Goals:
- Convey a complex human interaction between characters 
- End the story with an unresolved but interesting conflict

 

Constraints:
1) Write a narrative that uses primarily dialogue.
2) Do so under or at 10 pages as the final product.

Process:

1.  Consider how conflict feels (and how it's conveyed in dialogue)

2. Work with characters I knew inside and out

3. Consider a basic structure

4. Draft, read aloud, repeat
    

Conflict: With any story, I start by assessing what I can accurately write about. I wrote down times I had a conflict with someone and what it felt like to try and talk about them. 

 

I took inspiration from other stories and how they convey conflict with dialogue such as The Last of Us part II,  Robert McKee's 'Story', and Fallout 4. I thought about what makes us upset, what causes arguments, and why as humans, we don't always say what we mean.

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Characters: As a storyteller, I want to write something powerful and believable. I knew who Jake was, and I knew whom Harley was trying to be, so I wrote about them because I knew them well. I had spent a few weeks creating their arcs in a larger story, and this scene was added later on. 

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Structure: I knew the argument would start with passive aggression, and end with a near-explosive argument beneath a blanket of tension that ultimately deflates into a deep sadness.

 

I wanted this kind of structure because I wanted the deeper complexity to shine in this exchange. When we argue with one another, I don't believe it's as simple as "you touched my things". There's always something more, and I wanted it to show between Jake and Harley.

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Drafting: After a few outlines and a lot of reading out loud (like, a LOT), I finally wrote what you see below today. My biggest feedback statements were related to not understanding where Jake was standing at times, but readers definitely felt the tension between the two characters.

 

I settled on the notion of liars and lying because I believe it's one of the most hurtful things you can do to someone you care about. It's difficult to reverse the belief of a lie too, even if it was actually the truth. This is the focal point of the emotion in the story: the feeling of betrayal not just from being lied TO, but lying to oneself.

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