Lesson five: Exercise and Assignment

Lesson 5-exercise / speech patterns

I finally settled on a cup of tea in the local Country Fair store. There are tables in the front near the registers and it is a gathering place for coffee drinkers in a nearby community. An excellent place to observe people walking in and out; speaking to each other and the clerks.

1. Drawl - Usually used by a male sometimes with a smile on his face with a flirtatious manner. I could use this for a character with lots of confidence in his own abilities.
2. Chipper - Used by people who are energetic. This type of speech could be used to create a young character with energy.
3. Monotonous - Used by clerks who are pushing customers through the line as quickly as possible. Creating a character in a store clerking or a person servicing a line of people for some reason would be a use for spinning this type of speech pattern.
4. Precise - Used by people counting money out loud. This can be loud or soft; a character might use it when explaining some situation.
5. Sarcastically Uninspired - Used when explaining something to someone who should already know the answer. Might be used by a teaching character to a student.
6. Repetition - Used in similar circumstances as Monotonous but with more emphasis because of a circumstance. I once saw a teacher standing behind a pupil tapping a pencil lightly on his shoulder repeating a math formula over and over, while the student bowing his head wrote on paper. A created character under these circumstances, would also be precise.
7. Yogurt throat - Vibrations from the throat or lowering the tone of the voice as the speech continues - This could be caused by the throat coating from extreme use of yogurt or by flem in the throat from a cold. If a character is created from this type of speech pattern, explanations of why they speak this way would be included in the profile of the character.
8. Nasal - Caused from nose formations or forcing air through the nose during speech. Used by characters who are rushed or cold or have a deformity in the facial features.
9. Lack of emotion - Used by psychotic people. Use this when creating a character who has crime on their mind or just does not care how they appear to others.
10. Shy silence - someone who does not respond when spoken to or only says one word responses, when necessary. Creating a character with this speech pattern would fit a child or an adult who is careful of how they address other adults.

I became very interested in this when I figured out what the exercise was revealing. It should reside in Character profiling.

Lesson 5 - Assignment

Clumps of snow flew from their boots as Megan and Bea kicked them against the house wall. Then they entered the house.

“What the heck was happening out there Bea?” Megan placed a booted foot into the boot jack and tugged to release her foot from the tall boot.

“I’ve been watching TV coverage on the weather channel. This storm reaches clear across the state. Route eighty is closed and people are being warned to take shelter. The plows can’t keep up with the snow. Back roads are closing. Stores are closing, even all night gas stations are closed. It's a very dangerous situation.” Bea crossed her arms and rubbed her hands up and down each arm. She was still shuttering with cold.

Megan shuffled around the floor looking behind the clutter of boots by the wall. “Where are my slippers? These feet need heat.”

Bea walked into the kitchen. Grabbing her cell phone off a counter she punched in Janet Lyndon’s number. The phone gave out a constant burring, burring without an answer. Then it went to voice mail. Bea left her number and an urgent, "Call me" as a message. “No. Answer I’ll try again later if she doesn't call.”

“who you calling?”

“Eva Langdon.”

“Goody Brown Girl was suppose to ship yesterday but the van did not show up to get her. The information about the van and shipping company are on the schedule in the tack office.” Megan started pulling mugs out of the cupboard. She yelled into the living room. “Neil do you want hot chocolate?”

“No. I got coffee just a few minutes ago.”

Bea filled the singing kettle with hot water and started it heating on the stove. “O.K. I knew that. Langdon sent in this local hauler to pick her up without telling me. Did you see the official authorization papers?”

“Well he walked into the barn waving a typed letter signed by Eva that said to release Goody to him because she needed to get her to the vet stable ASAP in order to secure a stall with the Vet. So, I loaded her into the trailer. He was pushy and rude. Because of the storm I thought it was necessary to move quickly.”

“Don’t ever make a move like that again unless I give the go ahead.” Bea picked up the cup of hot cocoa she was mixing, “Ouch, this cup is hot! The snow I fell in melted all over me. I’m soaked. I’m going to my room to change.” She walked out of the kitchen blowing on her burned fingers turning down the hall toward the bedrooms.

When Megan walked into the room, Neil was reading a newspaper. His coffee cup sat next to him, on a lamp stand.

Megan dashed back into the kitchen to grab a few napkins. She handed one to Neil. “Better put something under that cup before Bea sees it.”

Neil looked up in surprise but took a napkin and placed it under his cup. “Okaaaaay.”

Megan picked up the controller, pointed it at the TV impatiently flicking her wrist. “Wow look at the mess on the highway!”