Dialogue- Eavesdropping

For the past couple of months I have been focusing on writing natural sounding dialogue.  I have a tendency to get held up on the flow of conversation and whether or not the rhythm of speech is 1- believable and 2- true to the character.  It's a pain in the ass to get hung up on details like this when you are unleashing the beast that is a story from your soul/brain/heart/innards.

Also, annoyingly so, when I'm reading other people's work and their dialogue is unnatural, I can't get around it and I inevitably get turned off from the story.  Usually, I don't even finish it. (I know- asshole move!)

A professor of mine posted this video on dialogue that I wanted to share with you!  (Since, I've noticed that many of my followers are also aspiring writers!)

I love this video for many reasons.  My professor is insanely awesome (I'm taking a screenwriting workshop with him next fall and I'm excited/ridiculously nervous), this video relays some valuable knowledge yet is also entertaining, and he mentions eaves dropping on people's conversations and jotting them down (which I do A LOT!)  Here's the video:



And, here are a few snippets from my notebook of conversations I've jotted down recently:

Boy 1- "Call me when you can.  Yeah?"

Boy 2- "Ben."

Boy 1- "Ben."

Boy 2- "B E N."

Boy 1- "Okay."

??  Yeah, I don't get it either.

Boy- "You like what?  Oh my god."

Girl- "What?"

Boy-"But.."

Girl- "I don't get."

???  I "don't get" either.

Girl 1- "So um that's so scary 'cuz like, anyways."

Girl 2- "Um, they said something about.. ummm.."

Girl 1- "Yeah!"

Girl 1- "That's it!"

I'm glad they so enthusiastically discovered whatever the hell it is they were trying to figure out.

Boy 1- "Monte."

Boy 2- "How's it going?"

Boy 1- "Good."

Boy 3- "You be havin'?"

Boy 2- "No."

Boy 1- "That's a good thing."

Also- NO CLUE.  And no, "be havin'" was not pronounced behaving...  I think they just had really bad grammar, sadly.  :(

I wonder if I've ever been the subject of someones eavesdropping?  And, in that case- I can only imagine what they've overheard!  I can be very awkward when it comes to verbal conversation, if I'm excited or upset, I usually make no sense whatsoever.

I also spend a lot of time making "general" observations about a space.  For example:

6 Black Sweaters/Shirts

4 Gray 

1 Lime Green

1 Forest Green

1 Pink

1 Tan (me)

-

13 No Scarves

1 Scarf (me)

-

4 Glasses (1 is me)

9 Without Glasses

I think it's odd that I didn't specify how many people were male or female.  I must have initially been intrigued by the number of people wearing black.  Especially because I wear a lot of black myself, but apparently was wearing tan that day.

Do any of you ever write down dialogue?  Or observe spaces?  Or anything else kind of odd?