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The innovative writer will
sometimes write dialogue only,
then fi ll in the blanks.
Scenes, as we previously discussed, are the building
blocks of fi ction. So the writer has to ask, What’s this scene
going to be about? And then he writes it.
That’s the normal routine anyway. But how do you
discover what the scene is about in the fi rst place?
You can think it through fi rst and then write. Or you
can write some of it fi rst and let it unfold.
The best way to do the latter is through dialogue.
Decide who is going to be in the scene. Give each per-
son an agenda, and let them start talking. The dialogue
you write will become the raw material for your scene.
You can justify what comes out of their mouths later.
What happens when you do this is that a character
will often say something you didn’t expect. That’s what
you need to explore.
Stop and do some brainstorming. How does this new
aspect of character fi t into the story? Is it something you
want to keep? If not, you can always backspace and have
the character say something different.
Often, a line of dialogue will give you a new focus for
the scene, a different motivation or agenda. Play with it.
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