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Writing Group / Re: Writing Prompts!
« on: January 03, 2011, 10:39:24 PM »
Ok, so I'm new here, though I'm enjoying reading Brandond Sanderson's stuff. I'm trying to become a SF/Fantasy writer myself, and I liked the idea of writing a dialogue only scene. This is inspired by the novel I'm working on, though it doesn't actually occur in the book. After I wrote it, I realized there isn't much fantasy content, though the novel that inspired it is a fantasy novel...anyway, here it is:
**********************************************************
“What happened to your foot?”
“Nothing.”
“But, it’s all black and blue, and your big toe is all swollen!”
“I got into a fight.”
“A fight? That’s ‘nothing’ to you”
“Well, I won!”
“You won- You’re insane!”
“It’s not like I tried to get into a fight! I was jumped from behind as I was enjoying a nice beef sandwich.”
“You were jumped? While eating a beef sandwich? Why?”
“I was hungry.”
“I figured that! Why were you jumped while you were eating a beef sandwich?”
“Well, it could have been because they were hungry. But I’m pretty sure they just wanted the money.”
“The money? What money?”
“The money Jano and I found in the old abandoned house down Chariot Street.”
“Where old Mrs. Hastings lived?”
“Yeah.”
“Didn’t she die a couple weeks ago?”
“Yeah.”
“And didn’t her kids come by and clear everything out that was usable?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, how did you find money in a cleared out house? Isn’t money generally considered usable?”
“Well, Jano thought it would be fun to go poke around inside. You know, and adventure.”
“That sounds like Jano.”
“Yeah, well, he thought maybe they’d forgotten something, and even if they didn’t, it would give us something to do.”
“So, in this heat, you two were looking for something to do, and rather than going down to the bay and swimming, you decided to break into the home of someone who just died, hoping to find something that was forgotten?”
“Yeah. We were gonna go swimming afterwards.”
“How did you get in? Isn’t it all boarded up?”
“Yeah, but I found a lose board and pulled it off. It was pretty easy to squeeze inside. Especially Jano, he’s so scrawny. I’m beginning to think he’s never going to get his growth spurt.”
“Ok, so you just pulled a board off, and Jano was able to wiggle through. How did you get in? Didn’t anyone walking by on a crowded street say anything?”
“Well, I’m not that much bigger than Jano, I was able to fit in pretty easily, to. I did get this scratch on my arm, though.”
“And then?”
“And then I was inside.”
“Geesh, boys! What did you do once you were inside?”
“Well, I asked Jano to help me with my writing, you know, in the dust on a big table they must have left behind on account of it being so big, you know?”
“Uh huh.”
“And I was able to write my name, though it doesn’t look as pretty as when you showed us.”
“Well, I have a teacher to show me how, you’ll get it eventually, if you just keep at it.”
“How do you stand that?”
“Stand what?”
“Having a teacher to tell you all the things you do wrong all the time?”
“Well, it makes it easier if you don’t keep doing things wrong. And after you start to get it, he starts telling you great you’re doing, and it feels really good.”
“Not when Jano tells me I’m doing good, he always makes it a joke, like, ‘Hey Burin, you’re not half bad if you stick your tongue out and concentrate.’”
“Well, Jano’s just jealous that you reached your growth spurt first.”
“Yeah, he likes to call me ‘Squeaks,’ too.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be squeaking soon, and you’ll still be able to hold him off the ground.”
“Yeah, ha ha.”
“Ok, so, you were in the house writing your name in the dust…did you wipe your name off the table, by the way?”
“No, why?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Lina! Why?”
“Well, it just makes it easy for anyone who goes in there after you to know that you were in there.”
“Oh, yeah, um…”
“Oh, don’t look so scared, you didn’t do anything wrong did you?”
“No! We just went upstairs, and when I got up there, I saw something shining over by the window, in the sunlight, you know?”
“Yeah?”
“It was a whole crown!”
“A crown? As in eight marks?”
“Yeah.”
“As in 192 bits?”
“Um, I guess so?”
“24 bits to a mark, eight bits to a crown. Eight times 24 is 192.”
“If you say so, Lina.”
“I do.”
“Well, we had a whole crown, you know?”
“Yes, you’d mentioned that.”
“Yeah, and I was hungry.”
“That’s not too surprising.”
“That’s what Jano said. Well, I’m sick and tired of always having fish, you know? And we had a lot of money, and so I asked Jano if maybe we could get a beef sandwich.”
“Two street orphans with a whole crown, and you wanted a beef sandwich?”
“Yeah, I was hungry, Lina!”
“You couldn’t even wait long enough to come back here and let me get change for you?”
“Jano wanted to, but-“
“You were hungry, yeah, I get it. So, you tried to spend it and you got robbed?”
“Sort of. Jano knew a guy, Mr. Sinder, who sells beef sandwiches. Mr. Sinder seemed to know Jano, he called him by name, and smiled at us. He was missing a few teeth, but that’s ok, the beef smell was making my stomach rumble.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t actually beef, not from a street vendor with missing teeth.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, never mind. What happened next?”
“Well, Mr. Sinder said it would be two bits for a sandwich. I handed him the crown, and he accused us of stealing it!”
“Well, yeah, what did you expect him to do?”
“Well, we wouldn’t steal nothing from nobody, and if he knew Jano, he shoulda known that!”
“You wouldn’t steal anything from – never mind.”
“Well, Jano gets all angry and starts yelling about how we found the crown and that we didn’t steal it.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Mr. Angrypants.”
“Yeah, and we started drawing a crowd, you know, and I tried to get Jano to calm down. Mr. Sinder must’ve seen the crowd, too, cuz he gave me the sandwich and seven marks and a ha’mark back.”
“Wait, he charged you a ha’mark after he said two bits?”
“Yeah, and Jano sure wasn’t happy about that, neither.”
“I bet not.”
“Well, I was able to get Jano to leave without getting into much of another argument, and we ducked down an alley so I could eat it without everyone seeing me.”
“And someone followed you?”
“Yeah. I was enjoying my first bite, when Jano cried out. I opened my eyes and saw an ugly face staring back at me. I ducked and kicked his knee with my foot. He fell down, grabbing his knee, and the other guy threw Jano down on the ground and started coming after me.”
“He threw Jano on the ground? Oh my, is he alright?”
“Calm down! Yeah. He’s fine. He let me do all the fighting.”
“Figures.”
Well, the other guy told me if I gave him the money, he wouldn’t hurt us, even though we’d hurt his friend.”
“You didn’t believe him, did you?”
“Am I stupid? Wait, don’t answer. I held out my hand like I was gonna give him to money, and as he reached for it, I swung my other hand around and punched him in the side of the head.”
“Oh my!”
“He fell down on top of hi friend, Jano stood up and helped me pick up the coins, though I decided to leave the sandwich on the ground where I dropped it, even though I only got to take one bite of it, and I was still hungry, but Jano didn’t want to stop anywhere and let me get another sandwich, not even a stupid fish one!”
“So you just came back here?”
“Yeah, as we started walking, Jano was telling me about places with round coins, can you imagine that? Coins that can roll away from you? Anyway, we started walking and I noticed my foot hurt.”
“You noticed it hurt? It looks like it’s very painful!”
“Not really, I’ve broken toes before.”
“It’s broken?”
“Pretty sure, yeah. So, we get here and Jano sees my foot, and he’s all worried, like you are, and he says he wants to get a doctor or something.”
“You should see someone!’
“No! All they’ll do is tell me stay off of it, and then give me some horrible tasting stuff that doesn’t do anything but make me tired. I’m not going to do anything on my foot, trust me.”
“Boys! If you’re sure…”
“I am! Anyway, Jano ran out to get a bandage to wrap around the toe. That’s all I need, and he should be back pretty soon.”
“Really? He’ll be back soon?”
“Yeah, unless he decides to go on another adventure without me, but he doesn’t do that very often. He says he gets us into things and I get us out.”
“Well, I’ll let you rest then.”
“Don’t you want to wait for Jano to get back?”
“What? No, no, tell him I said, ‘Hi’ though.”
“Ok.”
“And um, tell him if he wants to come to me and my mom’s rooms, I’ll teach him more history and stuff.”
“Sure thing, Lina, I’ll tell him.”
“Thanks, Burin! Good bye!”
“No problem, see ya later! Huh, don’t you think it’s obvious that you want Jano to come visit? Why don’t you just tell him yourself?”
“What? I didn’t hear that with the door closing.”
“Oh, um, nothing, Lina. Bye.”
**********************************************************
“What happened to your foot?”
“Nothing.”
“But, it’s all black and blue, and your big toe is all swollen!”
“I got into a fight.”
“A fight? That’s ‘nothing’ to you”
“Well, I won!”
“You won- You’re insane!”
“It’s not like I tried to get into a fight! I was jumped from behind as I was enjoying a nice beef sandwich.”
“You were jumped? While eating a beef sandwich? Why?”
“I was hungry.”
“I figured that! Why were you jumped while you were eating a beef sandwich?”
“Well, it could have been because they were hungry. But I’m pretty sure they just wanted the money.”
“The money? What money?”
“The money Jano and I found in the old abandoned house down Chariot Street.”
“Where old Mrs. Hastings lived?”
“Yeah.”
“Didn’t she die a couple weeks ago?”
“Yeah.”
“And didn’t her kids come by and clear everything out that was usable?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, how did you find money in a cleared out house? Isn’t money generally considered usable?”
“Well, Jano thought it would be fun to go poke around inside. You know, and adventure.”
“That sounds like Jano.”
“Yeah, well, he thought maybe they’d forgotten something, and even if they didn’t, it would give us something to do.”
“So, in this heat, you two were looking for something to do, and rather than going down to the bay and swimming, you decided to break into the home of someone who just died, hoping to find something that was forgotten?”
“Yeah. We were gonna go swimming afterwards.”
“How did you get in? Isn’t it all boarded up?”
“Yeah, but I found a lose board and pulled it off. It was pretty easy to squeeze inside. Especially Jano, he’s so scrawny. I’m beginning to think he’s never going to get his growth spurt.”
“Ok, so you just pulled a board off, and Jano was able to wiggle through. How did you get in? Didn’t anyone walking by on a crowded street say anything?”
“Well, I’m not that much bigger than Jano, I was able to fit in pretty easily, to. I did get this scratch on my arm, though.”
“And then?”
“And then I was inside.”
“Geesh, boys! What did you do once you were inside?”
“Well, I asked Jano to help me with my writing, you know, in the dust on a big table they must have left behind on account of it being so big, you know?”
“Uh huh.”
“And I was able to write my name, though it doesn’t look as pretty as when you showed us.”
“Well, I have a teacher to show me how, you’ll get it eventually, if you just keep at it.”
“How do you stand that?”
“Stand what?”
“Having a teacher to tell you all the things you do wrong all the time?”
“Well, it makes it easier if you don’t keep doing things wrong. And after you start to get it, he starts telling you great you’re doing, and it feels really good.”
“Not when Jano tells me I’m doing good, he always makes it a joke, like, ‘Hey Burin, you’re not half bad if you stick your tongue out and concentrate.’”
“Well, Jano’s just jealous that you reached your growth spurt first.”
“Yeah, he likes to call me ‘Squeaks,’ too.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be squeaking soon, and you’ll still be able to hold him off the ground.”
“Yeah, ha ha.”
“Ok, so, you were in the house writing your name in the dust…did you wipe your name off the table, by the way?”
“No, why?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Lina! Why?”
“Well, it just makes it easy for anyone who goes in there after you to know that you were in there.”
“Oh, yeah, um…”
“Oh, don’t look so scared, you didn’t do anything wrong did you?”
“No! We just went upstairs, and when I got up there, I saw something shining over by the window, in the sunlight, you know?”
“Yeah?”
“It was a whole crown!”
“A crown? As in eight marks?”
“Yeah.”
“As in 192 bits?”
“Um, I guess so?”
“24 bits to a mark, eight bits to a crown. Eight times 24 is 192.”
“If you say so, Lina.”
“I do.”
“Well, we had a whole crown, you know?”
“Yes, you’d mentioned that.”
“Yeah, and I was hungry.”
“That’s not too surprising.”
“That’s what Jano said. Well, I’m sick and tired of always having fish, you know? And we had a lot of money, and so I asked Jano if maybe we could get a beef sandwich.”
“Two street orphans with a whole crown, and you wanted a beef sandwich?”
“Yeah, I was hungry, Lina!”
“You couldn’t even wait long enough to come back here and let me get change for you?”
“Jano wanted to, but-“
“You were hungry, yeah, I get it. So, you tried to spend it and you got robbed?”
“Sort of. Jano knew a guy, Mr. Sinder, who sells beef sandwiches. Mr. Sinder seemed to know Jano, he called him by name, and smiled at us. He was missing a few teeth, but that’s ok, the beef smell was making my stomach rumble.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t actually beef, not from a street vendor with missing teeth.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, never mind. What happened next?”
“Well, Mr. Sinder said it would be two bits for a sandwich. I handed him the crown, and he accused us of stealing it!”
“Well, yeah, what did you expect him to do?”
“Well, we wouldn’t steal nothing from nobody, and if he knew Jano, he shoulda known that!”
“You wouldn’t steal anything from – never mind.”
“Well, Jano gets all angry and starts yelling about how we found the crown and that we didn’t steal it.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Mr. Angrypants.”
“Yeah, and we started drawing a crowd, you know, and I tried to get Jano to calm down. Mr. Sinder must’ve seen the crowd, too, cuz he gave me the sandwich and seven marks and a ha’mark back.”
“Wait, he charged you a ha’mark after he said two bits?”
“Yeah, and Jano sure wasn’t happy about that, neither.”
“I bet not.”
“Well, I was able to get Jano to leave without getting into much of another argument, and we ducked down an alley so I could eat it without everyone seeing me.”
“And someone followed you?”
“Yeah. I was enjoying my first bite, when Jano cried out. I opened my eyes and saw an ugly face staring back at me. I ducked and kicked his knee with my foot. He fell down, grabbing his knee, and the other guy threw Jano down on the ground and started coming after me.”
“He threw Jano on the ground? Oh my, is he alright?”
“Calm down! Yeah. He’s fine. He let me do all the fighting.”
“Figures.”
Well, the other guy told me if I gave him the money, he wouldn’t hurt us, even though we’d hurt his friend.”
“You didn’t believe him, did you?”
“Am I stupid? Wait, don’t answer. I held out my hand like I was gonna give him to money, and as he reached for it, I swung my other hand around and punched him in the side of the head.”
“Oh my!”
“He fell down on top of hi friend, Jano stood up and helped me pick up the coins, though I decided to leave the sandwich on the ground where I dropped it, even though I only got to take one bite of it, and I was still hungry, but Jano didn’t want to stop anywhere and let me get another sandwich, not even a stupid fish one!”
“So you just came back here?”
“Yeah, as we started walking, Jano was telling me about places with round coins, can you imagine that? Coins that can roll away from you? Anyway, we started walking and I noticed my foot hurt.”
“You noticed it hurt? It looks like it’s very painful!”
“Not really, I’ve broken toes before.”
“It’s broken?”
“Pretty sure, yeah. So, we get here and Jano sees my foot, and he’s all worried, like you are, and he says he wants to get a doctor or something.”
“You should see someone!’
“No! All they’ll do is tell me stay off of it, and then give me some horrible tasting stuff that doesn’t do anything but make me tired. I’m not going to do anything on my foot, trust me.”
“Boys! If you’re sure…”
“I am! Anyway, Jano ran out to get a bandage to wrap around the toe. That’s all I need, and he should be back pretty soon.”
“Really? He’ll be back soon?”
“Yeah, unless he decides to go on another adventure without me, but he doesn’t do that very often. He says he gets us into things and I get us out.”
“Well, I’ll let you rest then.”
“Don’t you want to wait for Jano to get back?”
“What? No, no, tell him I said, ‘Hi’ though.”
“Ok.”
“And um, tell him if he wants to come to me and my mom’s rooms, I’ll teach him more history and stuff.”
“Sure thing, Lina, I’ll tell him.”
“Thanks, Burin! Good bye!”
“No problem, see ya later! Huh, don’t you think it’s obvious that you want Jano to come visit? Why don’t you just tell him yourself?”
“What? I didn’t hear that with the door closing.”
“Oh, um, nothing, Lina. Bye.”