Action and Description for Dialogue in Blog #9:
1) This scene takes place on the roof of a motel on the interstate somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It's June and warm out.
2) It's nighttime
3) Elizabeth and Johnny are together on the roof looking at the stars. Elizabeth is lying down and turned away from Johnny who is sitting and looking at her. The only prop is the motel rooftop.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Blog #10
Dialogue - Moving the Story Forward:
CARL
So, what you're saying is, this girl, ghost er, Li-El...
JOHNNY (Cat)
Elizabeth, yes go on.
CARL
Right, she um, has a month to remember her death and uh, accept it? So that she can move on? I don't understand, move on to what? And why do you need me to drive all the way to Virginia so that she can do this?
JOHNNY (Cat)
To what I don't know, but you better hope that when you bite it you go straight there so you don't have to put up with this ghost afterlife bullshit. And I need you to go out to Virginia because that's where she died. I'm hoping it will help her remember better.
CARL
Um, I'm still not following. Wh-You, how come...I mean why can't you two go there yourself? Why can't you just, you know, leave me be and go about your own business?
JOHNNY (Cat)
Leave you be? Oh you'd like that wouldn't you Carl?
CARL
Yes, actually. Actually I would yes.
JOHNNY(Cat)
Well, tell you what Carl, If you take us to Virginia and Elizabeth moves on, I'll never bother you again for the rest of eternity. I'll even tell the other ghosts not to bother you.
CARL
(after a long pause)
A-alright.
JOHNNY (Cat)
Alright? Fantastic!
Blog #9
Dialogue - Defining Relationships:
JOHNNY
Beth, you alright?
ELIZABETH
Yeah
JOHNNY
C'mon, give me some credit. I've known you for 100 plus years, you're not alright.
ELIZABETH
Then you really didn't need to ask did you?!
JOHNNY
(there's a short pause)
You never used to snap at me like that you know, when we were alive...
ELIZABETH
Don't...
JOHNNY
Oh no, you "don't"! I'm going to help you remember. Everything! You're miserable here, you've got to move on! I can't stand seeing you like this!
ELIZABETH
(she looks at him confused by his last comment then frowns and shakes her head)
And, you yell at me for snapping! God! You're such a hypocrite, why can't you just tell me everything?
JOHNNY
We tried that, it didn't take, you wouldn't remember I think it's a coping mechanism with you. When something bad happens you just block it out of your mind, completely. For something to stick you've gotta remember it on your own. (there's another pause) Please, just try to remember, for me.
ELIZABETH
(she makes a face about to shout at him again but just stares off into space for awhile and sighs)
I remember...remembering...does that make sense? I mean I know I've always had a spotty memory but when I was with you...
JOHNNY
(nodding frantically)
You were better, yea. That's a start.
Blog #8
3 Important Things to Remember When Writing Dialogue:
1) Practice saying your dialogue to yourself over and over again. Edit your dialogue according to how you hear people speak out in public. Listen and observe a lot of speech to get a good idea of how it should sound and look on paper.
2) Your characters should not all sound like you when they are speaking. They should all have identifiable mannerisms during their dialogue. You should be able to know a lot about them just from the way they speak.
3) Good dialogue gives us the sense that we are eavesdropping. Good dialogue encompasses both what is said and what is not said.
1) Practice saying your dialogue to yourself over and over again. Edit your dialogue according to how you hear people speak out in public. Listen and observe a lot of speech to get a good idea of how it should sound and look on paper.
2) Your characters should not all sound like you when they are speaking. They should all have identifiable mannerisms during their dialogue. You should be able to know a lot about them just from the way they speak.
3) Good dialogue gives us the sense that we are eavesdropping. Good dialogue encompasses both what is said and what is not said.
Blog #7
Subplot:
More background information begins to be revealed about Johnny and Elizabeth through flashbacks. A good amount of the groups trip from Sacramento to Virginia involves insight on Johnny and Elizabeth's lives before they died. It becomes evident that they were in love, starting from when they were kids and Elizabeth would come over to Virginia with her father from England during the summers where they stayed in a house that Johnny's family staffed. More is also revealed about who they were as people, Elizabeth's character is strikingly different she is happy and kind, not the argumentative stubborn person she is as a ghost. As the flashbacks progress there is still something important not being revealed to the audience as their characters change and their deaths near.
Into the Wide Unknown:
Elizabeth does not seem as motivated as she should be to remember her death, it's evident she is scared even though she won't admit it. Johnny wants desperately for her to remember her death and move on, but she refuses to leave and go to Virginia because she won't leave Carl, the old man whose house they've been "haunting" for years. One of the things ghosts in this world can do is temporarily possess animals and other people. Johnny possesses Carl's cat and confronts the man, who faints several times, tries to convince himself this isn't happening but finally listens to Johnny. Johnny explains to him that he's one of the ghosts that's been haunting his house for years and that if he wants them to go away he'll have to go to Virginia. Carl asks why and Johnny explains the situation with Elizabeth. He finally agrees to go and when Johnny tells Elizabeth she says they have to go with him because they can't just leave Carl and they all set out on the road together where Johnny continually possesses Carl's cat so that they can communicate with each other.
The "Aha" Moment:
The three arrive in the small-town and go to the town hall to look up Carl's family history. Upon discovering that she is Carl's great grandmother, Elizabeth suddenly remembers that she was once married and pregnant before her death and all the other circumstances surrounding it. But the real Aha moment comes when she realizes how wrong she was for lying to her husband all those years and how it drove him into such a distraught state that he turned into one of the creatures when he died, gaining more power as his 100 year mark after their deaths approached. Elizabeth and Johnny both realize that's where the creature come from, they are the souls of people so tortured they don't turn into normal ghosts but instead mindless creatures compelled to cause chaos in the world and that killing them is doing them mercy as they get to move on properly afterwards. Elizabeth also realizes that what she has to do next even though she has been presented with the opportunity to move on she must destroy the creature that was once her husband so that he can be at peace and they can save the town.
More background information begins to be revealed about Johnny and Elizabeth through flashbacks. A good amount of the groups trip from Sacramento to Virginia involves insight on Johnny and Elizabeth's lives before they died. It becomes evident that they were in love, starting from when they were kids and Elizabeth would come over to Virginia with her father from England during the summers where they stayed in a house that Johnny's family staffed. More is also revealed about who they were as people, Elizabeth's character is strikingly different she is happy and kind, not the argumentative stubborn person she is as a ghost. As the flashbacks progress there is still something important not being revealed to the audience as their characters change and their deaths near.
Into the Wide Unknown:
Elizabeth does not seem as motivated as she should be to remember her death, it's evident she is scared even though she won't admit it. Johnny wants desperately for her to remember her death and move on, but she refuses to leave and go to Virginia because she won't leave Carl, the old man whose house they've been "haunting" for years. One of the things ghosts in this world can do is temporarily possess animals and other people. Johnny possesses Carl's cat and confronts the man, who faints several times, tries to convince himself this isn't happening but finally listens to Johnny. Johnny explains to him that he's one of the ghosts that's been haunting his house for years and that if he wants them to go away he'll have to go to Virginia. Carl asks why and Johnny explains the situation with Elizabeth. He finally agrees to go and when Johnny tells Elizabeth she says they have to go with him because they can't just leave Carl and they all set out on the road together where Johnny continually possesses Carl's cat so that they can communicate with each other.
The "Aha" Moment:
The three arrive in the small-town and go to the town hall to look up Carl's family history. Upon discovering that she is Carl's great grandmother, Elizabeth suddenly remembers that she was once married and pregnant before her death and all the other circumstances surrounding it. But the real Aha moment comes when she realizes how wrong she was for lying to her husband all those years and how it drove him into such a distraught state that he turned into one of the creatures when he died, gaining more power as his 100 year mark after their deaths approached. Elizabeth and Johnny both realize that's where the creature come from, they are the souls of people so tortured they don't turn into normal ghosts but instead mindless creatures compelled to cause chaos in the world and that killing them is doing them mercy as they get to move on properly afterwards. Elizabeth also realizes that what she has to do next even though she has been presented with the opportunity to move on she must destroy the creature that was once her husband so that he can be at peace and they can save the town.
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