storytelling ideas

One last story for the portfolio.

You can't tell a story if you cannot reflect on it from a distance. Write about an incident that happened your freshman year.

Keep the following in mind:

Who were you at the time? (We have to assumed you have changed since then)
How did you react to the situation? (Are you proud, ashamed, embarrassed, shy, angry?)
What did you learn from the situation? (Whatever you do don't say, "What I learned through this situation was  . . . ) Show me don't tell me.

Use this story as a chance to use all of the storytelling techniques we have learned this semester from scene setting to character building (even when the person is real) to cutting out all of the extraneous material to make the ideas clearer.

There is no word count but write for the ear. If you were going to stand up and hear this story how would it go over?

See you Thursday.

What needs to be in your folder.

Polished versions of the following

 1.     CNF essay on the reading (or not reading) of the book I gave you.

2.     Two sessions of observations 

3.      Three interviews to expand on the research you have done and give the piece texture. 

4.     All of your responses to your Town Hall questions

5.     The rework of one assignment for the mid-term

6.     The interview of your dancer as a “movement artists”

7.     Your short scene

8.     500 words – what you have learned about yourself as a writer.

So you should have eight polished and finished pieces in your folder.

Writing words are hard

Writing one

Bridesmaids

Writing good dialogue takes practice and patience.  Here are ten tips for you to improve how you write your dialogue so your conversations crackle on the page.

1- Read dialogue aloud.  It’s meant to be heard, after all.  This will help you to listen to the voices of your characters, noticing the flow and movement of their words.

2- Don’t use dialogue to convey large chunks of information (exposition).  People don’t sound like this: “Since we arrived here at four, to watch for Martin Goodfellow, the murderer, I’ve felt hungry.”  It’s okay if readers don’t know exactly what’s happening at all times – trust them to understand the story because they are intrigued by the voices of your characters.

3- Dialogue should sound real, but that doesn’t mean dialogue on the page is exactly like snippets of dialogue you overhear.  You don’t need all the Hellos, Goodbyes and boring small talk of daily life.  Cut it out.

4- Good dialogue should move the story forward, convey character and feel full of life.  The best place to see great dialogue is by attending (or reading) plays, watching movies or even just switching on the TV.

5- If you want your character to say, “I need you,” think about the words they would actually use.  Perhaps they’d say, “I can’t- Do you have to catch the early bus?”

Jane Espenson writes, “Want to write an emotional moment?  Increase your quotient of stumbles and restarts.”  She writes scripts for TV (shows like Buffy and The Gilmore Girls) and her insight into writing dialogue is helpful to think about here.

6- Learn how to write the correct punctuation for speech.  It’ll be a useful tool for you as a writer, making it easier for you to write the dialogue you want, and it’ll help your work look professional when publishers read it.

7- Another technical dialogue tip: he said and she said read just fine.  Don’t worry about repetition, most readers glide over he said/she said as if those words were punctuation.  Too many of these: exclaimed, gasped, screeched, postulated, reasoned, argued, pondered, mouthed, etc… and your dialogue will be overwhelmed by the words around it.

8- Have people argue with people, or have people saying surprising, contrary things.  If everyone is agreeing with each other, your story will feel flat.

9- Think about how each of your characters sounds.  Make each voice distinct – this can be subtle or dramatic.  Perhaps one character likes to use a certain word or short phrase, so make sure the other characters don’t use that same word or phrase.  It’s a small distinction, but useful.  More dramatic distinctions are up to you!

10- People don’t have to answer each other directly.  Sometimes what’s not said has huge meaning.