“Overheard at the Playground”

Third World Girl at her blog Three Hole Punched has a great post “Overheard at the Playground”:

Courtesy two high school kids trying to cram themselves into toddler swings on a cold playground day…

GIRL #1: I’m not a Christian. I grew up around cursing.

BOY #1: Yeah. Me neither. I was baptized. And crucified. I think they still do that in the church sometimes.

That’s the kind of dialogue a writer dreams about writing. It’s real, fresh, unexpected, funny. Everything you could want in terms of color and personality (of course in a script it would have to tie into the plot).

I used to do something pretty regularly: Whenever I heard an interesting line or bit of conversation — at the grocery store, post office, mall, wherever — I’d write it down. Then transfer to a file of ‘found’ dialogue. The world around us, even on a day-in-the-life basis, is a vast resource for writers — even for words our characters can say.

Anybody else heard any great dialogue in the ‘real’ world lately?

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