Day 4 – What I learned …

[Deb Johnson]

What I learned – writing a new scene with ironic dialogue…

When two characters oppose each other, it’s good to find the irony and expose it. I was able to take two characters, who at face value, seem opposite. I was able to turn the conversation around to show how they are similar… the lead character being just as unscrupulous as the man he despises.

[Mary Dietz]

I have a scene where the protagonist and antagonist meet for the first time. Both are trying to save lives: one politically, the other medically. The conversation takes place in the clinic treatment room. By drawing out the similarities of intention, the conversation humanizes the “villain” and gives a sense of how long the two characters will remain at odds. It poses the question of whether they may support each other in small ways or whether they will remain rigidly opposed.