Re-Creating Dialogue

Reading and writing exercise: read these memoir excerpts and take a scene in your own memoir in which you want to capture dialogue and experiment with the three approaches.

Words to capture

Carmel, California, August 1967, outside of the TA office where Jon will be ready soon… Meeting a young woman, whose name I later learned is Carol, exiting. Me, “Hi, I’m Jon Weiss’s wife.” Carol, “oh, I’m a person in my own right.” Oops!

San Francisco coffee shop, August 1969. Hoagie Wyckoff, “You’re not free.” Me, “Of course I am, my husband lets me do anything I want to.” Oops!

Banquet in San Francisco hotel ballroom sometime in the 1970s. Marty Groder, “Want to get well? Rob a bank.”

Carmel, California, August 1967, Eric Berne, “No touching! No touching!”

…..

Having lunch at a TA conference in San Francisco with Jon, Hoagie Wyckoff came by, “Can I join you?” I know Hoagie is Claude Steiner’s current partner but not much else about her. The restaurant is crowded and asking to sit with others at the conference is common. She asked if I was involved in the women’s movement, something I was barely aware of at the time.

“No, I haven’t paid much attention to it. I’m pretty busy.” Hoagie, “Well you’re not free!” Me, “Of course I am. My husband lets me do anything I want to.”

I heard my own words and got it. My freedom depends on his permission. I accepted her invitation to attend the women’s caucus.

…..

Walking into the building shared by Eric Berne and Dave Kupfer to pick up Jon after his day of training, I almost bumped into a young woman. “Hi, I’m Jon Weiss’s wife.” “Oh, I’m a person in my own right.” I found Jon and we drove back to our motel cottage across from Asilomar still hearing the words, a person in my own right, a person in my own right.

A few days later Mary, another wife, said, “Let’s get a babysitter for all the kids and go to the conference.” Making small talk at the conference party on Saturday night I saw Eric Berne stand up. Saying loudly “No touching! No touching!”  I watched in amazement as people started jumping on top of him and each other. Then I jumped too – right into a different world! When the pile untangled, I crawled under a table and cried hysterically. Nobody paid the slightest bit of attention.