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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Misunderstanding (v. 2)
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingwor
kshop.org/).
Prepared
by: Alex Quisenberry
Posted on: August 23, 2003
Reposted on: April 17, 2005
Revised and reposted on: June 15, 2008
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a dialogue in which the two
characters misunderstand each other. You may include other narrative or
description, but focus primarily on the conversation.
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For example, here is a conversation between Jim and Helen:
"Helen, I'm home. Where are you. And . . . where's
supper?"
"I'm in here."
"Hon, I'm hungry. Are we going out?"
"Jim, come here. We need to talk."
From this we don't yet see the misunderstanding, but we do see that Jim
is hungry and Helen is probably standing in the kitchen. We know the
characters' names, what time of day it is, what Jim's expectations are,
and we get a strong hint that the only thing simmering around Helen is
her problem.
In your scene, let us see each character's misunderstanding. How much
can we find out about the two of them through their words?
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Exercise: In 400 words or less, write a dialogue in which the two
characters misunderstand each other. You may include other narrative or
description, but focus primarily on the conversation.
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Critique: Do the characters misunderstand each other, and is the
misunderstanding clear to the reader? Does the reader learn much about
them?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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