Remembering The Life And Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Today.

I think that if you want relationships depicted in your fiction – whether primary media or fan-work – to be emotionally compelling, there's really no getting around the fact that one of the most compelling relationship dynamics in fiction is "hey, wouldn't it be fucked up if".

Muchas veces, la gente no sabe lo que quiere hasta que se lo muestras.

Steve Jobs (via elcielosobremi)

A World Intellectual Property Day Quiz

Do you know what you need to know in order to preserve and maintain your intellectual property?

| 5am | nick |

Baraja de cartas con cartas hipnóticas

Baraja de cartas con cartas hipnóticas

How To Write Dialogue

🦢        ―        &. DIALOGUES . ( what is it? purpose,? types? things to avoid? )

What Is Dialogue, And What's Its Purpose?

Dialogue, as everyone knows, is what the characters in novels, plays, screenplays — basically any kind of creative writing where characters speak — say out loud.

For most writers, dialogue is one of the things we look forward to. It's the opportunity to let the characters' motivations, flaws, knowledge, fears and more come to life! By writing dialogues, you're giving them (the characters) their own voice, fleshing them out from concepts into three-dimensional characters.

Dialogues have multiple purposes — one of them is to characterize your characters. You can learn a lot about somebody's mindset, background, emotional state, and such more from how they speak.

Dialogue makes your writing feel more immersive as well! It breaks up long prose passages and gives your readers something to "hear" other than your narrator's voice. It can communicate subtext, like showing class differences between characters through the vocabulary they use or hinting at a shared history between them. Most times, a narrator's description just can't deliver information the same way that a well-timed quip or a profound observation by a character can.

Monologues

In contrast with dialogues, monologues are a single, usually lengthy passages spoken by one character. They are often part of plays.

A character may be speaking directly to the reader or viewer, or they could be speaking to one or more other characters. The defining characteristic of a monologue is that it's one character's moment in the spotlight to express their thoughts, ideas, and/or perspective.

Often, a character's private thoughts are delivered via monologue. This is called an internal monologue. An internal monologue is the voice an individual (though not all) "hears" in their head as they talk themselves through their daily activities.

Types Of Dialogue

Inner dialogue is the dialogue a character has inside their head. This can be a monologue. In most cases, inner dialogue is not marked by quotation marks. Some mark them by italicizing it.

Outer dialogue is a dialogue that happens externally, often between two or more characters. This goes inside quotation marks.

Things To Avoid When Writing Dialogue

1) Using a tag for every piece of dialogue. Dialogue tags are words like said and asked. Once you've established that two characters are having a conversation, you don't need to tag every piece of dialogue Doing so can be redundant and breaks the reader's flow. Once the readers know each character's voice, many lines can stand alone.

2) Not using enough tags. On another hand, some writers use too few dialogue tags, which can confuse readers. The readers should always know who's speaking. When a character's mannerisms and knowledge don't make that obvious, tag the dialogue and use their names.

3) Dense, unrealistic speech. Dialogues don't need to be grammatically correct. When it's too grammatically correct, it can make characters seem stiff and unrealistic.

4) Anachronisms. A pirate in 1700s Barbados wouldn't greet his captain with "what's up?" Depending on how dedicated you (and your readers) are to historical accuracy, this doesn't need to be perfect. But it should be believable.

Part 2 coming soon.

'Imagine your OTP' Prompts

Imagine your OTP in these scenarios and write it.

Fluffy fluff

Imagine your OTP where Person A is learning a new language and likes to say a few words to Person B in that language every day. They say it means random things, like “the door is open” but it really is a love confession. + if Person B finds out what it really means ++ if Person B answers one day

Imagine your OTP saying I love youto each other five times without the actual (romantic) meaning of it. + if one time they say it right

Imagine your OTP where Person A doesn’t have a birthday so Person B says they are allowed to choose the date. And they choose a day that they associate with Person B.

Imagine your OTP trying to bake cookies together and failing beautifully. It’s one big mess and in the end, they are lying on the floor, covered in flour and not able to stop smiling.

Imagine your OTP with Character A secretly learning Character B’s mother language to say stupid pick-up lines to them.

Supportive fluff

Imagine your OTP where Person A is really passionate about a social injustice and wants to go to a demonstration. Person B is not affected by that injustice, but turns up at Person A’s house with protest signs.

Imagine your OTP being next door neighbours that don’t know each other. But after a particular long night out Person A can’t unzip their dress (or can’t get the knot out of their horribly tied tie; get creative!) and they’re home alone. After struggling for a long time, they have to accept that they need help. And that’s what brings them to Person B’s door in the middle of the night.

Imagine your OTP where Person A would like to have a child, but doesn’t want to wait for a spouse and a nice house any longer, so they find Person B to co-parent with them.

Chaotic fluff

Imagine your OTP where Persons A + B always fight with each other, but they have a common friend and they both plan a surprise party for Person C’s birthday. + if they find out about the other party and try to sabotage them ++ if they have to cooperate eventually

Imagine your OTP trying to cook an elaborate dinner for their friends/families but it’s possible that they exaggerated a little bit while talking about their cooking skills and now they have to face the chaos together.

Imagine your OTP where Persons A & B sit together in class and Person A never brings anything so they always steal everything from Person B. + if Person B finally has enough

Imagine your OTP where both partners want to surprise the other one with a wonderful date but all of their cleverly thought-out plans fail and it looks like this is going to go down in history as the worst Valentine’s Day ever. + if it’s actually not that bad in the end

Imagine your OTP where Character A and B both applied to the same job and now have to work together for a day, before it gets decided who gets the job.

Imagine your OTP where the friends of Characters A and B try to be matchmakers on Halloween and get them each in one part of a couple’s costume without them knowing. + if they only find out they form a couple’s costume because people at the party keep coming up to them to tell them how cute they are ++ if they only see each other later in the night to see if everyone’s right about them

Imagine your OTP where Person A works in retail and Person B keeps coming into the shop and asks for help with the most ridiculous things. + if Person A loses it one day and confronts Person B about their motive

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Guide: Choosing a Love Interest

Lots of us have been there: you're merrily plotting or writing along, thinking you know who your character's love interest is, and suddenly there's another possibility. Maybe even a few possibilities, and now you have to choose. Here are some exercises to help you narrow it down...

1) Do a Chemistry Summary

For each potential love interest, summarize the chemistry they have with your character. What are their similarities and differences? What do they have in common? What do they like about each other? What is it about them that just... works?

2) Look at Plot-Relevant Decisions

Make a list of plot-relevant decisions your character will make throughout the story. For example, let's say your character goes to dinner at a steakhouse and bump into someone who inadvertently offers a clue to a mystery your character is trying to solve. Deciding to go to dinner--and to that particular restaurant--is a plot-relevant decision.

Now, once you have your list of plot-relevant decisions made, look at how each potential love interest might affect that decision. For example, if Love Interest #3 happens to be vegan and that's an important part of his character, how does that impact your character's choice to go to a steakhouse on that fateful night? If you were planning to have them at the steakhouse because they're on a first date with the love interest, Love Interest #3 being vegan would certainly impact that choice. And not to say it doesn't work... steakhouses serve salads and vegetables after all... but it's still something worth considering.

3) Consider Your Character's Internal Journey

If you're writing a story that is partly or fully character-driven, you know that your character's internal conflict and character arc are an important part of your story. Since your character must go on an internal journey, changing as a result of the story's events, it's worth considering how each love interest might positively or negatively impact that change.

4) Do a Romantic Scene List

You may not yet know all the scenes that will be in your story, but you should have some idea of the romantic scenes that will need to happen. First meeting, first realizing their mutual interest, bonding, first time touching in a loving way, first date, first kiss... these kinds of scenes are important to developing a relationship in a story. So, list the scenes you know you'll want to have (like: first kiss), then for each one, consider what that moment might look like with each potential love interest.

5) Do a Pros and Cons List

This may sound obvious, but if you haven't done it yet, try doing a physical pros and cons list for each relationship, especially taking the previous exercises into account. Think about everything from the pros and cons of them actually being together (as people), to the pros and cons of them being together in terms of how it affects the story.

Try these exercises, and hopefully you can at least narrow it down. If not, or if you still find no one stands out as the better option, try drawing a name out of a hat. Truly!

Have fun with your story!

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Don't believe in competition, it creates insecurities. You are what you are! A point from Zain Asher in this little talk "Trust your struggle".