My A to Z challenge theme is writing terms. Today is brought to you by the letter D.
D – Dialogue:
The words spoken by the characters of a story.
In order to tell the story, every dialogue needs to have meaning within the story. Whether that is character development in showing their strengths, weaknesses, their backstory, or foreshadowing, it conveys an integral part of the story otherwise, why is it there? A dialogue can also be a way to share information without sounding like an info dump. Michael Crichton was expert at conveying information within the dialogue. By doing this he also kept the action going in the story, which in turn keeps the reader moving forward!
D -Denouement:
The final outcome of the main complication of a story or play. It usually occurs after the climax and reveals all the secrets and misunderstandings connected to the plot. In other words, you tie up all of your loose ends including that minor character that you left back at camp with a bullet hole in his leg, hoping that the field doctor would arrive in time. Inquiring readers want to know!
D – Draft:
A completed version of a writing which may be rewritten, revised, or polished. Just because you have a draft does not mean you have a publishable manuscript. On the other hand, I need to learn to let go and cut the cord.
That concludes our lesson for the day. Tomorrow, it’s back to double bird killing. We writers are an evil lot!
Write on my friends, write on!
Till next time,
Ellie
quotidiandose 
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Excellent. I was not familiar with the word denouement. I love learning.
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One of my biggest pet peeves is something I observed in movies before I ever knew the term denouement. I can’t remember the name of the TV series that I first realized this, but it had Martin Landau in it. There would be five minutes left in the show, and I would think ‘OH, ok this is a 2 parter. Then BAM! They wrapped everything up tidily in the last five minutes. No lead in, no satisfying lingering over certain aspects of the bad guy getting caught or killed or imprisoned or whatever happened to resolve the show. I’ve seen other series on TV that did the same. I hate that! I’ve read authors that do that and I have to admit, I was shocked when a couple of my reviews said that the ending seemed rushed. That has made me stop and think about it even more.
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I agree that things often seem rushed. I will have to add this to my long list of things to think about when writing. Though some may think your book was rushed at the end, I bet others thought it was just right. People are people after all, you can’t please them all.
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