If that title sounds familiar, thank you. It means you may have read the post I did
about two years ago with the same title.
I figure two years is long enough for a rerun. If you missed that post or (which I’m sure is
more likely) you simply don’t remember that far back, I gave a brainstorming
example. Sometimes when I’m stuck on a
conversation between characters, I’ll start writing whatever pops into my head
until something actually sounds good.
In the book I’m currently working on, two characters named Gabriel
and Ruth are reminiscing about a silly dance they used to do when they were
kids. Gabriel asks why they stopped
doing the dance. These are some of the
responses I imagined from Ruth.
“It stopped being
about mocking your parents pretty quickly.”
“Was it ever?” Gabriel
asked. “I mean, we were just having
fun.”
“How many times did we
do that when your parents weren’t even in the room?”
“Too many times to
count.”
“I’m sure we looked
even more ridiculous than your parents.”
“No, I think they
looked sillier because they were old and we were fourteen.”
“That dance was always
stupid.”
“Stupid fun is the
best kind.”
“I still don’t know if
they did that just to be mocked or if it was the way they really danced.”
“I don’t think it was
either. I think it was a spur of the
moment thing. They didn’t care if they
got mocked by a couple of kids.”
Which of these responses did I choose? None of the above. I only start listing a bunch of possible
lines when I’m really stuck. And
sometimes I’m still stuck when I’ve exhausted the list. But... this is only the first draft. There is still hope for better inspiration
when I’m editing the scene. It’s early
enough that I could even delete this troublesome conversation altogether. I’m hoping for inspiration.