Writing Clinic: Dialogue Prompt

Community Posts
1

Hey all,

Just wanted to share a writing prompt that can help with writing dialogue. It’s no secret that dialogue, particularly extended dialogue, is the Achilles Heel of some otherwise great writers. Well, here’s a fun way to work on that, as well as to just try something new.

Prompt: Write a story that consists entirely of spoken dialogue. You may cheat and write the story as a screenplay, where lines are attributed to named characters, but the purpose of the exercise is to practice delivering exposition slowly and naturally. If you feel that a spoken line seems too forced, reconsider how your characters interact with each other and how they reveal information to the reader.

Here is the story I wrote based of this prompt: The Meeting

I opted for three named characters, and little to no screenwriting-style assistance, other than for flavor.

Please let me know if you like this prompt, and feel free to leave a comment below to whatever story you write as part of this prompt.

Thanks for reading, hope you have a wonderful day.
-Rabbit.

9 Likes
2

I had fun with this.

2 Likes
3

My attempt was based off an earlier story idea I had, but I wanted the scientist to be more nuanced than a straight up abuser. This story format prompt gave me the right push to streamline down to the story twist and to make both characters appear to be more normal, rather than ballooning out the entire thing with unnecessary exposition for the setup.

Thanks for the prompt, Rabbit! :slight_smile:

4

I’ll probably do another prompt this weekend. I just don’t wanna flood the board with my posts. I really enjoy writing, and I learn a lot by doing this type of thing.

1 Like