Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

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Seamus
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Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by Seamus » January 20th, 2010, 1:43 pm

I have no authority and virtually no credentials. Undaunted by my lack of qualifications, I'm asking my fellow forum members to shake it up a little with 300-400 words of dialogue between three characters of any gender, one being of 80 years, another of 50 years and another of 20 years. They are sitting at the gate of a plane that is already an hour late to depart, just after an anouncement that the plane will be further delayed. They are traveling from Washington, DC to St. Louis, MO. You can decide other detials, like whether they know each other or not. No winner, no prizes. It might be fun just to see different takes on this. Submit your entry by comments to this topic. Submit your words of encouragement likewise. Submit nothing if this is a really dumb idea.
J. Seamus Welsh
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Blog (a playful place to experiment with character voices): http://oh-thereyouare.blogspot.com/
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Crystal
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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by Crystal » January 20th, 2010, 7:28 pm

Oh, I like this idea. I will play along...tomorrow. :)
Working my very first attempt at a mystery novel. 1st draft

MaryLA
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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by MaryLA » January 21st, 2010, 6:55 am

What about some futuristic conversation? Vitruvian travel in the year 2030.

Greta: The queue for the body scanner is to your left, iif they call us. I always think of those blue x-ray images as resembling Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, that figure spreadeagled out on some kind of cosmic wheel, enslaved by the symmetry of proportions. Lovely intriguing sketch. I should have studied art back then when Europe still existed

Evo: Do you know that they can detect drops of sweat between your shoulder blades? It isn't just surveillance, more like a form of mind reading.

Greta: Don't talk like that, you'll frighten Mido. Once we are through the wind eye, we shall be fine.

Mido: Don't talk over me like that. We may not be flying at all if there are any more delays. And all that anti-radiation stuff is making my stomach hurt. Do I have to list both of you as my flight guardians?

Evo: Safer for you if you don't include me. Some contamination on the flight last year, I may be considered a medium security risk.

Greta: When I used to fly this route, you were able to move around, no armed guards in the lockdown onboard. And back then we were allowed to stay conscious for the flight. Look down on clouds below. Whitish clouds, if I recall, even glimpses of lthe fields and rivers.

Mido: How did my mother cope with that? She can't even use a sealed drive-through over the Potomac, she gets such vertigo. If the flight is cancelled again, I want one of the new emetics before we leave the airport. I'll take my chances with contamination.

Evo: Mido, don't talk like that. You''ll have your flying hours curtailed. Do you think I enjoy being strip-searched and taking veracity meds each time we have to travel?

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Seamus
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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by Seamus » January 21st, 2010, 12:32 pm

Okay, since there are no rules, I'll enter one:

The young woman at the counter had long since stopped making eye-contact with anyone, and a strand of hair was falling over her brow from her otherwise neatly-tied bun. She then picked up the phone in front of her, dialed two digits and was heard overhead saying, "Ladies and gentlemen flying American 2351 to St. Louis, I have been told that we will be holding a while longer. There are region-wide delays because of the weather. We will let you know just as soon as we are able to fly."

Anthony turned to his father and grandfather sitting in the seats nearest him, facing the large windows. "Sorry, grandpa. We've already been waiting an hour."

"Oh, me?" Grandpa Meadows asked, looking up from his slouch. "I got time. Doesn't do much good to fret about the weather. Never has changed a thing."

"Dad, can I get you something?" Stephen Meadows said to his aging father.

"Oh, no, no," Grandpa replied. "I had plenty to eat at the house. You know it rained the last time we did this. That's when your mother was still alive. We had a heck of a time getting out of DC and she kept calling and saying maybe we should call it off. She was such a worrier. She said that you never know when one of those bolts of lightning was going to strike one of these planes."

"Yeah, I remember Grandpa," Anthony replied, sitting next to his grandfather. "I was just 16 then. "I didn't really want to go, because I had just gotten my driver's license and all I wanted to do was stay here and drive places with my friends."

"Oh, yeah," his father replied, as though suddenly coming awake. "You were also in that 'everyone older than 30 is lame' phase. It took us three days to get you to smile last time. I remember wondering if we'd ever have you for this trip again. Anyway, the way it looks, it's going to be too late to get to the cabin tonight. I wonder if we shouldn't make reservations in St. Louis somewhere and just stay there tonight."

“Nonsense, Stephen,” his father chided. “I won’t be doing too many more of these fishing trips with you two and I’m not wasting any time in a hotel.”

“Dad. . .”

“What? I’m eighty, and carrying fishing gear to remote places in Missouri maybe a little out of my reach soon. I’m old enough to know that I’d better enjoy every minute. I know a couple of younger guys who don’t quite get that the minutes at the end are no shorter or longer than the ones at the beginning of your life. Spend them all with the same care.”

“What was the worst minute you’ve ever spent, Grandpa?”

“Not telling,” Grandpa said, looking up with resolve. “The would mean spending this one thinking about it. Problem with dwelling on the bad ones is that you’ve polluted a whole new batch of them, just by remembering.”
J. Seamus Welsh
welsh.john.seamus@gmail.com
Blog (a playful place to experiment with character voices): http://oh-thereyouare.blogspot.com/
Website (shameless self-promotion): http://www.inwrittenform.com

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Seamus
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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by Seamus » January 24th, 2010, 6:10 pm

So much for generating activity. Anyone care to hazard why the lack of interest? (I have a thick skin, really. Sniff Sniff)
J. Seamus Welsh
welsh.john.seamus@gmail.com
Blog (a playful place to experiment with character voices): http://oh-thereyouare.blogspot.com/
Website (shameless self-promotion): http://www.inwrittenform.com

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abc
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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by abc » January 24th, 2010, 10:05 pm

I like that you're posting a challenge. I feel, well, challenged (which might be how Brett Favre feels at this very moment. Along with despair?)

Of course, I'm also feeling chicken.

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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by a_r_williams » January 25th, 2010, 1:05 pm

Seamus wrote:So much for generating activity. Anyone care to hazard why the lack of interest? (I have a thick skin, really. Sniff Sniff)
I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the challenge. People just have different things that interest them and that they will respond to. You may want to try to post topics like these in the procrastination section of the forum. It may help generate more of a response, since people who are going there are usually looking for something fun to do, while people who check the other parts may be looking for information.

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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by a_r_williams » January 25th, 2010, 1:56 pm

Josh reclined back, his legs spreading outward, and cupped his hands behind his head. "Damn, I can't believe I arrived two hours early just to make sure I got through security on time. Now, I'm gonna have to wait for another two hours just to board the damn plane."

The business man sitting next to him folded his copy of The Wall Street Journal in half. "I've seen worse. I've travelled all over the world. All kinds of weather, all types of problems. Hurricanes, terrorism, snow storms. You name it, I've been delayed by it."

"I met my Martha in a hold over in San Francisco," the old man sitting across from them said.

"Oh, yeah!" Josh sat up, drummed his fingers against his knees.

The old man nodded his head. "1966. I was just coming back from a tour in 'Nam."

"Serious? My uncle was killed over there."

"I didn't even like her when we met."

The business man smiled. "That doesn't matter. I loved my first wife when we met. Loved the second one too. Divorced them both."

"Oh."

"She was one of those hippies," the old man grinned. "I looked at her and knew she was trouble."

"Trouble. My third wife was trouble."

"We started talking and we had more in common than I would have thought," the old man said. He scratched his head, a strand of hair was pushed out of place.

"My girl's from Cali. Can't wait to see her again. It's been too long."

"Don't get married, kid. Just keep your head down and do your job. Love 'em and leave them. Don't get fooled."

"It would be forty years together, this May."

"Forty years! Damn, that's a long time."

The old man nodded. "Enjoyed every day I spent with her."

The business man grunted. "Hated every day with each one of my wives."

"So, how'd you know?"

"You just know. There is something about the right person that will make you feel..."

"Like jumping off a bridge."

"No, serious. How long did it take for you to know?"

"A while, but I the longer I knew her the more I knew."

"My girl, she keeps bugging me, you know. It's real annoying."

"Do you love her?"

"Hmmph, don't do it."

"Well, I guess."

The old man shook his head. "You're not ready then. You have to know."

"I can tell you when to leave them kid."

"Oh, yeah! When's that."

The business man grinned. "Soon as they start bugging you to marry them."

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Seamus
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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by Seamus » January 25th, 2010, 2:05 pm

To A_R_Williams: Nice post. I really enjoyed the tension you built between a romantic and a cynic.
J. Seamus Welsh
welsh.john.seamus@gmail.com
Blog (a playful place to experiment with character voices): http://oh-thereyouare.blogspot.com/
Website (shameless self-promotion): http://www.inwrittenform.com

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Re: Quick Writing Challenge - Dialogue between 3 generations

Post by a_r_williams » January 26th, 2010, 2:42 pm

Seamus wrote:To A_R_Williams: Nice post. I really enjoyed the tension you built between a romantic and a cynic.
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it :)

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