![]() How might this piece change? What do you imagine some of those thoughts might be? What do you learn about the son solely through what he says and how he says it? Imagine that this piece was told from the son’s point of view instead, and we had access to his thoughts as he spoke. How does the writer help the reader keep track of who is talking? Does every line need what’s known as a dialogue tag - like “he said” and “she shouted” - after a character has spoken? What dialogue tags does this writer use? How does she help the reader understand what she’s thinking versus what is being said? What is the effect of varying spoken conversation with thoughts about the conversation? “I’ve been thinking about it, Mom,” he said. Read the full piece, paying close attention to who talks, what they say, and how the narrator continues this strategy of varying the spoken dialogue with her own thoughts. Had something catastrophic happened while he was there? Had he done drugs or had sex? I hoped he’d just left his iPod on the plane. ![]() He’d just returned to Michigan after visiting his father in New York. These were enough, in the very short time it took to follow him to his bedroom, to completely freak me out. “It’s something serious.” The reversal of roles the need for him to address me. I don’t think anything would rattle the mother of a preteen boy quite like the words my 12-year-old uttered this spring: “Mom, we need to talk,” he said. Notice how the narrator tells you what her son says, but then immediately parses what it might mean: Here is the first paragraph in its entirety. “It’s something serious.” rather than “Mom, we need to talk. For instance, why do you think she writes, “Mom, we need to talk,” he said. There is a great deal to notice about how this writer uses dialogue, starting from this first sentence. This essay centers on a conversation, as the opening lines tell you right away: When you’re done, ask yourself, what was difficult about this task? What was easy (or even fun)? What additional questions about writing dialogue did this exercise raise for you? Mentor Text: “ The Missing-Piece Son” by Randa Jarrar The characters are experiencing something together - maybe they’re on a trip, cooking together, playing a game or at a party. The characters have just met and are getting to know each other. The characters are avoiding talking about something. One character wants something and the other doesn’t. Here are some possible scenarios, in case you need help getting started: You can write down a conversation you have actually had, or you can make one up. ![]() You can work with a partner, each of you claiming one of the characters and all of his or her lines, or you can do it alone. To prepare for the mentor text you are about to read, you might make it a conversation between two family members. Have you ever written dialogue before? Try it! Take a look at this mentor text, alongside a related text by the same author, to think about these questions and to experiment with dialogue in your own work.
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