This week: In The Deathly Throes Of An Argument Edited by: W.D.Wilcox More Newsletters By This Editor
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“Any woman who is sure of her own wits, is a match, at any time, for a man who is not sure of his own temper.”
― Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
“Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
“Don't argue. Never deign to deny. Meet insults with laughter.”
― Leigh Bardugo, Siege and Storm
“Very often in everyday life one sees that by losing one's temper with someone who has already lost his, one does not gain anything but only sets out upon the path of stupidity. He who has enough self-control to stand firm at the moment when the other person is in a temper, wins in the end. It is not he who has spoken a hundred words aloud who has won; it is he who has perhaps spoken only one word.”
― Hazrat Inayat Khan, Mastery through Accomplishment
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Writing An Argument
Have you ever written dialogue of two people in a 'knock-down, drag-out' argument? It is an important skill to learn because it is a reality of our lives. If you want realism from your characters then you have to know how to write a heated argument.
I host the "The Dialogue 500" and it has been my pleasure to offer a forum/contest where people can practice writing dialogue. But what about a hateful dialogue? What about an argument between husband and wife/ boyfriend and girlfriend/ two people not just having a discussion, but an all-out fight?
You know what I mean. In the heat of battle people yell, scream, cuss, and say things so hurtful it drives the other to tears. You know your spouse, and only you can say things about them that is so devastating it takes weeks, months, and sometimes years to repair the relationship. Once said, you can't put it back in the toothpaste tube.
There are weaknesses, key words and mannerisms used that only people who have known each other for years can arm and use as weapons. And they throw these at each other hoping to score a hit. It is sad really, but a reality nonetheless. Here's a small sample of how it is written.
“I see how it is,” I snapped. “You were all in favor of me breaking the tattoo and thinking on my own—but that’s only okay if it’s convenient for you, huh? Just like your ‘loving from afar’ only works if you don’t have an opportunity to get your hands all over me. And your lips. And . . . stuff.”
Adrian rarely got mad, and I wouldn’t quite say he was now. But he was definitely exasperated. “Are you seriously in this much self-denial, Sydney? Like do you actually believe yourself when you say you don’t feel anything? Especially after what’s been happening between us?”
“Nothing’s happening between us,” I said automatically. “Physical attraction isn’t the same as love. You of all people should know that.”
“Ouch,” he said. His expression hadn’t changed, but I saw hurt in his eyes. I’d wounded him. “Is that what bothers you? My past? That maybe I’m an expert in an area you aren’t?”
“One I’m sure you’d just love to educate me in. One more girl to add to your list of conquests.”
He was speechless for a few moments and then held up one finger. “First, I don’t have a list.” Another finger, “Second, if I did have a list, I could find someone a hell of lot less frustrating to add to it.” For the third finger, he leaned toward me. “And finally, I know that you know you’re no conquest, so don’t act like you seriously think that. You and I have been through too much together. We’re too close, too connected. I wasn’t that crazy on spirit when I said you’re my flame in the dark. We chase away the shadows around each other. Our backgrounds don’t matter. What we have is bigger than that. I love you, and beneath all that logic, calculation, and superstition, I know you love me too. Running away and fleeing all your problems isn’t going to change that. You’re just going to end up scared and confused.”
“I already feel that way,” I said quietly.
Adrian moved back and leaned into his seat, looking tired. “Well, that’s the most accurate thing you’ve said so far.”
I grabbed the basket and jerked open the car door. Without another word, I stormed off, refusing to look back in case he saw the tears that had inexplicably appeared in my eyes. Only, I wasn’t sure exactly which part of our conversation I was most upset about.”
― Richelle Mead, The Indigo Spell
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DEAD LETTERS
Question: Have you ever been haunted?
Benjamin Black
As a child, I lived in a house which was next door to a retirement home. My brother and I lived in a granny flat out the back. Sometimes at night we would hear footsteps outside when there was nobody there and our dog would go crazy and bark at the wall, clearly sensing something we did not. Our neighbour on the other side would also talk about tools going missing from their house, then hearing them being used in the night, and finding them the next day where they had already looked.
We used to to joke that it was ghosts of the retirement home having a laugh.
Kanishka
I am haunted by the mistakes of my past, so much so that I have begun believing in Karma. As a child, I was arrogant and disrespectful to my physical trainer in school. I got him into a lot of trouble with the higher-ups, the details of which I had rather not share. But the poor man didn't deserve so much flak.
As I finished school and then college, I was full of dreams and on the path to success. I wanted to study law and hoped to become a successful lawyer one day. But that didn't happen. I was forced to become a journalist and run after celebrities, begging them for a sound byte. My experience in the TV channel I worked for was humiliating. But it taught me that it never pays to treat others badly. Life had caught up with me. Karma had done what it had to do.
Schnujo's NOT Doing NaNoWriMo
When I was in Iraq, at my primary location, we had to move to different sleeping quarters a number of times. The last time I moved I started feeling someone sitting at the bottom of my cot when I was in bed. I had my own room, so it wasn't a real person.
I felt it so many nights and never in any other rooms before or after that one. I felt like someone was watching over me. For some reason, it never crossed my mind that it could be a ghost. I always just smiled at how odd it felt that there was someone sitting on my bed and watching me when I knew I was alone.
It didn't occur to me to ask if that was the room of a dead Soldier until after I left. I hate that I never asked or even tried to shine a light on the foot of my bed to see if it was dented when I felt someone sitting there. But I'm definitely convinced that someone--angel or dead Soldier--was looking out for me.
That's the room I was staying in when I was in the explosion, though I wasn't in the room at the time of the explosion, but it's where I slept before and after it. To be so close to the blast and it only be a partial detonation, which is why we survived, I definitely believe God had a hand in that. *Angel*
Santeven Quokklaus
Family story:
My father died when I was 10. My youngest sister was 4. It was pretty traumatic.
Fast forward 15 years and my sister had a daughter. She would sit on my mum's lap at mum's place and keep looking over mum's shoulder and smile at something. All we could see was the lamp.
Go forward a few more years and my sister was showing my niece pictures of relatives who had passed. She put down a picture of our dad. "That's my dad," she said.
"I know," my niece said. "He used to smile at me at grandma's house."
🌖 HuntersMoon
My dog, Scooter, was around for a while after he passed. I'd feel him curl up during the night, find toys of his in the bed, even find shoes from the closet in his dog bed. I named (formally registered) a star after him and, after that, his presence faded over time. He knew I'd never forget him.
Starling
We live in a very remote wooded area. There is electric, wells for water and dirt roads. Four months after my husband passed away, I was pulling out of our dirt driveway. It was not foggy in front of our house or in the woods across the road. The driveway was about 75 feet from the next road, off to the right, which ran through the area.
I made the turn right and saw a white cloud of a mountain man figure, complete with doe skin clothes and musket, lying on his shoulder, walk toward a fog bank. The figure looked at me before he disappeared into the bank of thick fog.
To this day I'm convinced it was my husband.
elephantsealer
I wonder if it is a haunting when one dreams of one's parents (who unfortunately passed away years ago)? I always thought that they come for a visit every now and then; probably to let me know they are always nearby?????
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