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“It’s about time we started the meeting,” John-
son said. “Let’s do an agenda check.”
“Do it yourself,” Smith said.
Or:
“Who picks your ties?”
“I quit.”
“Jerk.”
The nice part about this exercise is that even if you
decide to stick with your original dialogue, the list you
came up with provides you with possible subtext or in-
sights about your character.
Play this game as long as you like, and you’re guar-
anteed to come up with fresh material for characters,
scenes, and dialogue.
4. apply the closed-eyes technique.
Describing a physical setting in rich detail is crucial to a
vivid scene. Where do such details come from?
Say your hero has just entered a house where a friend
lives. Close your eyes and “see” this house. Then record
what you see as if you were a reporter on the scene. De-
scribe all of the details as they are revealed to you. Later,
go back and edit out what you don’t need. But by doing
it this way, you’ll give yourself plenty of good, raw mate-
rial to work with.
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5. know what you’re aiming at.
Every scene in your novel should have that moment or
exchange that is the focal point, the bull’s-eye, the thing
you’re aiming at. If your scene doesn’t have a bull’s-eye,
it should be cut or rewritten.
A bull’s-eye can be a few lines of dialogue that turn
the action around or reveal something striking.
It can be as subtle as a moment of realization, or as
explicit as a gunshot to the heart.
Many times, it is found in the last paragraph or two.
Identify that moment so you know what you’re writ-
ing toward.
Then hit the bull’s-eye. You may be a little off target
in the fi rst draft, but that’s what rewriting is for. You’ll
hit it the second or third time.
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