Talk the Talk. Penny Penniston
nervous and dictatorial talk?
Always remember that the most interesting voices and the best dialogue writing come with a blend of flavors. Characters who speak with only one tone and in only one dimension are flat, predictable, and stereotypical. The most powerful technique for adding interest to a character's voice is to add multiple dimensions to that voice.
LESSON 3: SCRIPT ANALYSIS EXERCISE
NOTE: In this exercise, beginning and intermediate writers should analyze published work by established authors. See the Appendix for a list of suggestions. Advanced writers have the option of bringing in their own work for analysis.
Have each writer bring in a two- to three-page dialogue scene from a play or screenplay. Make sure that everyone has the opportunity to read the scenes to themselves (not out loud) before the beginning of the discussion.
For Discussion:
1. What tones do you hear in each character's voice?
2. What do those tones tell you about each character in this scene?
3. Is the group in any disagreement about the tones? (For example, does one reader feel that a character is being sarcastic while another feels that a character is being sincere?) If so, what in the script has led to these different interpretations?
4. What lines, in particular, bring out the strongest or clearest tones?
5. What lines, in particular, seem to have multiple tones or dimensions?
6. Does the balance of tones in each character's voice ever shift? If so, when? Why?
7. Do any tones seem to be missing? For example, is there some bit of subtext or tension going on in the scene that does not seem to manifest itself in the dialogue?
LESSON 3: BEGINNER EXERCISE
This is a list of tones you might hear in a character's voice. Feel free to add to the list.
abrasive
alert
anxious
arrogant
bewildered
bitter
bored
bright
calm
cheerful
clumsy
commanding
creepy
cultured
decorous
defiant
deranged
detail-oriented
domineering
eager
erratic
excitable
exuberant
fanatical
fearful
fearless
flippant
frank
furtive
gentle
grouchy
guilty
hesitant
jittery
laid-back
lonely
meek
morose
naive
nervous
ominous
opinionated
optimistic
paranoid
pessimistic
precise
proud
reckless
reflective
romantic
sarcastic
sensitive
short-tempered
shrewd
squeamish
sullen
taciturn
vague
verbose
vulgar
weary
willful
wry
zany
1. Select one adjective from the list (or draw it out of a hat). Write a monologue with that tone (and only that tone) underlying it.
2. Select another adjective from the list (or draw it out of a hat). Rewrite the previous monologue so that both tones blend into it.
3. In writing the monologues, there is only one rule. The character is never allowed to explicitly tell us the underlying tone. It's cheating to write “I feel sullen,” or “I am detail-oriented.”
For Discussion:
1. Read the first monologue aloud to the group. Have the group guess which adjective was the underlying tone for the speech.
2. Why? What is it about the monologue that leads members of the group to select that adjective?
3. Does the writer ever cheat? Is there any point in the monologue where you feel the writer has explicitly told the audience what the underlying tone is supposed to be? If so, where? Could you cut that section out of the monologue and still have the monologue communicate the selected tone?
4. Have the writer reveal which tone word was behind the monologue. If the tone that the writer chose is different than the tone that the group believed it to be, discuss the difference in meaning between the two words. What are the variations in the shades of meaning? How do you recognize that subtle difference in speech?
5. Read the second monologue out loud to the group. Have the group guess which adjective was the second underlying tone for the speech.
6. How did the addition of the second tone change the monologue?
7. After everyone has presented their assignments, discuss which tone combinations made for the most interesting voices. Why were those combinations more effective?
LESSON 3: INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED EXERCISE
Look at the list of words in the Beginner Exercise. It is a list of tones you might hear in a character's voice. Feel free to add to the list.
Select four words from the list (or draw them out of a hat). Write a monologue that blends all four tones together into one character's voice.
For Discussion:
1. Read the monologue out loud to the group. Have the group guess which adjectives supplied the underlying tones to the speech.
2. Why? What is it about the monologue that leads members of the group to select those adjectives?
3. Have the writer reveal which adjectives were behind the monologue. If the words that the writer chose were different than the words that the group selected, try to identify which aspects of the monologue led to the differing opinions.
4. Discuss the balance of the tones in the monologue. Were some tones more dominant than others? What does the relative weight of all of the tones tell you about the character?
5. For the writer: Discuss how the four adjectives helped or hindered your monologue writing process. What choices did the adjectives force you to make? What limitations did they