Try This! - Collect Snips of Dialogue

From Melanie Izard - 

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My most recently created journal is small and green, with “Melanie” written on the cover. I originally received it from my Girl Scout troop leader to keep a daily log about a plant, for a project we were doing. Once I realized my plant had died, I ripped out those pages and the notebook was as good as new. The green book is for dialogue I hear in my own life that reminds me of stories. Overheard arguments. Creative phrases used to insult others. Sentences said by my friends that perfectly capture a moment. When I was younger my biggest frustration was that my life was not a book. Writing down these phrases- things that sound like they belong in a book- makes me finally feel like my life is not boring. Heck, my life could be a book. Nobody might read it, but it could. And if my life were to be a book, I would write about those phrases and words that are truly interesting, not about the clothes I wear to school. I love my new way of journaling, and it loves me back.
Pay attention to the words that others say. Listen to interesting phrases, and gather them into your own notebook. You might sit in a public place and listen for interesting snips of stranger-conversation or you might copy down words spoken by those you know. Keep these in your own notebook (maybe a dialogue notebook like this green one) and they may come in handy for future projects.

Click to Enlarge these Notebook Pages


Melanie Izard writes at the WNY Young Writer's Studio.

1 comment:

  1. Wonderful idea, Melanie. (I've "eavesdropped" and quietly written down colorful bits of conversation while waiting on my car to be serviced, more than once! It's great to capture those flavors of speech in the moment.)

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