Friday, November 20

Start Strong LAC I

Goals for Today

1. I can explain the purpose for including dialogue in a narrative.

2. I can correctly punctuate dialogue by utilizing quotation marks, commas, and periods appropriately.

3. I can help the reader better understand which character is speaking by using dialogue tags.

4. I can utilize what I’ve learned to integrate dialogue into my own writing that:

a. reveals characters relationships to one another,b. moves the story forward, and/orc. increases the tension.

Writing Really Good DialogueStage #1: What is dialogue, anyway?

Dialogue is...

A written conversation between two or more characters in a text.

What’s the purpose?

In novels, dialogue does at least one (if not all) of the following things:

a. reveals character’s relationships to one another

b.moves the story forwardc. increases the tension

Reveals Character Relationships

Example:“What’s the capital of Spain?” Jerry asked, pausing over his

crossword puzzle.Susan looked up from her book and rolled her eyes. “Madrid,

duh.”“Why are you so sarcastic all the time?” Jerry slammed his pencil

on the table. He looked like he was going to cry. “I don’t think I can take much more of this.”

Jerry and Susan have a tense and unhappy relationship. It’s clear from this exchange that they’ve probably known each other for a while, and that Susan treats Jerry with

disrespect. Jerrys reaction to Susan in this exchange shows that he has been putting up with Susans behavior for too long and is at his wit’s end. We’ve learned a lot about who

they are--all through a few simple lines of dialogue.

Moves the Story ForwardExample:

The phone rang and Jerry picked it up. “Hello?”There was a moment of silence on the other end.“Is this Jerry Simmons?” a male voice asked.“Yeah. Who is this?”The man paused. Jerry could hear him take a deep breath.“Jerry, my name is Dave. I’m your brother.”“If this is a prank, it isn’t funny,” Jerry said. “My family died a

long time ago.”“Not your whole family,” Dave said.Jerry hung up the phone.

Right away, we want to know who this Dave guy is, if he’s telling the truth, and why Jerry hung up on him. Basically, we want to know what will happen next. In fact, this is a great

inciting incident (rising action). The discovery of a long-lost sibling is certain to move your story forward in interesting ways.

Increases the Tension

Example:“Dave!” Jerry shouted. “We’ve got to get away from here! The

buildings gonna blow!” “We’ve got to go back!” Dave screamed.“Why?”Dave pointed at the roof. “Susan’s still up there.

Talk about tense. Are Dave and Jerry going to save Susan? It’s a matter of life and death here, and this little exchange of dialogue has us wanting more.

Check for Understanding #1

Click HERE. You will be redirected to a Google form and given a short set of

follow-up questions to complete.

Answer questions fully and completely; don’t forget: one of

these checks for understanding will count for a quiz grade.

When you finish, come back to this presentation and continue where you left

off.

Writing Really Good DialogueStage #2: How do writers punctuate dialogue?

Punctuation Rules: Dialogue

Rule #1Every time a new speaker speaks, begin a new paragraph. Indent that paragraph!

Example:

“Only five weeks until graduation,” Jake said, jumping up and down.

“Yay. Happy for you. I’m a junior and I have four AP tests in the next two weeks, so just chill on the celebrating, would ya?” Celine snapped back.

When Jake speaks, the writer indents ½”.

When Celine speaks, the writer must indent again, but only the first line. We call this a hanging indent.

Punctuation Rules: Dialogue

Rule #2Put commas around a direct address or

interjection*.

Example:

“James, wasn’t that scary?”“Wasn’t that scary, James?” *Interjections can

be abrupt remarks, asides, or extra insertions into a

sentence.In both examples, the name James is directly addressed; his name is inserted into questions that

could otherwise stand on their own.

The writer must then insert commas appropriately to “set off” his name.

Punctuation Rules: Dialogue

Rule #3Capitalize where appropriate; utilize

commas to set off dialogue tags.Example:

Marisol asked, “Did Taylor talk to you about prom yet?”“No. I don’t think he’s going to ask me afterall.” Taylor crossed

her arms and sighed heavily. “What a shame,” she replied.

In the first sentence:1. We capitalize “Marisol” because it is both a proper

noun and first word of the sentence.2. We capitalize “Did” because the question it

belongs to is a complete thought and could stand alone without the dialogue tag.

3. We place a comma in between the two to signify the break between the dialog and the dialog tag that tells us who’s speaking.

In the second and third sentences:1. We capitalize “No” because it stands alone as a

response within the dialogue.2. We capitalize “I” and “Taylor” because they are

both proper nouns that start sentences--one written within the dialogue and one written outside of it.

In the fourth sentence:1. We capitalize “What” because it starts the

sentence within the dialogue.2. We add a comma after the dialogue and leave

“she” lowercase because the sentence and dialog tag go together as one complete thought.

Check for Understanding #2

Click HERE. You will be redirected to a Google form and given a short set of

follow-up questions to complete.

Answer questions fully and completely; don’t forget: one of

these checks for understanding will count for a quiz grade.

When you finish, come back to this presentation and continue where you left

off.

Writing Really Good DialogueStage #3: What are dialogue tags and why are they important?

So, what are dialog tags?

Dialog tags are what helps the reader determine who the characters are speaking to; they can also give the reader insight about the characters.Example:

“Only five weeks until graduation,” Jake said, jumping up and down.

“Yay. Happy for you. I’m a junior and I have four AP tests in the next two weeks, so just chill on the celebrating, would ya?” Celine snapped back.

Right away, these dialog tags show us that there are two characters speaking.

Additionally, they help us to understand that Jake and Celine are under different amounts of stress by describing what the characters are doing and how they speak.

Does all dialogue need dialogue tags?

Definitely not.

If only two people are speaking and it’s clear who is speaking, you don’t need speaker tags after every

line.

Example:

“Hey!”“Hey, what’s up? What are you doing here?”“Waiting for you of course. Don’t you know I am your personal

stalker?” Calliope laughed. “I’m kidding. My mom needed to run some errands, and I figured I’d come, too.”

Since we indent every time a new character speaks, it’s implied that the speaker switches every line.

Dialogue Tags: Your Options

You can always use “said.” Most readers treat this word like a period and their eyes skim right over.

If you need your reader to make inferences based on what the character has said, you may want to use a more descriptive phrase.

Example

“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of them!” he said.“I can’t believe you’ve never heard of them!” he chuckled

obnoxiously.

When the tag reads “he said,” I know I’ll have to use context clues to figure out the tone the character uses when making this exclamation.

When I read that “he chuckled obnoxiously,” I know that he’s condescending and arrogant. He thinks everyone should know who he’s talking about.

Some other dialogue tags to consider:

acknowledgedadmittedagreedansweredarguedaskedbarkedbeggedbellowedblusteredbraggedcomplainedconfessedcrieddemandeddeniedgiggledhinted

hissedhowledinterruptedlaughedliedmumbledmutterednaggedpleadedpromisedquestionedrememberedrepliedrequestedroaredsangscreamedscreeched

shoutedsighedsnarledsobbedthreatenedwarnedwhimperedwhinedwhisperedwonderedyelled

Check for Understanding #3

Click HERE. You will be redirected to a Google form and given a short set of

follow-up questions to complete.

Answer questions fully and completely; don’t forget: one of

these checks for understanding will count for a quiz grade.

When you finish, come back to this presentation and continue where you left

off.

Writing Really Good DialogueStage #4: How can I apply what I’ve learned to my own writing?

Now it’s your turn!

Choose one passage from your NaNoWriMo project (the novel you’ve been writing in your notebook!) to revise.

After you’ve chosen, draw a star symbol in the margin of your notebook where your first draft of this scene is. Turn to a clean page and draw that same star symbol. Here’s where you’ll write your revision of this scene.

Now it’s your turn!

Requirements:1. Scene must include at least two (2) characters.2. Must include at least five pieces of dialogue. 3. Dialogue must be correctly punctuated.4. Must include at least two dialogue tags.

a. NOTE: If your scene has more than two characters, then you will likely need to include more dialogue tags to help your reader follow what’s going on.

5. When you finish, mark this revision with your yellow “Dialogue” sticky note.

In the time you have left...Choose where you want to...1.WRITE: Continue

working on your NaNoWriMo project.

2.READ: Finish reading your book.

3.CREATE: Work on the project you’ve started for your independent choice novel.

Sources:

Dialogue Technicalities: Creative Writing. Peetz CO: Peetzschool.org, n.d.

DOC.

National Novel Writing Month's Young Novelist Workbook. 3rd ed. N.p.: n.p.,

n.d. NaNoWriMo.org. Office of Letters and Light Young Writers Program.

Web. 1 Sept. 2014.