Dialogue, Dialogue

If you're like me, you spent the past Thanksgiving weekend talking. Maybe you had relatives over for dinner, or you got to spend extra time with your friends.

In our stories, talking is called dialogue, of course. I always like when I come across dialogue in a story, because it's interesting to see how characters will respond to each other. 

Dialogue serves three roles in a story. 

1) Dialogue gives your readers information.

"How long have you lived here?" Jason asked. 
Bob groaned. "Five long years." 


2) Dialogue reveals something about your characters' personalities and how they speak.

Jennifer and her grandmother stared at the Grand Canyon.
"Cool," said Jennifer.
"Wondrous," said her grandmother.


3) Dialogue moves your story forward.

"What happened?" Leon said.
Angie grabbed her friend's hand. "Come on. This place is going to explode!"

For a fun, silly exercise, write a dialogue between:

• A sports car and an SUV racing for the same parking spot.
• A shoe and a toe.
• A chair and the person about to sit in it.
• A toaster and a piece of bread.
• A snowman and the girl who wants to knock it down. 

Have a good time talking and "dialoguing!" 

Turkey Tot and Talking Animals

Yesterday I went to a fun event at Eagle Harbor Books on Bainbridge Island. I got to help celebrate the publication of Turkey Tot, a new picture book written by George Shannon and illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann.


The afternoon was extra special because George and Jennifer are my friends, and because Turkey Tot is Jennifer's first book. Yay!

Jennifer is also my A+++ critique partner, along with the fabulous Dawn Simon. The three of us form a troika (you can look that one up), meeting every other week to read each other's rough drafts. 

We find ways to make our writing stronger, and sometimes Jen brings her illustration sketches. That's super fun! 

Turkey Tot tells the story of four friends: Chick, Pig, Hen, and Turkey Tot, who's "been different since the day he hatched." 

Turkey Tot is determined to get those blackberries the four friends can't reach, and you know what? It turns out that being different might be just the excellent thing they need.

The dialogue in Turkey Tot features talking animals, of course. They sound exactly how I imagine Chick, Pig, Hen, and Turkey Tot would talk if I came across them in the barnyard.

Have you written a story with talking animals? Give it a try. Pick two of your favorite animals and let them star in your story. Your dialogue can be silly or serious, clever or crafty.

As Turkey Tot would say--well, check out the funny, wonderful Turkey Tot and you'll see! 

Let Your Characters Talk!

What if your characters could talk to each other? They do, you say? Of course, that's called dialogue.

But what if two characters from two different stories could talk to each other? What if Bob the turtle from your story "I'm All Green" could talk to Vanessa the waitress in your story "The Sensational Sunshine Diner?"

Try it out. Pick a character from one of your stories. Then pick a character from another story. Now write a dialogue between the two of them. Let them talk on paper and see what happens.

If you don't have two finished stories, choose two favorite books. What if Percy Jackson talked to Max from Where the Wild Things Are? Or what if Junie B. Jones talked to Bud in Bud, Not Buddy? What would they talk about?

Have fun letting your characters talk!