E.S. Karl

It's been a while, so this weeks drabble challenge is an open slather.

Try writing something that makes your reader feel something.

Make us laugh. Make us cry. Make us happy, or angry, but make it real.

Here's a few little rules to kick you off!

Write exactly 100 words. No more; no less.

Challenge is open to everyone! Original writers encouraged, and all fandoms welcome. Why not switch up your normal a little?

When you've got your 100 words, remember to post here so that everyone has a chance to benefit from everyone's work. It's so great to read everyone's styles and ideas! Entries close on Friday, August 9th this week, so there's plenty of time!

There's no judgement! Have fun with it!

Remember to reblog so that everyone can join in!

Everyone ready? Awesome. Have fun!

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Exciting Announcement is finally here!

Hey lovelies! 

Sooo... as some of you know, Live Literate has partnered with amazing organisation, The World Literacy Foundation. You know we’re a bit nuts about literacy over here, so we thought we’d put our money where our mouth is. 

From now on, 5% of our annual net profit will be donated to The World Literacy Foundation each year. Money isn’t all they need though, so we’re offering up our services and workshop spaces where we can, including editing the Social Media content for daughter organisation, Reading Out of Poverty, and donating workshop spaces as prizes for fundraising campaigns. 

Do you ever stop to think about how lucky we are, having words that need editing? Being able to read the tips and tricks we find all over tumblr? Communicating with our peers in written language? It’s pretty standard these days, with emails and facebook taking over, but not everyone can do it. 

A startling 1 in 5 people globally cannot read or write. Did you know that? I didn’t. 

We can all do our bit to improve the international literacy levels, and donating to The World Literacy Foundation is a great step to take, as they have projects aiding 80 countries. 

You can donate directly by clicking here, or you can donate to Reading Out of Poverty here. 

Can’t donate? No worries. It’s not always doable. What you can do though, is reblog this post, and help us create awareness so that these awesome people get the assistance they need to do their thing. 

Hi!

Thank you for the lovely words 💕.

This is a great question, and one I wouldn't have thought about answering if you didn't ask.

Starting a new paragraph for each new speaker is essential, as it allows the reader a clear understanding of who is doing the speaking. When it comes to action, it gets a little more complicated.

In short, if the action is being done to or by the speaker, it can stay in the same paragraph as the dialogue. When the action is being done by someone else, it's generally best to keep it separate.

For example:

John rolled his eyes. "Of course you'd say that," he called (< dialogue tag) over his shoulder as he broke into a jog (< action).

This example makes it clear that John is the subject.

However...

John rolled his eyes and jogged past Ben (< action). "Of course you'd say that!"

...in this example it's unclear who the speaker is, so it'd be better written like this:

John rolled his eyes and jogged past Ben.

"Of course you'd say that." Ben tried to keep up with his friend (< action).

In this example, it's much clearer that Ben is the speaker.

Last little bit more on dialogue before this week’s Drabble Challenge.

There’s always a lot of difficulty in working out where to put which dialogue tags. It’s first necessary to figure out what IS a dialogue tag, and what is NOT. Action tags are NOT dialogue tags, and include anything (smiled is a very popular one) that doesn’t describe a way of speaking. No one smiles words out of their mouth, right? 

Once you’ve worked that out, it’s really a matter of instinct and feel. Use dialogue tags such as stuttered, whispered, howled etc. when they explain the situation more clearly than action words (stuttered is actually a great example, because using the word stuttered is a lot less distracting to the reader than trying to imitate the stutter in your words–how many times have you sat there reading a passage over and over, trying to imagine the exact sound of the stuttered words?) or when they save you a hundred words of exposition. 

Don’t use them when you’d be served just as well by an action word that shows us the way something is said. 

Craft your dialogue in such a way that it speaks for itself. Do you really need a word to describe how it’s said? Can you write it more tightly so that you don’t need that word?

What is the purpose of your dialogue? 

Dialogue is great for exposition or furthering plot, giving a character a literal voice, and showing us who they are. If your dialogue doesn’t have a purpose, or is repeating something that we as the reader already know, consider leaving it out or exchanging it for something that does advance your story. 

As always, requests, questions, and reblogs are more than welcome. Follow my Facebook page or check out the website for more in-depth articles and some fun that’s coming up in Live Literate Land.

There’s a really exciting announcement on its way, and I hope you’ll all participate!