Writing Asn. #3 Dialog.  Choose either A or B.
The purpose of this assignment is to use correctly punctuated dialog to realistically advance the plot using the M.L.A. block formatting.  That means to continue the story for at least an additional page of your writing, but not more than two pages.  Please remember to use the block format where you don't indent, but leave a black line in between each paragraph.  Please remember to start a new paragraph when you change speakers, or when the action changes from one character to the next.  We have done this before.  Click here to remember the activity we did in class.  Paragraph Organization in Dialog Exercise.  Sometimes you just have to see an example, and you have it in your Google Docs.

Notice how there are two spaces after an end mark, like a period or question mark, and one space after a comma. That is the M.L.A. format.

Dialog Exercise A                    Name_____________________________________Block_____

She thought it was the first time that she saw him on that fateful day, but she was unsure at first.  He came over the hill in a huff and wearing a so-ratty-it-must-have-been-your-father’s NYU sweatshirt, with stains equally as old.  She made brief eye contact, but as he passed she regained her attention to her untied sneaker and the thought of her appearance as realized she was midway through her run.

She checked her pulse and decided to sit and listen to a couple of songs to let her heart rest, but after two songs she removed the ear buds and just concentrated to the sound of the returning birds in the park.

She could hear his pace as he rounded the paved, park trail, and it never faltered as he approached the old oaks beside her.  As she opened her eyes she saw him again and he commented, “Still not going to say hello, eh,” but then he was too far away before she could think of what to say.

An hour later she turned to the coffee part of her routine and she was surprised at the counter when she took her black, no sugar, and turned from the counter and directly into his chest.  The lid held strong, but the situation called for some oral response.  Stammering, all she could get out of her mouth was, “

Dialog Exercise-B                     Name_____________________________________Block_____
“I’m just stocking shelves.  I’m just stocking shelves,” he repeated in a murmur audible to only to dogs or someone very close.  He was tempted to just hum a song, but no titles or lyrics seemed to come to mind as he completed his mundane task as he did every day, six days a week, in the most boring town of Plainville, Massachusetts.  “I’ve got to get out of here someday, “he paused, “but that day ain’t today.”

When a series of noises two aisles down ended with the sound of breaking glass, he found himself in a full sprint as he mechanically responded.  When he rounded the end cap of neatly stacked soup cans, the mess he saw on the floor was in stark contrast to the extremely well-put-together woman before him.  Incredulously she responded to his astonished face, “I didn’t…”

“But what happened?  How could all of these cans of vegetables and jars of pickles fall at once?”

“They didn’t fall.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hold on to your hat, buddy, they