“things that should be floating under the surface of the ocean, but aren’t” (1) by Devi Laskar

Four years ago today, the whole of the television-watching world tuned in to glimpse China and watch one hell of an Opening Ceremonies for the Olympic games.

On 08-08-08.

Who could forget the spectacle of the multitudes of synchronized drummers and dancers? It was a mesmerizing to watch, and I can still remember exactly where I was and whom I was sitting next to when the countdown began, the drums dating back to the age of Confucius with 2008 drummers, the white lights, the fireworks that lit up the stadium and the Beijing sky. I remember how enchanted I was.

And China is what I remembered when I tuned in to watch this year’s games in England. Watching the drama unfold out in 2012 in the individual events has been so exciting and fun to watch. Yet the comparison is inevitable. What I will never forget is Beijing.

There is a larger lesson that I have realized over the past few days as I stay up too late and try to catch every breath-taking moment of the gymnastics or the swimming or the women’s soccer: that we as readers and writers and artists live for that moment, that ultra-dramatic moment where we don’t know what’s going to happen next and the anticipation and curiosity are just about to kill us. That’s what we have to do on the page when we write. We have to create moment after moment in our books that make our readers suspend our disbelief and enter the world we have created for them and just gasp.

In this week’s writing and craft classes in the Book Writing World, Elizabeth is exploring the art of dialogue – and how dialogue can be crafted into action. My two favorite are “the harshest insult” and “inappropriate questions.” Elizabeth read a passage from Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina where one character used the word ‘ugly’ as a sword and shred to ribbons the person who was the object of her scorn. Then we were given a few minutes of analysis and a few more minutes to write our own scene of harsh insult, using our own content.

Next, she read a scene from nonfiction writer David Sedaris’ book Me Talk Pretty One Day where the author discusses how he can insult the whole of France by asking the rudest questions….aloud. Once again, we were tutored in the techniques Mr. Sedaris employed and then given a few minutes to begin a scene using our own content.

Take a few minutes to think about the insults your characters could hurl at one another and the questions they could ask at the most inappropriate times and on the most inappropriate subjects, and then write it down! You’ll be on your way….to writing, which is what we, as writers, should be doing.