Fiction Workshop 8 Dialogue

Dialogue must:

•         Keep the story moving forward

•         Reveal character

•         Add atmosphere

•         Add interest by having a character say one thing but mean another

•         Sound as if it belongs to the character speaking it – if you can take one character’s line and give it to another, it isn’t right.

•         Make clear who is speaking by what they are saying.

•         Inject tension or conflict

•         Be stylised but sound natural

•         Multi-task

 

Exercise 1

Sit in a café or on a train and transcribe a conversation you hear. Examine this. Is there anything that might be worthwhile? If it doesn’t do one of the things listed above it isn’t useful. You may be surprised by how little you have left.

 

Exercise 2

Download a couple of pages of script from a TV programme you like. You may find many on BBC Writers’ Room, http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/ . Again look to see how this script performs the functions mentioned above. Is there anything that seems superfluous? How do these pieces contribute to the story, if there are any? What do they do? Does any of it sound unnatural? Does it matter?  

 

Exercise 3

Type half a page of dialogue between some of the characters you have created. Now enlarge the print, say font size 30 or so, take out any tag words, and cut your dialogue up into strips. Give them to a writing buddy. Tell the buddy a little about the characters if they don’t already know them. Ask them to sort out who said what. Hopefully, they’ll get it right. If not there is plenty to discuss.

Next time we’ll look at how to set out dialogue.                         

   

Fiction Workshop 7 Character

The Stephen King Method

Just puts two characters together and sees what happens.

However, analyse his plots and they are technically perfect.

Many writers however find that stories produced this way lack structure.

Story comes from character anyway

We’ve already seen this partly already. Our story comes out of the conflict amongst characters and between the main character and his / her environment.

Know your characters well – recipe for a character

We must at the very least:

•         Know what they look like.

•         Know how their mind works.

•         Know what they like and don’t like.

•         Know how they spend their time.

•         Know how their emotions balance.

•         Appreciate their good points.

•         Forgive them their bad points.

•         Know what their main motivation is in this story.

•         Know how they have changed by the end.

Now try this:

Take about thirty minutes to work on the questions.

Answer the following for two characters in your story. Write in continuous prose: if you feel you need to add a little more, then do so.  

Physical

1. What do they look like?
2. How old are they?
3. Are they very sporty?

Mental

4. What are they or were they good at at school?
5. What is their personality like?
6. Which newspaper would they read if they were an adult in our world?

 Emotional

7. What do they like?
8. What don’t they like?
9. What are they most afraid of?

Motivation

10. What is their main aim in this story?

How do they change by the end?

Now put what you have written on one side and write a short scene between the two characters.

Get someone else to read your scene.

How well do they understand your characters? (i.e. – how well have you written them?)     

The Schellberg Cycle Workshop at Hartford High School 31 March 2017

The students at Hartford High Church of England were enjoying their second citizenship day just before they broke up for Easter. Staff had contacted me as a result of an email shot I sent early in 2017. They were holding a citizenship day and could I deliver my workshop to six classes. 

Normally, I work with one group of up to 36 students but this time other staff delivered my materials. I did a session at the beginning and at the end. In retrospect I think these were too long: one hour each. They should have been no more than twenty minutes each. I wandered around form group to group.

I prepared lengthy notes for the teachers and this has given me the idea that I might actually sell the workshop as a package for teachers to deliver themselves. I’m offering the notes here as a free gift if you sign up for the newsletter. If you purchase a pack or book a workshop, you automatically go on the newsletter list. This means you get free updates and new free materials and special offers on workshops.               

As always, whenever I’m in a classroom, I get new ideas. I’m now going to add discovery packs to the workshop. These will be packets of documents such as ration cards, pictures of the BDM uniform, newspaper reports etc. I’ll make twelve altogether so there is an element of choice, and make sure that there are six males and six females. Students will work in groups to present more information to the rest of their class about their character. I’m also going to prepare more guidance about the creative writing outputs.

When schools book a workshop they get:

·         Letters to send out to parents about my book The House on Schellberg Street (I handle all sales and all monies)

·         Board games (I take these home again afterwards – everything else they get to keep but the discovery packs I’ll also take home again)

·          Speed-dating character exercise

·         Letter-writing character exercise

·         The final chapter of Clara’s Story  and Questions and Answers

·         Hanna Braun’s Letters and a form to fill in about what they discover.   

·         (Discovery packs will go here)

·         Q & A for the final session and suggested creative outcomes.

·         A memory stick with all of the materials on it.

·         Updates on the project thereafter.    

Sign up here for the newsletter and get to read the teachers’ notes. There are further notes on each section of the workshop, available on request.    

I was impressed with how hard the students worked. They listened extremely well and worked hard in their sessions. A very rewarding day all told.   

You can read more about the Schellberg Cycle here.   

Lots of free offers and the opporutnity to get feedback at a fair price

The creative writing exercises on the site are gathered together in groups of five and published as a PDF.

Sign up for your free downloads here. 

You can also sign up for unlimited feedback on any of the exercises for a one time fee of £50.00.

Use the button below and any time you would like feedback, send your work as word attachment to gill dot james at btinternet dot com. Put the PayPal transaction ID and the name of the exercise in the subject line.  In the body of the email, just say "Hi" and remind me who you are.

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Fiction Workshop 6 Setting

What is setting? Maybe:  

•         Time and place

•         We need pointers so that we get a film in our heads.

–        What might these be for time?

•         Weather

•         Plants  

•         Darkness / light

•         Festivals

–        For place?

•         What our senses tell us (See “Writing with the senses” see below)

•         Some areas perhaps need a little more:

–        Fantasy

–        Science fiction

–        Historical

–        Exotic

Description can:

•         Create atmosphere

•         Explain something the reader needs to know

•         Help the drama

•         Show character

•         Contribute to the plot

•         Work on symbolic, allegoric and prosaic levels

Writing with the senses:

–        Always produces good writing

–        Think about your setting and write about:

•         What you see

•         What you hear

•         What you smell

•         What you taste

•         What you feel

•         Your emotions and thoughts  

 

A quick creative writing exercise

–        Write a short scene about something that happened yesterday.

–        Write about what you :

•         Saw

•         Heard

•         Smelled

•         Tasted

•         Felt  (in both senses of the word) 

–        Look at what you’ve written?

•         How have you indicated place?

•         How have you indicated time?

Note that this can produce writing that is too rich so ask whether it adds to:

•         Character

•         Plot

•         Atmosphere

•         Reader’s understanding 

•         Symbols

•         Says things clearly once

•         (though consider when repetition is effective – often three repetitions, no more and no less, are effective.)

 

Extension and Contraction

Think of a story you’d like to write.

Think about the opening.

Write for ten to twenty minutes with your senses. Write about: 

·         What you or your character sees

·         What you or your character hears

·         What you or your character smells

·         What you or your character tastes

·         What you or your character feels

·         Your and / or your character’s emotions and thoughts

Now for the editing. Strike out anything which does not:

·         Tell us something about:

o   Character

o   Plot

o   Atmosphere

o   Setting in time or place that we need to know in order to understand the story.

·         Symbolize something of the story

·         Say something only once

·         Repeat effectively

 

Writing Exercise: Description without the Exposition

Write about an everyday process e.g.

•         as making a cup of tea

•         cleaning your teeth

•         switching on your computer

 

In your reading

Take a small passage of description from any book you have found interesting and look at what every single word adds to the reader’s experience.

Consider whether the writer has wasted any words.

Can you see any word, phrase or sentence which works is multi-tasking?    

Get unlimited feedback on any of these Writing Workshops: £50 one time fee  
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