I consider myself a screenwriter first. I love storytelling via prose, but dialogue is what I want to master. So on this exercise, as soon as I realized I was writing an inner monologue, I decided to mix it with actual dialogue, to paint an entire picture. I kinda like how it goes back and forth between inner dialogue and spoken dialogue.
This was another example of me having no idea what to write, so I just repeated the opening line until something came to me. And because I lean into dialogue, I turned it into an inner monologue. When I added a second character, I played with quotation marks and no quotation marks to differentiate the inner from the outer.
I don't recall if I typed the quotation marks or went back later and added them. Don't burden yourself to format as you type. You can format afterwards, as long as you don't edit the text! I wasn't about to type character names and format it like dialogue as I typed. After all, the point is to keep your fingers moving to WRITE, not to format. But if you format things later...... totally fine.
Love,
Lisa
P.S. Oh, and by the way, I wrote this LONG before the "double rainbow" video hit youtube. I may even have written this before youtube existed.
First line: Open your eyes
Open your eyes! Open! Open! Open them! Open them now! Open them! Let go! Come on, you can do it! Open them! Open.....
Oh my god.
I can’t breathe! I
can’t.... I can’t breathe.
“Breathe, sweetheart.”
Oh my god.
“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”
Uh-huh.
“Breathe. That’s
right. Now hold your arms out.”
no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
no no no no no no
“It’s OK. I’ve got
you. Here. Feel this?”
Uh-huh.
“See? You’re
fine. We’re tethered together. Nothing’s gonna happen. I’ve been doing this for eight years. 4-5 jumps a day. Never had a single problem. Now hold your arms out.”
Oh my god.
“Good! That’a
girl! We’ll just drift over here a
little bit and float for a while.”
Oh my god.
“Oh my god!”
“There ya go!
See? Just relax and trust
me. Look at the view!”
“Oh my god, this is incredible!”
“Are you the one that’s afraid of heights?”
“Yeah”
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES OHMYGOD YES
YES
“Just focus on the air.
Air has mass. That’s why you can
feel it when it blows. Imagine that a
giant pillow is holding you up right now, except that you can’t see it. Close your eyes.”
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
“No, keep your arms out but close your eyes. Feel that?”
Uh-huh.
“That’s what’s holding you up. You’re perectly safe.
“Can we open the parachute now?”
“Not yet. It has to
be timed just right. Let’s just float a
little longer.”
“Hey, how you guys doing?!”
“We’re doing great!
She doesn’t want to keep her eyes open but other than that we’re fine.”
“Oh my god sweetheart, isn’t this incredible?!?”
Uh-huh.
“She hates heights. Just
keep breathing. I’ll see you on the
ground, sweetie! Whooooooo!!!!”
Fuck you. I hate
you. I hate you. I can’t believe you talked me into this. I hate you so much. I hate....
“Hey, look over there.
See that rainbow?”
Oh my god.
“Wow. I have never
seen a rainbow during a jump. Look! It’s a double rainbow! Wow.
That’s amazing!”
Wow. That’s.....
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
“Sorry, darlin. I
should’ve told you I was pulling the parachute cord now. Now we just ride it on down.”
silence
silence
Wow. I’ve never heard
silence rushing past my ears like this.
Cradle. It’s like
rocking in a cradle. Rocking in a cradle
at about a thousand miles an hour, but rocking just the same.
“Here comes the ground, darlin. Remember how to land?”
Uh-huh.
“OK, here we go. Run
with me. Ready? Ready? Ready?
And......... GO!”
ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.
Holy shit. I’m
actually on the ground. I’m alive.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
THAT WAS FUCKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!”
“Good job, darlin!”
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