Listening for dialog: don’t forget you’re a writer when you’re not writing
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008So many amazing things are said daily. Usually, amazing in a bad way. But amazing’s still amazing.
For instance, in a class the other day, to prove a point about cave paintings, the professor said that in the 18th century the world was only around 7000 years old, but now, we know it’s billions of years old. And he even went on to say that because of the scientific research we’ve gone from the religious tenet that these paintings couldn’t possibly be 10,000, or even a million years old, and must be more recent– therefore not such a dramatic discovery. A girl a couple rows behind me said “That doesn’t add up. If it was only seven thousand years old before, how can it be so old now?”
Now, it’d be hard to get to the line of dialog in the same way, about cave paintings, but there are plenty of other reasons to explain the difference in ‘creation’ dates between cultures, and if you have a character you want to showcase as not the smartest peanut in the turd, merely by paying slight attention to those around you, you’ve got a ready-made scenario. Give it a shot.

Movies are filmed all over the world. One time Jessica and I stayed at a motel that turned out to be the same motel from “Miami” in the movie
For those who haven’t heard,
second person.) This event should expand the metaphor with a brief narrative. Move on to three things that once were, be it in the relationship, or before the relationship, depending on the lean you take (I love love! or One is the loneliest number, or any shades of tangerine in between) . Then take that metaphor to its end, as in, if the metaphor is about the negatives of dependency, then seperate (break up, walk away etc) If it’s about animals migrating to a beautiful, far away breeding place, clear the hill and see the valley (This can be about happiness, a monumental event like marriage, erotica, plenty of room to make like a penguin, spread your wings and walk around.)
It’s that day of the year, you know, the one that only comes once a year. Unlike, well, just like every other day, but that’s besides the point. Christmas is a time honored holiday that many many celebrate.
Write a piece of short fiction, where at about 1,500 words, the character says “to hell with it” (or something like that) and leaves in some fantastical way… walks across the ocean, sprouts a cocoon, levitates… and that’s the end.
Icicles are just fun, and the possibility for poetry, or poetic prose are endless. Here’s a couple:
Write a sonnet from the perspective of one of the waif carollers from A Christmas Carol.
This year your family decided to go chop down your own tree in a forest a number of miles away. A broken axe handle results in an emergency situation. Write the story/narrative poem.