All of us have had conversations that we remember. Sometimes a conversation, or even just a few words from a conversation, can change our lives forever. Dialog is a great literary device, or writing tool, that authors can use to develop their characters and speed their stories along. Now it's your turn to take a dialog driven story out for a spin!
Goals for this Unit:
Write a 2 page personal narrative (handwritten and single spaced), centered around a dialogue that changed your life, and post it on your blog. It may be between you and anybody else you like. There could even be more than just two speakers involved. It could be about a serious and sad situation, or a funny and amusing one. It’s important to make sure your writing sounds like you – use your “voice.” Properly punctuated slang is acceptable (i.e. ‘cause, for because). Your final draft will be posted on your blog. Please include at least one image. Use the rules for punctuating dialog, below.
Include:
1. A clear description of the setting at the beginning, which sets the mood, or atmosphere, for the story (Where and when does this conversation take place? With whom are you speaking? What happened, or what was said to start the conversation?).
2. A dialog between yourself and one, or many, others. Your dialog should build to a dramatic climax, when that one memorable line was spoken, and then lead back “downwards” (falling action), towards your resolution.
3. A resolution that tells about what you learned, and how your life was different after the conversation.
4. At least 3 examples of different literary devices - including simile, metaphor, repetition, alliteration, foreshadowing and personification.
Rules for Punctuating Dialog:
When you are writing narrative, as in fiction, words spoken by a character are enclosed in quotation marks. Explanations of actions are not. Look at this dialogue closely to notice where words are capitalized. (Notice that “he said” or “replied Jane,” is not a complete sentence.)
"So this is a dialog, " said Tarzan.
"Yes, that's right.” Jane untied the vines around her grammar and punctuation handbook. "You'll notice that whenever a new speaker starts talking, he or she begins a new paragraph, even if it's very short."
"Really?" Even a single word gets its own paragraph, if it's a new speaker taking a turn.
"Yes , " replied Jane. "It's a great convenience to the reader. And that way the writer can skip some of the boring ' he said/she said ' stuff, as long as it's clear who's talking." Notice that a quotation within a quotation is enclosed in single quote marks
"The paragraphs have to be indented and everything?"
"Yup. But of course if the same speaker keeps on talking, it stays within the same set of quotation marks. If one speaker talks for a while and changes the topic, so that you'd want to start a new paragraph, then you show that by not closing the quotes at the end of the paragraph, but opening the quotes at the beginning of the next.
"Tarzan, where are you going with that grammar book? Please give me that." Since Jane continued to speak when she changed the subject, her words got a new paragraph, but didn't close the quotation in the previous paragraph.
© 2006 Ellen Gruber Garvey –
