Encouraging

It can help to think of speech as an action. People don't speak for no reason!

Characters often try to influence each other through their emotions.

For example, characters can affirm and encourage each other.

“Baby, I’m so proud of you! I told you that you were just as good as those other girls.”

“Well, it was only once …”

“Don’t give me that. You do it once, you can do it again. Start a trend. Believe and achieve!”

Notice in this exchange that Mango protests her mother’s encouragement, but her mother keeps going anyway.

“I don’t know,” the big cat said.

“But I do, so listen to clever Gobgap. You’re bigger and broader and hairier than any lion. Just one look at you, Cat, and they’ll run like kittens.”

“Go! Go! Go!” I could hear the group chanting over the waterfall as I nervously stepped to the edge of the rock.

“You can do it Eliza!” Carmen’s voice cut through the rest, as clear as the water below.

In the last example, is the crowd shouting, "Go! Go! Go!" encouragement or a command?

The same words can have different meanings based on the situation, relationship and intention.

In this case, "Go!" is encouragement. In a different situation, it could be a command.

Write your own variation where one character encourages another. How does the other character respond?

True dat. Dialogue punctuation can be finicky.

Here's a handy guide (or you can just google for dialogue punctuation—everyone has the same questions!)

Dialogue Basics Activity 06: Encouraging