"Playground Power Struggle": An Exercise with Status Play and Dialogue Tags
Two boys playing on my street inspired me to write this week's assignment, which required me to dive deeper into dialogue, experimenting with as few dialogue tags as possible. The few tags employed act as anchors to inform the reader which character is speaking. Any other attributes to inform the reader are through description of action. Enjoy. Your feedback is always appreciated. Playground Power Struggle By Laura M. Campbell School bus 81 pulled into Willow Hill Estates just before four o’clock. The weather unseasonably warm for a Friday in February filled all the children with hysterical energy after a long day of classes. Laughter and chatter floated out the cracked windows while they grabbed their book bags and lunch boxes preparing to get off the bus. Andy pressed his face against the window, scanning the crowd of parents for his mother’s red coat. His gaze moved over to the playground. Only a few youn...