Dio

The question in this thread is not only genre-specific but situation dependent. That said, these are a few ideas I keep in mind when I'm writing a verbal fight scene: Short dialogue doesn't need he said - she saids. But sometimes making sure readers know who's speaking is necessary. 'Character is plot.' Thank you Henry James. Character is also conflict. Conflict should be kept in character. Sound simple? It isn't. Keep it in mind. First person writers have the most trouble with this concept... Character thoughts to a minimum (unless you have a character making some sort of significant plot-relevant internal monologue discovery revealed over the course of the argument). I cringe whenever I see what might might have once been a clever exchange broken-up by overwriting. Often a sign you're trying to hard. Sometimes less is more! Often what isn't said is a heck of a lot more important than what is said. That's the whole basis for the greatest verbal conflict, after all: the so-called 'misunderstanding'. Or sometimes we argue about small irrelevant things and ignore the source of the conflict entirely. Characters...'do stuff' when they argue. It sounds a bit ridiculous to point this out, but most people get lazy and end up with two talking heads, or a bunch of interrupted dialogue with lots of thoughts and crummy continuity. 'A picture is worth a thousand words' can apply to writing just as much as art. Er...that's my five minutes of thought on the matter. This is a bit of an aside: Is style really that separate from substance? How an argument is conducted impacts its purpose--even content. What you include is equally as important as how it is included. I think they're both intertwined. Unless you're talking pure mechanics, I guess. xoxo ~sands

WHAT!? I wasn't aware you provided such a service! I've been missing out. Letsee... ahem Dear James, Lately my athlete's foot has been acting up. Now, normally I wouldn't be bothered (aside from the itching), but my boyfriend has a foot fetish and refuses to look at me until I get it fixed. Please help. Sincerely, Anon.

The question you need to ask yourself is: 'What are these thoughts (of William's) accomplishing?' I mean, is this a guy who thinks about sex all the time? If so, this might be an amusing humorous underpinning to your character; someone who pulls out sexual innuendo in all the wrong (or...right) places. On the other hand, this kind of line reeks of fan service. 'Nuff said. db

There's definitely a boundary people should not cross regardless of being young and on adrenalin or not. Aside from that: Anyone can trash talk--but it doesn't mean anything. Taunting, on the other hand, is an art. And you certainly don't need epithets or cussing to really get under someone's skin. As long as you keep winning... mwahaha Half the fun is listening to these whiny little teens swearing and using epithets and then giggling quietly in the background with their little blue-balled friends. If it bothers you, there's always mute. They're not even worth the trouble to insult properly. They do that fine all by themselves. Ignore the attention whores, and like good little doggies, they'll shut up or leave. sands

I can't decide which is more pathetic: that I'm totally staying up all night so I can start right at 12:01am, or the fact that practically everyone I know in my area is joining me. lol Good luck everyone who's participating!

I'm almost afraid to ask: Just what sort of story are you writing exactly?

Five more days... *gnaws nails*

While the second one is amusing, there are a couple of places in his/her lesson I don't agree with. Great links though. First one was fun. Thanks for sharing.

Exactly. Snot magicians being persecuted for their sticky-finger practices was abhorrent. Outrageous. So, anyways, I was thinking Lugh. Your dude could have no arms or legs; but he propels himself around by viciously sneezing then rolling backwards in a ball. Of course, if he didn't have arms he'd have a hard time picking his nose... So maybe he could have one arm...and one finger. Yeah. One-armed one-fingered sneeze-ball rolling hero. A very sympathetic character readers will no doubt relate with. But then, if he only had one arm I suppose when he sneeze-rolled he'd probably end up just going in circles, so maybe he needs a second arm. But then, Two-armed one-fingered sneeze-ball rolling hero just doesn't sound as cool, although the sex scenes would be slightly more plausible. Food for thought. -db-

Good luck! Sounds like fun. Yeah...why am I not surprised. I had such high expectations for you too...

And your hero should excel at snot magic. I don't think that's been done before. Yum.

Nice to see you're still writing. I can't wait to see a finished product (someday)... hugs db

Taking a shower cures my writer's block. Don't ask me why. If I get stuck I go for a run or something similar, have a shower, and everything starts flowing again. But, like Lugh mentioned, I write everyday so writer's block hasn't really been a problem for a while. Ummm. Also, I previously got around blocks by picking up a book, flipping to a random page and copying it word for word out onto my computer while analyzing how they wrote a particular scene or why they used particular structure etc. Always seemed to get my brain in gear and made the writing process smoother. After a while I'd stop focusing on the book and my brain would naturally trail back to what I was stuck on earlier. Good luck!

My only objection is that the site (in the past) gets super laggy once November comes and people start updating their word counts obsessively. Other than that...

According to the WBC loving my boyfriend is actually hating him. :wacko: Every country needs their righteous inbred religious crazies.