Lately, I’ve been playing the observer.  Those who know me understand this is no simple task.  I am usually the one talking, but recently I have been working on my listening skills.  I listen, and later on I pull out my little notebook and write down interesting phrases I remember hearing that day.

Here are a few of my favorites:

“I think you should pick me because my favorite number is five.”

“We both did it, but he’s the only one who got in trouble and that makes me mad.”

“Here’s a question for ya?  Do you see the same sun set every evening or do you see a different sunset every evening?”

“I feel like I’m stuck in a balloon and all the air is being sucked out of it.”

Said about the movie Halloween:  “I loved it.  It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.”

Aren’t those great?  I love the randomness of the first one, the sense of justice in the second, the optimistic outlook of the third, the profundity of the fourth, and the hilarious contradiction of the last.

I think I’ve found a new way to spice up my writing.  Barry Lane says, “Good dialogue reveals character” (Reviser’s Toolbox, pg. 110).  All of these little snippets say something about the person who spoke them, about their personality or their condition.

 I love this sort of in-depth character study.  I’m going to assign this to my students, ask them to listen to conversations and write down statements that really intrigue them or just make them laugh (I loved it.  It was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.)

Until later– “There’s no turning back now that you opened up to your mind.”