I just finished Brandon Sanderson‘s tailored realities. It was not what I thought it would be. Yes, I knew it was a collection of short stories, but with surprise me is the inspiration I found through his writing craft observations.
These nuggets of writing wisdom are found in his postscripts after each story. Written by Sanderson, these postscripts offered insights into his writing process as well as a history of his writing career.
The postscripts inspire me to dust off some of my old science fiction and fantasy short stories and maybe put them together in my own anthology.
One of the stories called “I Hate Dragons” was dialogue only. As I read it, I realized this and when I read Sanderson’s postscript for the story, he revealed he had written this as a writing exercise years ago. A dialogue-only exercise.
I remembered I had done a similar exercise for a course. I took about 15 years ago, and I found my own dialogue-only exercise. I brushed it off.
The idea is to challenge yourself as a writer to make it easy for the reader to distinguish between two different characters by only their dialogue. So that’s an exercise you can. Create a short scene using only dialogue and see if it’s easy to tell which character is talking. Here’s mine:
“No one has utilized this room in over a year. This table just sitting here. It is a waste of resources.”
“Aw, man, I don’t know. I mean, I am so for this, but if Margaret catches us carryin’ this thing up the stairs, she’ll flay the skin off our bones with just her voice. I mean, we might, y’know, get fired on the spot.”
“Please. What are the chances she will be in the exact stairwell the same time we are carrying this table.’
“Well, y’know, I’m all for healthy work life balance and all that, but why don’t you just order a high table like this. I seen them in those office furniture catalogs on your desk.”
“Tell me. Why should we spend hundreds of dollars on a table when this one is collecting cobwebs in this empty wing? Ridiculous.”
“I get it, man, but what’s the point of savin’ money and being healthy if we lose our jobs, man?”
“You seem to be gaining weight.”
“I am? My clothes fit okay. Wat’cha talking about?”
“I am talking about how this is the first sit down job you have ever had. You are sitting all day. A tall, long table like this, where we can stand all day, will help with that . . . pudge you are getting.”
“Dude, I’m a stick.”
“By standing all day, we will utilize twenty-five percent more calories per work day than sitting down. Do you realize how dangerous it is to sit all day?
“Man, I don’t wanna stand all day. I’d rather sit at my computer.”
“Even if you exercise regularly, which obviously you don’t . . . “
“Aw, dude, you are killin’ me.”
“No. No—sitting all day is killing you. Do you realize what that does to your cholesterol levels?”
“Maaaan. All right, let’s do it before Margaret catches us.”
If I remember, the instructor liked my results. Try your own and see how it goes.
Meanwhile, here’s my review of Tailored Realities. Check it out.
Andrew M. Friday 
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