So, having been pointed in the direction of Storycraft by my good friend Leah Petersen, which posts weekly writing challenges, I decided to try it out. The rules for this week’s challenge:
Write us a piece which is a dialogue between at LEAST 3 characters, using ONLY dialogue but for an allowance of 1 tag per character. The challenge is to make your characters’ dialogue distinct enough not to need any more than those tags to: a) know who is speaking and; b) learn something about each character. Don’t forget: conflict builds character in writing, as well as life!
My entry is posted below. Enjoy! (BTW, find Storycraft on Twitter here.)
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BRAINDEAD
“Hey, what’re you looking for, man?” Tom said.
“My book.”
“What book?”
“My chemistry book.”
“It’s not in the closet, bro.”
“Uh, how do you know?
“Because, like, why would your chemistry book be in the closet? Doesn’t make any sense.”
“He’s right, Ryan. I haven’t seen it in the closet either.”
“No offense, Jill, but why would you be in our closet in the first place?”
“Be nice, man. She’s just trying to help out. Right, babe?”
“Right. I just meant I haven’t seen it in there, when I was looking for stuff.”
“But you guys are baked on the futon all day every day. You could be sitting on the book for all you know.”
“Doubtful.”
“What’s doubtful, babe?”
“That we’re sitting on the book, like Ryan said. I mean, we’d feel it, wouldn’t we? Like…it’d feel like a lump or something, on our butts?”
“Probably, babe.”
“Don’t either of you have class or something?”
“Depends.”
“On what?” Ryan said.
“What day is it?”
“Monday. It’s Monday.”
“No, no class.”
“What about you, Jill?”
“Maybe?”
“You don’t know if you have class?”
“Tom and I are in the same classes, mostly. So if he doesn’t have class, I guess I don’t either.”
“But babe, you also have that Freshman writing class, remember?”
“You have a freshman writing class…as a Junior?”
“Not her fault, bro. Tell him, babe.”
“Yeah, I had mono, like, almost all of Freshman year. But not from kissing anyone. I got it from my roommate, Jules.”
“I wish you got it from kissing her, babe.”
“Yeah, right, you wish.”
“I know, I just said I wish.”
“Oh, ha. Right.”
“Well, as riveting as it is hearing about your fantasies, Tom, I need to find that book. I had notes written in the margins. Stuff for the midterm.”
“Why didn’t you write the notes on paper, bro? Or use a computer?”
“Yeah, you should use a computer! That way you can’t lose the paper you wrote it in,” Jill said.
“What if the computer dies?”
“Shit. Didn’t think about that.”
“Oh, yeah, but bro…you could back your files up, on one of those…one of things.”
“What things?”
“One of those…external things.”
“External hard drive?”
“Yup, one of those.”
“Look, I like taking notes, with a pencil, and I had to scribble something down in my book for the test. Thus, I need to find the book.”
“Couldn’t you ask your professor to tell you the stuff again, the stuff you’re missing?”
“No, Jill. He’s already cranky all the time, and in a class of 200 people, I’d feel like a real idiot asking him to repeat anything. Plus he’d probably make fun of me in front of everyone.”
“Bummer, dude.”
“Yeah, real bummer, Ryan. Sorry.”
“It’s fine, I just wish I could find this damn—”
“Oh, shit, bro! I know where you book is.”
“You do? Where?”
“I’m using it to prop my desk up. Jill and I were playing flip cup the other day and the desk was uneven.”
“Oh, right! I remember! We had so much fun!”
“You were playing flip cup on your tiny desk in our dorm room, and you used my book as some sort of leveling agent?”
“Yeah, man. It was a blast. Want me to let you know next time we do it?”
“Yes, please.”
“Done and done.”