for questions, or say “yeah,” from time to time.

14.  When people talk, they fidget.  Even when you’re just standing around talking, you shift your weight, look around, play with your hands, etc.  Your characters should be doing things while they talk, because real people do things while they talk.

15.  Believable dialogue  Who are the characters?  Where are they, and (how) does the scene impact their interaction?  Dialects and accents  Pacing  Avoid “ping pong” dialogue  No soliloquy, please  Don’t just stand there