Over at Scott Myers’ blog, I read this quote from filmmaker and screenwriter Robin Swicord (pictured). She describes my writing practice when she says:
“I think that all [good] dialogue comes out of the characters themselves. What happens… there’s a kind of mystical transference that happens when you’ve done this very deep thinking and feeling about your character. You begin to embody your character. I literally feel like a character enters me sometimes. I don’t worry about writing the dialogue. I just sit at my desk and feel their presence, and then they speak and I write down what they say. Then later I’ll come back to the page, and I’ll go, ‘But I don’t like this scene.’ Or ‘I don’t feel like we need this scene.’ Or ‘I think this goes on too long.’ The writer in the room starts adjusting things, so what’s on the page is not just mental run‑on sentences of dialogue.
We have two creative minds. An executive mind, a planning, strategic, putting‑my‑ducks‑in‑a‑row mind. But that’s a different kind of writing than the receptive writing of hearing your characters and embodying them.
We need both. One mind where you sit and craft sentences that draw the reader into the scene. Another that allows your characters to come alive.”