“What do you mean you don’t know how to use dialogue?” my friend Peter asked.
“I can’t do dialogue, it’s really kind of self-explanatory,” I answered, throwing my hands up in the air.
“It’s not that hard!”
“Yes, it is!”
“What’s wrong with your dialogue?” Peter asked calmly.
“It’s terrible!” I nearly screamed.
“What’s so wrong with it? What do you need to do?”
“I need to write a conversation.” I set my head on the table.
Peter nodded.
“And I have no idea how to start it,” I muffled onto the table.
“I can guarantee you that I can give you a conversation to help you,” Peter said confidently.
“In just a few minutes? Really?” I asked doubtfully, raising my head.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Favorite color? Really?” I asked sarcastically.
“Come on, favorite color, now.”
“I don’t have a favorite color.”
“Who doesn’t have a favorite color?” Peter asked, obviously surprised.
“Me.”
“Really? You seriously don’t have a favorite color?”
“This is getting nowhere.”
“How come you don’t have a favorite color?”
“No reason, I just don’t.”
“Blue.” Peter jumped to a conclusion.
“Blue?”
“Blue! That is your favorite color,” he said affirmatively.
“Why blue?”
“Because you have to have a favorite color!”
“I don’t like blue.”
“So then you must have a favorite color.”
“Why?”
“Why don’t you like blue?”
“This is getting nowhere! I do not want to write a conversation piece for you and me just talking about what my favorite color is!”
“Then what do you want to talk about?” Peter asked inquisitively.
“Something else.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. Something different.”
“If the world was being taken over by aliens, what would you do?”
“Aliens?”
“You asked for something different, aliens are different.”
“I have no idea.”
“Aliens hold you captive, and threaten you to answer a certain question or else the world will be obliterated!”
“How would I have gotten to the point where I was held captive?”
“You would have been moping from trying to think of something to write for your conversation piece.” Peter smiled.
“Very funny.”
“So, you are being dragged up to their spaceship-” Peter started waving his hands in the air as trying to visualize it.
“What kind of spaceship?” I asked.
“A spaceship.” His hands stopped in mid-air.
“What kind though?”
“It’s just a spaceship, we don’t need to talk about specifics.”
“Alright then, continue.”
“So you are being boarded onto the spaceship as you are held captive by an alien.”
“And?”
“And you are going to have to answer a question,” Peter said, leaning slightly forward.
“Remember, if you answer the question incorrectly, the Earth will be destroyed.
“I got it.”
“What is your favorite color?”
“Are you serious?! Why do you keep bothering me about that?!”
“Well great, you just destroyed the entire Earth!”
“It’s not like I wanted to!”
“It was such a simple question too!” Peter leaned back in his chair.
“What’s wrong with me not having a favorite color?”
“Because one day the Earth might be invaded by aliens that will ask you that question in order to keep the Earth from exploding. Simple.”
“This is a very weird conversation….” I let out a long breath.
Peter laughed, and looked at his watch, “Well, I have to go, good luck with that conversation piece.”
“Yep, thanks.” I was left alone sitting at the table. I then grabbed a fresh piece of paper out of my backpack, along with a newly sharpened pencil. I set pencil on paper, and started out with “What do you mean you don’t know how to use dialogue?”