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| Young Stars Shine Your Light Contest CALLING ALL WRITERS EIGHTEEN YRS OLD AND UNDER! A CONTEST JUST FOR YOU!! ~OPEN~ | | by: | |
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| Item Size: 11 Posts
Created: 2:11pm on 05-06-2009
Modified: 10:39pm on 11-22-2009 | |
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Welcome to this short story contest geared specifically to our young writers. It is a Rising Stars-sponsored activity that is OPEN TO ALL WDC members who are between the ages of twelve and eighteen.. This contest runs month-to-month, from the 10th to the last day of the month.
The goal of this contest is to inspire young writers to strengthen their craft. To this end, every month a "mini creative writing lesson" is presented, and every entry will receive in-depth reviews from the contest judge(s) as well as from members of "The Paper Doll Gang Home Page"  with whom we have partnered for this project.
Contest Rules
 On the tenth of the month a new round opens. Rising Stars are welcome to enter at that time. The contest is open for submissions to ALL WDC MEMBERS (who are 12-18 years old) for from the fifteenth of the month until thirty entries are received, or until the contest deadline at 11:59 p.m. (WDC time) on the last day of that month.
One entry per member, per month. Winners of one round are welcome to participate in subsequent rounds.
We will except new and old stories, as long as they were not awarded an awardicon prior to posting it in this forum.
Stories must not exceed 1500 words. Please include a word count in the document, at the end of your story. Stories without a word count will not be eligible for prizes.
Your story must be rated, and the rating must not exceed 13+.
Please post your entry in this forum using a bitem link to the item in your portfolio. If you are unsure how to create a bitem link, please click on the following:
Once you have posted your entry, you are free to edit it until the deadline. If you edit after the deadline your story will not be eligible for prizes.
 The Judges and Reviewers have been asked to follow certain guidelines when rating and reviewing contest entries. Contest participants are strongly encouraged to read these guidelines so they are aware of the criterion on which their stories will be judged. Please click on the link below:
Round Five: November 10 – 30, 2009
~OPEN~
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Open Prompt!
Please Remember:
 Post your entry by bitem link in this forum.
 We will accept old and new stories!
 Use the Mini Lesson below to be sure your story's dialogue is strong, uses dialogue tags properly, and is correctly punctuated.
 Word count limit this round is 1500 words. Include a word count in your document, below the end of the story.
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November's Mini Creative Writing Lesson: Dialogue
When characters talk, they are engaging in Dialogue. Dialogue can be spoken out loud between two or more characters, or it can be internal, representing the Point-of-View Narrator's (POV's) direct thoughts.
Dialogue is more than simple conversation in a story. As the writer, you can use dialogue as a characterization technique, bringing your characters to life through their spoken and internal speech. Your reader will understand the characters more by hearing their opinions and perspectives, as well as noting their actual word choices and diction. Make you characters sound sophisticated or uneducated, opinionated or steamrolled, having type-A personalities or sounding like timid wall flowers, all through clever manipulation of the characters' dialogue.
Dialogue Tags help the reader keep track of who's doing the talking. Examples of dialogue tags are he said, she replied, she mumbled. However, seasoned writers use as few dialogue tags as possible, because tags tend to sound bland to the reader's ear. To bring the dialogue scenes to life, incorporate the actions of the speaker as he or she is talking. Doing so eliminates the need for a dialogue tag while adding visual texture that allows the reader to see and hear the scene as it unfolds.
For example, notice how there is only one dialogue tag in the following conversation between Van and Liza in this excerpt from "Stopgap" , by NaNo-Nicki D ![View heftynicki's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/costumicons/ps-icon-typewriter-40.gif "View heftynicki's Portfolio. [Offline / Private]") : The characters' actions lead the reader back and forth between the speakers so that it's always clear who is talking at the moment:
“Liza, the boy’s alive! I’m calling 911!” He placed the call then jumped down and ran to her.
“An ambulance is on the way,” he said.
“Good. Let’s get out of here.” She moved toward the car.
Van grabbed her elbow. “We can’t leave! That little boy may be hurt. He’s trapped in that car and his dad’s dead.”
Liza glanced at the wreck with tear-filled eyes. “Van, are you crazy? The cops will be here any minute. We have stolen money in our car! We need to get away from here!” Her voice raised an octave.
Van shook his head. “No. I’m not leaving that kid alone. I won’t do it.” His tone was even, determined.
“Well, I’m not staying!”
Things to remember when using tags or action to introduce dialogue:
When a dialogue tag follows spoken words, it is NOT CAPITALIZED. Also, a comma, exclamation point or question mark -- but never a period -- goes inside the closed quotation marks before the tag. For example:
“Ok, nice and cool, remember?” he said as Liza reached for the handle. “No talking to anyone including each other. We do our business separately and nobody notices us.”
When action introduces spoken dialogue, it stands alone as a complete sentence, and the dialogue in double quotation marks stands along as a complete sentence. For example:
“Alright, we made it, babe! We’re home free: me, you, and all that cash!” She slapped a manicured hand on the steering wheel. “Damn, we make a great team!” She glanced over, her smile faltering. “What’s the matter with you?”
Make sure your dialogue tag isn't really action. For example:
WRONG  "I'm just happy today," she smiled. "Do I have to have a reason?"
Why is this wrong? You can't "smile" words. You can smile as you're speaking, but "smile" isn't a speaking verb. The above sentence should read:
RIGHT "I'm just happy today." She smiled. "Do I have to have a reason?"
When writing Internal Dialogue, remember these two important things:
1. Is the reader supposed to hear this character's thoughts? The reader should only have access to the thoughts of the Point-of-View Narrator, or POV. If the reader thinking is not the POV, you must either have him/her speak the thought out loud, or act in a way that makes the POV guess what he/she is thinking.
2. Put a direct thought into italics to help the reader identify it as internal dialogue. For example:
Why would she wear those aweful socks? I wondered to myself.
Final thoughts on dialogue -- Dialogue is a fantastic way to round out your characters while revealing how they think and feel about the problems they face in the story, and to insert dynamic information important to the plot. Remember to make the characters' speech fresh, realistic and believable. Successful dialogue adds interest to the story and enriches the readers' experience.
To read more about Dialogue Rules, Tags, and Punctuation, visit these websites:
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/crafttechnique/tp/dialogue.htm
http://www.iolani.honolulu.hi.us/Keables/KeablesGuide/PartFive/CreativeWriting.h...
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/dialogue.html
The above example conversations that appear in rose font were taken from the following story:
  | ID: 1559283 (Rated: 18+)
Title: Stopgap
Description: Watch out for people who always have a plan .... and a 'tell.' Short Shots May '09
By: NaNo-Nicki D ![Email User: heftynicki [Offline / Private]](http://imgs.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/mail-off.gif "Email User: heftynicki [Offline / Private]") |
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