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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Dialog Tells The Story (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.internetwritingworkshop.org/).
Prepared by: Alex Quisenberry
Posted on: March 23, 2003
Reposted on: April 16, 2006
Reposted,revised, on Dec. 28, 2008
Reposted on: March 28,2010
Reposted on: June 16, 2013
Reposted on: September 6, 2015
Reposted on: September 3, 2017
Reposted on: February 27, 2022
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Exercise: In a two-person dialog of no more than 400 words show us as
much as you can about the characters' personalities and their
situation. Stick to their own words. Use as little
exposition/description as possible.
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Listen to people talking. How are their words strung together? Are the
speakers aiming for meaning or for effect? Do they speak
formally, in complete sentences and well-thought-out paragraphs, or do
they use verbal shortcuts? From
their conversation, what
can you tell about their
moods, their ages, backgrounds, emotional states, their relationships,
their personalities, their "stories"?
Well-written dialog puts us with the characters and tells us a lot
about them and their situation.
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In your critique you should aim to tell the author whether you get a
clear picture of the two characters through the dialog and explain why.
Are the two voices distinct? What do these characters tell us
about themselves and their relationship through their
conversation? Are they believable? Are they interesting?
Can we tell where they are and why they are there? If it is
important to the piece, can we tell the sex and age of these
people? What did you like best about the author's use of
dialog? Do you see room for improvement?
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Gayle Surrette.
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