week of 10/23/12

10/25/12

Goal: Look at the effects of dialogue on character development. 

First Step: Any character sketches to look at first?

Now, let's try the exercise we were going to do on Tuesday before the computers got crazy.

HW (for next Tuesday): Dialogue Sketch. Two characters. Allow them to be characterized predominately through dialogue. Think about the below characteristics of effective dialogue.

10/23/12

Goal: Revisit Character Sketches, talk about dialogue.

First Step: Grab a laptop. Make sure everyone has a blog. There are still some to set up. Post your blog address on Edmodo. 

I want you to post fiction on your blog so it is easier for me to read. 

HW For Thursday:

Post the following on your blog:

1. Character sketch (already done). More than a list. Using the answers to your questions, pretend that you're writing a description of a character for a novel or story.


Example of Dialogue:

A Clean Well-Lighted Place


Listening for Dialogue:

Watch for how Hemingway does the following: 

The following tips come from "Top 8 Tips for writing dialogue"

1. Really listening to speech: notice how people basically communicate. Do they have to explain a lot, or is much understood? Do they talk in complete sentences or fragments? How does rhythm come into play in everyday speech? Also pay attention to how little it takes for you to understand what they're talking about.

2.  Not exactly like real speech: Alfred Hitchcock said that a good story was "life, with the dull parts taken out." This very much applies to dialogue. A transcription of a conversation would be completely boring to read. Edit out the filler words and unessential dialogue

3. Not too much info!  It should not be obvious to the reader that they're being fed important facts. Let the story unfold naturally. You don't have to tell the reader everything up front

4. Break it up with action. Remind your reader that your characters are physical human beings by grounding their dialogue in the physical world. Physical details help break the monotony of dialogue.

5. Don't overdo the dialogue tags. Veering too much beyond "he said/she said" only draws attention to the tags — and you want the reader's attention centered on your brilliant dialogue, not your ability to think of synonyms for "said."

6-8: Read widely, avoid stereotypes, and punctuate properly.