WRITING OBSTACLE

Write a short dialogue that reveals much more about the narrator than the person they are talking to.

Often when writing from the narrator’s perspective, the reader’s attention is on what the narrator is seeing and hearing. By inverting this, a great sense of character can be created. What does their conversation reveal to the reader?

Phone Talk

“Is it that bad?” I wondered out loud. “What is so interesting on your phone?” She put down her device and glanced up at me with an imposed-upon look and replied wearily, “Excuse me! What did you want to talk about?” I was stumped. There was nothing I wanted to talk about . . . other than perhaps to say something like ‘I wish I was engaged with something as fully as you are engaged with your phone.’ So, instead I said, “Are you angry with me?” “No,” she barked back at me. “At least not until this moment. I am just catching up with my Facebook feed. Does that bother you? If it does, I will stop and we can talk.” Now I am suddenly afraid that she is going to expect me to engage her in a serious, committed conversation. I do not want that; that would be so boring. “No, don’t. Finish what you are doing. I don’t want to be a bother.” “Listen, Honey, there is nothing more important to me than you. It’s just that I had nothing to do and you said you were going go downstairs into your ‘Man Cave’ and watch the ballgame. So I picked up my phone and opened up Facebook.” “Right,” I said as I walked toward the stairs, “sorry, I do want to watch that game. Do you mind?” She let out a big sigh and said, “No, not at all.” As I looked back over my shoulder at her, I noticed she was in the kitchen putting on her apron. Her phone rested by itself on the arm of the couch.
Comments 2
Loading...