With all the traveling I’ve been doing for Con and drill, and trying to write a book, polish another, plot another, and put together two book proposals (because why not), (and oh yeah, start up a new literary journal) these Friday exercises have been taking a little bit of a hit. Actually, so has my whole blogging life. However, the writing must flow–or the spice, or a little bit of both. So here is this week’s #WriteFridays writing exercise, designed to put a little conflict into your characters.
Exercise 23: Cutting the Feedback Loop. One of your characters is desperately trying to carry on a conversation with another, but no matter how he or she tries, it’s not happening. The partner either can’t or won’t hold up his or her side of the back-and-forth. What are they trying to talk about? Why can’t they talk? Is it a physical block? Or a mental/emotional wall? Can the characters resolve it, or are they doomed to part ways or worse, stay together forever without being able to talk to each other.
Sketch a dialogue–such as it may be–between your two characters. Use actions where necessary to communicate when words fail. See what happens when you let a conversational block/conflict push the scene forward.
Mom’s all like, “Blah, blah, blah, get off the bed.” But whatever, I’m a dog.
