Task One
Lilith Envie – a 35-year-old woman with big goals and dreams for her life, unable to achieve them for being too eager to point at the foibles and failures of others. Ms. Envie is blonde, tall, athletic, with the appearance of great energy. On a physical level, there is not much in life she could not have accomplished. Yet her long and sinewy hands, and the suggestion of their terrifying grip, is the clue to what in her mind – grasping at pieces the lives of others to pull them down – has kept her from accomplishing what she could in life.
Nerva Demure – a short, slight woman with delicately tapered features, quick eyes, quick hands, a 38-year-old brunette who would be considered good-looking but for a slight twitchiness about her, a sign of shyness, but also excited by a raw hunger to live vicariously through the details of the lives of others, others living lives she would never dare to live. Those tapered features quiver like Pavlov's dogs' tongues, at the slightest intimation of a good piece of gossip.
Betty Grainger was told as a child that she was too short, too fat, and too plain to be what she wanted to be, so she grubbed her way up into a high-enough paying job to get the makeover and the high heels she always wanted – now, she looks more like Lilith Envie, and although it is all cosmetic, she has the one thing Ms. Envie lacks: the determination to make her life all that it can be. She is 34, and knows that in the the next year, she can be president of the United States … she knows it will take longer than a year to build her political profile, but she is going to start with running for city councilwoman, with the presidency in her sights by 2044.
Task Two
“Man, look, I know I shouldn't even say this aloud, but –.”
“Then why are you saying it, bruh?”
“Some smack just gotta be said, man – our head honcho needs to study Jack Dack, for real.”
“Bruh, are you trying to get us both beat up?”
“Jack Dack got Dack Block locking down these streets like we used to, but no more.”
“Ain't nobody tryna to hear that over here, bruh.”
“Look, man, Jack Dack is like racism. Ignoring him ain't makin' him go nowhere!”
Hahahaha, I actually laughed out loud - just picturing someone who literally laps up gossip hahahah
And "Bruh" - hah, you got that lingo down!!
Enjoyed reading this :D
Thank you!
Indeed, similarities can be found in the characterization of the characters in the proposed dialogue. Very good, congratulations.
Thank you!
Hello @deeanndmathews. As always you surprise me. You made very sharp descriptions of the characters in the first exercise. You placed their ages in a time of female searches and I found that interesting. The physical features were accompanied by the psychological features. Betty Grainger was told as a child something she never believed.
For task 2 I liked that you named your characters. The dialogue tells me that these men were bold but now they are shy and cautious.
Good point...almost like painting picture. Physical traits are clues to psychological motivation/character.
Beautifully done, @deeanndmathews. I love your clever descriptions of the three women. We all started with a 2D bit of dialog in a somewhat stereotypical scenario of women gossiping about other women, and it was our job to create dimension and bring these women to life. This is inspired:
The vernacular dialog is very well done too. It tugged at my heartstrings, as it portrays, in a few short words, the complex social justice issues in our world today.
Thank you ... what I like about the short form is the challenge of economy of scale, to convey a large story in few words!
When I was born, crack cocaine was a plague in my own community. I write with some understanding of what my own generation of young men went through. Dack Block has a real analog ... my family kept me far away from intimate knowledge, but I still knew about things ...
Children often know more than their parents are aware of! You undoubtedly had an interesting upbringing.
Hello @deeanndmathews Your descriptions of the three ladies are beautifully done. I especially like Nerva Demure. I could swear her description of living vicariously through The Lives of The Rich and Famous sounds like some I know. I'm sure she Pavlov's salivating dogs couldn't hold a candle to her...and others.
Thanks for sharing your descriptions.
Thank you ... I do try to write the truth by means of fiction... there may or may not be some people I know like Ms. Envie and Ms. Demure, although Ms. Grainger is somewhat more rare...
Dang, I adore your descriptions of these women. You've an elegant way with words! Would love to read you more.