This week’s task for Write it Wednesday was about dialogue.
Specifically, Detective Dialogue: For this exercise you need to be a little bit sneaky. And brave. You need to be around at least 2 other people (or a small child who will happily chat to himself and/or imaginary friends). Write down a conversation/ dialogue exchange as you hear it.
Now I totally failed this task.
My morning consisted of getting everyone ready and out the door. Not much dialogue, just interrogative. Porridge? You ready? I just need to brush my teeth. OK can you open the gate?
Then I went to the coffee shop for ten minutes. This went something like this;
Hi.
The usual ma’ma?
Yes please.
I slid my money onto the counter, stood next to the espresso machine, waited then after a short while. I heard nothing except for the cafe’s music, REM again, and the espresso machine, my coffee was ready. Thank you. Smile. I stood and drank my first piccolo. I put my coat back on and picked up my second coffee and walked to the office. There were no other patrons who were talking, no dialogue to be had.
I then walked in silence, to my extremely quiet office. Lots of people were still away after the long weekend. I overheard a few one sided phone conversations.
Yes. We have made some comments on your submission … hmm … well we think you need to consult … um but last week we agreed …
Exactly …. exactly … I am making the amendments now …. The meeting next week will be an opportunity ….
Are you asleep yet?
The whole day passed. I didn’t hear a single two sided conversation close enough to record the dialogue. It made me think hard about listening. And I think this is the point of the exercise, I am not tuned in to the writerly frequency. The one where you eavesdrop consciously and deliberately on dialogue. This is my homework.
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I enjoyed this post too, and relate to the feeling of ‘failing’. I need to practice clearing my mind and just listening. I did enjoy it, though I don’t think I earned my secret squirrel tail just yet.
That’s why we are doing this isn’t it? For the practice. To tune in. To hone our skills. More eavesdropping, that’s our homework. :)
I actually love this post. I think you have raised a really interesting point: tuning into the writerly frequency. Fantastic. I don’t think you failed the exercise – you can’t fail. Any of these scenes COULD be a part of a story, the ordinary mundane parts of life have to fit into a story at times. There has to be ordinary for there to be extraordinary, don’t you think?
As creepy as it sounds, I am a real people watcher. But it does seem to be more uncomfortable for some. The first time I did this exercise at uni I felt I had the most boring conversation. It was 2 old ladies chatting on a bus in front of me. About milk. But my tutor insisted that anything can be interesting. Maybe he is right, maybe he is not. But I didn’t find your post the least bit boring. I think you got the whole point of the post: it was about learning to tune into the stories and characters around us. Sometimes you wont get anything, sometimes you will. The point is that you still took part. I think I will even link to it in next weeks’ post (if you don’t mind, of course!)
Aw, I am so chuffed with these comments *blush*
I am glad that while I didn’t complete the task as set, at least there was a great lesson in not having done it.
Happy for a link.
Happy writing.
I thought this would be easy, but I found it extremely hard, too. I was either in no position to hear a conversation, or it went too fast for me, or I forgot about the task altogether. The conversation I finally ended up writing is pretty boring, but it’s the only one I’ve got.
At least you made an attempt… I failed to even begin!
I’ll wait to see what next week brings… and I’ll spend a week listening, tuning in to the writerly frequency.
There is always next week.
I am sure something good will come of the practise, whether you write it down or not. Tuning in. xo