Weekly Writing Assignment #8: The Argument
Let’s face it: Conflict is part of the human experience. Wars, both public and private, both grand and small, persist throughout our lives. Of course, some people live for conflict…live for the argument. Then there’s this:
This week, your assignment is to write a dialogue between two or more people having an argument. And by dialogue I mean NO NARRATIVE. (Sorry to be so emphatic, but people have been having some issues following instructions lately.) No need for paragraphs of introduction or descriptions of the scene.
You may include small descriptions of the characters’ body language, since non-verbal communication is as much a part of an argument as what is actually said. The characters can be any relation: spouses, parents, children, parents and their children, parents and other people’s children, coworkers, a boss and an employee, a bus driver and a bus rider, complete strangers, etc.
I’m not giving any length limit this week…so please do not send me any novels!
Send your completed assignment to weeklywritingassignment@gmail.com. Please include the assignment number in the subject of your email. Please also include your name and email in the header of your entry. And if you are on Twitter, please let me know what your Twitter ID is so I can tweet it.
Due date: Midnight, September 14, 2009.
Late assignments will not be accepted.
Good luck!
September 9th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
No, it isn’t.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
no offence, some of your instructions are confusing.
Question: So do we just write this assignment like
Mother:
Child:
Mother:
Child:
this?
September 9th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Lea, no offence but the instructions are perfectly clear.
(I’m doing the assignment through the comments on this page).
September 9th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
None taken! In fact, it’s great when people ask questions. You can write it in any format you’d like. You could write it like a play or script (the way you demonstrated), or as a fictional dialogue. For example:
“Mother?” said the child.
“Yes, my dear?” said the mother.
What you should not do is spend a huge amount of time describing the scene. Describing how the characters act in terms of body language is o.k. But mostly, you should concentrate on the actual argument: what are they saying, how are they saying it, what is the issue at stake.
One of Weekly Writing Assignment’s very first finalists did a great job of creating an entire scene almost exclusively through dialogue. Check out Gavin St. Our’s entry Untitled.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:30 am
Alright, Thank you. I get extreamly confused sometimes, even if its about the most basic things.
September 13th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
[Okay Coordinator I have my timer on! Here goes :]
A: “Kill him.”
B: “Why that one?”
A: “Look how he slops his coffee cup!”
B: “Is THAT a reason?”
A: “Yesssssssssssssssssssssssss!”
B: “Maybe he has family?”
A: “Would you own HIM? You are doing them a favour.”
B: “You sure about this…?”
A: “LOOK at him! Disgusting, dribbled egg on his chin. Can’t even hold his cereal bowl without spilling half of it! He needs putting down.”
B: “If you’re sure…?”
A: “Yessss! You’re not getting squeamish?”
B: “We DO need the bed……..I saw him take his dish of pills but no one’s checked him off. I could give him another lot….. At 89 he’s better off dead.”
A: “Let’sssssssss DO IT!”
[TITLE: Diatribe with the Devil in a Nursing Home]
September 14th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Here’s my submission: http://www.quixoticjedi.com/2009/09/14/weekly-writing-assignment-8-the-argument/
May 19th, 2010 at 5:18 am
Lea, no offence but the instructions are perfectly clear.
(I’m doing the assignment through the comments on this page).