• Use at least four of the bits of dialogue below (in any order) in a scene or a whole story. Make up the two or three characters who are talking. You can add to the dialogue with anything you like. Follow the guidance in “Dialogue Helper” to format the speech and show who’s speaking.

“I wish I could have ice cream for dinner and nothing else every night.”

“Are you listening?”

“I like clouds better than a plain blue sky.”

“What are you up to?”

“What do you mean ‘up to’?”

“Doing. As in, making trouble.”

“The last time I remember reading my book was in the bathroom, but it isn’t there.”

“Yesterday, I found $10 on the sidewalk.”

“You never listen to me.”

“My foot fell asleep.”

“James told me you’re his least favorite person.”

“Why?”

“Why did he tell me, or why are you his least favorite?”

“Forget it.”

“Okay. Glad to.”

If you feel confident that you have dialogue format down, you can do one of the prompts below instead, which are beginnings from famous or recent novels or plays, not written by me. Pick one—or you can smoosh two together—and keep writing the story.

• “Who’s there?”
• “It’s all right. I came back.”
• There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. 
• The letters scratched on the clay are unevenly formed, suggesting that the writer was learning to write.
• In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.