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Fri 29 Jan, 2010 09:19 pm
Okay, I'm a screenwriter, and one of my characters is discussing having a bad marriage. At some point in the dialog the character needs to ask to change the subject but in a way that doesn't make her seem insecure or afraid of talking about it. It has to be something on the order of:
...Blah, blah...
I'm sorry I don't want to talk about it anymore.
What do you want to talk about?
It has to merit a "what do you want to talk about?" type of question.
The best I've come up with is:
...Blah, blah...
Okay, New topic.
What do you want to talk about?
@Muarck,
...Blah, blah...
"Can we PLEASE talk about something else for a change?"
"What do you want to talk about?"
@engineer,
That's direct forceful annoyed but certainly not insecure.
Really good answer, though in thinking about I might not want to make it sound annoyed. Then again, I might. I'm thinking about it or modifying it. Really good though! Thanks.
PS: The people on Able2Know are like 10 times smarter than anywhere else!
It would help to know what the next topic is. for a conversation to feel organic, natural transitions between topics...
"blah blah. Well enough about me, I'd rather hear about [new topic]"
"What about [new topic] do you want to talk about?"
or some sort of thematic pass off to the other character...
"blah blah. You're to nice. Why do you let me ramble on."
"No, it's fine. We can talk about anything."
[new topic]
I love these threads.
T
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@Diest TKO,
I litterally actually meant it needs to merit THE line: "What do you want to talk about?" Not: "What do you want to know about ______?" It has to be an open ended: "What do you want to talk about?" Rephrasing is allowed something like: "What else do you want to talk about?" So honestly, I don't think knowing what coming next will assist in developing the transition. Though, since people are interested she's going to ask him about his bad marriage.
"I'm tired of talking about this right now. Let's go for a walk and talk about
- - something else
- - something easier
- - something silly
- -
- -
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