Belief – Dialog Spine by Lisa

So the dialog spine is something I learned off of Scott Westerfeld’s blog over a year ago, when he and Justine Larbeleister (his wife, in case you didn’t know) were posting daily NaNoWriMo tips. It’s a short story told entirely in the voices of two people, no quotation notes or anything, just with one character in italics and the other in basic font. Westerfeld says he uses this to “clear out the cobwebs.” I like to use it for practice, and to get to know some characters, so here’s a little contribution for free-read Friday.

~*~*~*~*~*~

We can’t wait for her. You know that, right?

But the plan won’t work without her.

Then we’ll need a new plan.

I really don’t like this. How can we leave without her? After everything?

After everything? She left us. She left all of us—her duty, her responsibility, she walked away from all of it.

She wanted something for herself. Can’t you understand that?

None of us chose this life. It chose us. That’s always the way it’s been, since time was time. It’s how it always would be.

And you’ve never wanted anything different?

It doesn’t matter what we want, it matters that we have a destiny. We have a purpose and a people to save.

She knows all of that. What if she comes back? It’s not like she wants us to fail.

Maybe she should have thought about that before deciding that her life was more important than everyone else’s.

… What if we can’t do it without her?

We have to.

She was always integral to the plan.

Like I said, we have to find a new plan.

Do we? Or do you already have one?

It’s not like some of us haven’t seen this coming for a long time now.

So everyone’s given up faith in her entirely, is what you’re saying.

It’s not like that… but what were we supposed to do?

Believe. Believe her when she said she was going to come back, that’s what you were supposed to do.

Well? Don’t you have anything to say to that?

I think you’ve believed her enough for all of us.