Dialogue

Goal:     to add detail and intrigue to your paper by including speech
Time:    30 minutes
Instructions:

A good narrative always includes dialogue--we should see and hear people talking in your story.  You have lots of opportunity in dialogue to characterize people and places.  You can use accents, slang, or regional phrases to create strong characterization.  You can also use dialogue as a place to add description without dragging down the action of a story.

For the first part of this activity, choose a scene in your narrative that could use some spicing up.  Then write for 10 minutes, recreating a conversation from that scene as closley as you can.

"You don't have to yell at me."
"Apparently I do."
"That is not fair.  You act like I am always wrong.  I am a good enough kid."
"Well, I am sorry, but you should not have let the dog out.  He could have been run over by a car."
"I know.  I am sorry too."

Now go back to that conversation and work on making sure that the language that each speaker uses clearly represents who they are--how old they are, how educated they are, where they are from, etc.  Spend about 10 minutes enhancing the language so that it sounds true to the person who is speaking.
 

"Well geeze, you don't have to yell at me."
"Apparently I do.  I asked you to be careful, and you acted irresponsibly."
"That ain't fair.  You act like I am always screwin' up, but come on, I think I'm a pretty good kid."
"Well, I am sorry, but you should not have let the dog out.  He could have been run over by a car."
"I know.  I am sorry too."

Finally, go back to the conversation and add action.  Try varying this action on the begining, middle, and ends of the lines. Please note the punctuation in this example. You will see that each person gets a new line as they speak, and that puncuation goes on the inside of the quotation marks.
 
      I stared at her in disbelief.  "Well geeze, you don't have to yell at me," I whined.
      "Apparently I do."  She shifted her weight to her left foot. " I asked you to be careful, and you acted irresponsibly."
      "That isn't fair.  You act like I am always screwin' up, but come on, I think I'm a pretty good kid."  I said, stomping towards the door.
      She made a motion to leave also.  "Well, I am sorry, but you should not have let the dog out.  He could have been run over by a car."
      I could tell she was about to cry, and I remembered what happened to Daisy.  I went to hug her and said, "I know.  I am sorry too."