“Give me the remote!”
“No! Big Bang Theory is on!”
“I don’t care! I want to watch the Vampire Diaries!”
“I can’t believe you just did that!”
Do you have any idea who’s talking?
Do you know if it is a boy or a girl talking?
Do you know how old the people (possibly not people) are?
Do you have any idea what they are doing?
Do you have any idea where they are?
Yeah, no details what’s so ever, but it works for me. I know the answers to all those questions.
Maddie (17) is watching the Big Bang Theory on their puke green sofa eating cup ramen noodles when Stacey (11) plops down on the couch steals Maddie’s ramen noodles, drinks all the yummy broth, and makes a grab for the remote. In Stacey’s efforts to get the remote, she spills hot ramen noodles all over Maddie’s new skirt she was wearing for her study date with the cute guy from her math class (he is coming over after the Big Bang Theory because no matter how hot the guy is, no one comes between Maddie and her Big Bang Theory especially not Stacey). Maddie’s new skirt is ruined and she has red splotches on her legs from the hot ramen. Stacey steals the remote and watches Vampire Diaries WHILE BIG BANG THEORY IS ON (not even waiting for commercials).
I could just add “Stacey plops down on the sofa and steals the remote from Maddie”, but tags slow me down. Typing “he said”, “she said”, or action tags ruins my flow. Dialogue comes easily for me, but I don’t have super memory allowing me to remember what I was thinking 30 minutes later. I can remember (or improvise) who did what later. Normally, I get this idea of a witty piece of dialogue that needs to be written, and if I took the time to type tags, I might forget what was said that was so witty.
Pros: I get all my dialogue that I love
Cons: I don’t get internal dialogue which is just as important
Over time, I’ll probably have to find a more effective method, but for now, this is my method.
What weird thing do you do when you write?
