365 writing exercises to keep you writing all year
WABB LAB – MEMOIRS – DAY 4 You don’t remember conversations cleanly.So don’t write them cleanly. The exercise Write a conversation you still remember but only write what you remember people saying. Don’t bother with he said, she whispered, they shouted aggressively. No, just what was said. Also, only the
Write a dialogue between two people. One is trying to tell the other something important while a third character (off screen maybe or outside) interrupts them up to four times with the sentence: Hurry up! We are going to be late!
The bad guy is trying to figure out if there are children hiding in the house. The owner of the house knows where they are and so does the reader but is trying to convince the bad guy that he knows nothing.
Three friends are in the room. Two of them are having a conversation about the third. The third person can hear them but does not take part in the conversation.
This exercise is a classic!
A woman just found out that her husband has been cheating. The husband comes home and they have a conversation. They don’t talk about the cheating. What could they be talking about?
We have been taught in school to write in proper grammatically correct sentences. When you start writing dialogue this is the first thing you must unlearn. If you listen carefully most people don’t speak in complete and perfect sentences.