Things People Do In Real World Dialogue:

things people do in real world dialogue:

• laugh at their own jokes

• don’t finish/say complete sentences

• interrupt a line of thought with a sudden new one

• say ‘uh’ between words when unsure

• accidentally blend multiple words together, and may start the sentence over again

• repeat filler words such as ‘like’ ‘literally’ ‘really’ ‘anyways’ and ‘i think’

• begin and/or end sentences with phrases such as ‘eh’ and ‘you know’, and may make those phrases into question form to get another’s input

• repeat words/phrases when in an excited state

• words fizzle out upon realizing no one is listening

• repeat themselves when others don’t understand what they’re saying, as well as to get their point across

• reply nonverbally such as hand gestures, facial expressions, random noises, movement, and even silence

When you write, how do you do your descriptions? I write really great dialogue, but it's the things in between that I struggle with. Do you have any advice?

I usually try to imagine the scene as if I was there. I think the level of detail described in it shouldn’t be excessive, but clear enough to let the reader know where/when the scene is set and what kind of characters and animals live in that place.

Descriptions can also help with the dialogue: they can offer a good topic of conversation to the characters, trigger a chain of consequences, help show the inner thoughts of someone who is admiring the landscape. Try to use them to your advantage and describe what you most feel familiar with.

Even using the actions of the characters to add descriptions to the story is a good way to deal with them, like: “She sat on the edge of the large, creaking bed and traced with a finger the golden figures sewn on the blanket, following the story of a king hunting with his guards. She looked up, her eyes moving to the open window, and admired the last gold sewn into the sky.”

The characters are the ones who get to live in the scene, so try to use them to see the world through their eyes and describe it through them!

I love it

THE FUGAKU TWITTER IS LITERALLY THE FUNNIEST SHIT EVER OH MYGOD

Creating plots with the zigzag method

I’ve learned this method years ago and I’ve been using it ever since. The zigzag plot creator starts like this: 

An crescent zigzag. 

You can have as many up and downs as you want. I’ve drawn six to keep it simple. Alright, this zigzag is your storyline and every corner is an important event that will change everything:

Every down represents a bad thing happening to your main characters, taking them further away from their goal. Every up is a good event, taking them closer to their goal:

So, when the zigzag goes down, something bad must happen. When the zigzag goes up, something good must happen. The reason why we drew a crescent zigzag is because every down must be worse than the previous, and every up must be better than the previous. As the zigzag advances, events become more serious and relevant. 

Let’s apply the zigzag method. My storyline is a detective trying to catch a serial killer in a futuristic city. Minutes later, this is what I’ve got:

Start: Detective, our protagonist, is just promoted

Down #1: Mass suicide happens in town, detective gets the case, the whole town thinks it might have been a religious suicide act, but detective suspects that someone single-handed killed all those people

Up #1: Detective finds clue about a possible killer

Down #2: A bigger mass murder happens, a true massacre, it’s a definitely a murder

Up #2: Detective finds the killer’s trail

Down #3: Thinking he is ahead of time, close to catching the killer, detective ends up dead in another mass murder

Up #3: Because of his notes and discoveries, the police is able to find the killer before they leave town

From this point on you can play with zigzag as much as you want. For example, changing the orientation of the zigzag for a bad ending:

Lots of ups and downs:

Or just a few:

It’s up to you (see what I did there?).

You can plot any type of story with the zigzag method. It’s a visual and easy process for a very complex task.

Magical Integration

In the Armies

>Are there enough magic users for magic users to have their own division? >>Are there any divisions where magic users are preferred to non-magic users? >>Are there any divisions where only magic users will be promoted? >>Are magic users allowed to choose which division they are in, or are their divisions/branches assigned for them based off of what type of magic they can use?

>Are there any types of magic that are barred from use? >>Are these dependent on the division? >>Are these recognized countrywide? >>Are these recognized internationally?

>Which magical abilities are considered the most useful? >>What areas are these abilities considered most useful in? >>Is there any magical ability that’s considered universally useful?

Magic Vs. Technology

For each of the following categories, decide whether magic or technology is superior in the following ways: cost/availability, safety, and quality. >Information gathering >Communication >Travel >>Local >>Inter-city >>Inter-state/province >>International >>Inter-continental >Item manufacturing >Agriculture