@Julie,
Welcome to SS,
Your story, so we have the wife (JUSTINE) she's unhappy with her husband (PHIL), he works late, too much, and doesn't pay her any attention. So she thinks he's having an affair, but he says he's not, and the straw that breaks the camel's back -- when he forgets their second wedding anniversary.
It's a pretty pedestrian story, nothing wrong with that, but I was hoping for something more, maybe a nice twist at the end, but didn't get it.
Code
PHIL
([i]Takes the dishes out the sink
and puts them in the
dishwasher, slamming the door
shut)[/i]
I�m going to bed. |
|
This should be an action line... along with this one...
Code
PHIL
(talking while chewing his
food)
|
|
And the other, I'd get rid of it all together.
All I'll say, read up on the proper use of (wrylies) and only use them sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. Best advice I can give you. One effective way to utilize them -- when the subtext of the dialogue is not otherwise clear.
Another thing, your dialogue, give it more punch. A lot of it is on-the-nose, you know, when a character is speaking precisely how they're feeling or thinking, without leaving any room for the reader/audience to fill in the blanks when it comes to a particular character's emotions, thoughts, and so forth. We all have, even the pros, at some point has done it. Writing dialogue is hard... and you have a few emotionally-charged scenes with Phil and Justine.
Examples... I'll use your character's name.
PHIL: Because it's not just about you, it's about me and my own problems. I love you. I do. I'm just really upset because you slept with my best friend, Roger, when I was at work, so I need to move out.
Or. . . .
PHIL: I left a key for you. . . I figure Roger can use the back door, like usual.
See what I mean. The latter gives away the same amount of information... Phil cares enough to leave the key for her, yet he's still bitter about the affair, but with greater nuance. Yea, it might be out of context, but you can get an idea of where I'm coming from when writing dialogue... especially in emotional scenes.
I hate to assume a writer's intentions, because more times than not I'm wrong... the scene where Phil brings home the flowers and well, you know... Yes, I see what you were trying to do, but JMHO-- you didn't set it up properly... that is, if you wanted the audience to be surprised too, if not then disregard. And if it was, I know how I would have done it to achieve what you originally intended.
-- Your first few slugs could use a bit tweaking.
-- The writing needs polishing, but all of ours can. You could definitely trim a few pages here and there. Don't know if you're a novice, or how long you've been writing, and I don't care to speculate, so I won't.
All I'll say, again welcome to SS, and keep writing. If you have questions just let me know. All the best with this.
Ghostie