Writing Excuses 5.20: More Dialog Exercises

The rules: Write dialog with no dialog tags and no narration. Write it in such a way that we get character, conflict, and setting. We did this a few weeks ago, and have more examples from you, our daring, sharing listeners! We ran waaay long this time, but it's okay because we spent a bunch of time reading the submissions. After each reading we discuss what went right and what went wrong, and what to learn from it. Lots of principles come out of this, including avoiding Maid-and-Butler dialog, how to write natural banter, how to establish a character with that character's voice, and how dialog-only, "white-room" pieces just can't tell certain types of stories effectively. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Empire of the East, by Fred Saberhagen, narrated by Raymond Todd Writing Prompt: Brandon decided to read the first two paragraphs of Empire of the East to us, because it's all dialog and seemed to fit. Special Guest Appearance: Howard's pants. We haven't heard from them in almost a month. They're back. This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Visit http://AudiblePodcast.com/excuse for a free trial membership*. *Note: From the Audible website, here are the terms of the free membership. Read the fine print, please! Audible® Free Trial Details Get your first 14 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 14 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. A very small number of titles are more than one credit. Cancel your membership before your free trial period is up and you will not be charged. Thereafter, cancel anytime, effective the next billing cycle. Any unused audiobook credits will be lost at cancellation.