“What scenes can you create and in what order can you arrange them in order to show us a routine or an intention or a memory? Dialogue is most amazing and powerful in a movie when it is not forced to carry the burden of exposition.” (Danny Rubin, A Top Hollywood Screenwriter Lays Down His 10 Rules for Your Script – The Daily Beast)
Character Development Exercise: The Silent Engine of Story
Quotation:
“What scenes can you create and in what order can you arrange them in order to show us a routine or an intention or a memory? Dialogue is most amazing and powerful in a movie when it is not forced to carry the burden of exposition.” — Danny Rubin
Writing Techniques to Practice
Scene Sequencing for Subtextual Revelation Use a deliberate order of scenes to reveal character intention or memory through implication rather than declaration. Routine as a Mirror of Inner Life Develop character through the careful rendering of repeated actions, emphasizing what changes—or doesn’t—across iterations. Exposition-Free Dialogue Craft dialogue that reveals emotion, tension, and relationship without explaining plot or background. Let the unsaid carry the weight.
Writing Prompt (500 words):
Write a scene sequence (two to three short scenes, totaling no more than 500 words) that reveals a character’s private longing or hidden regret entirely through their morning routine. The scenes must be presented out of chronological order. Include at least one moment of dialogue, but the dialogue must not explain or summarize what the character wants or remembers. Use the arrangement of scenes, physical actions, and environmental details to make the subtext visible. Avoid flashbacks; make the present moment do the heavy lifting.
Evaluation Criteria
Successful responses will:
Reveal emotional depth or internal conflict without overt exposition Use shifts in scene order to build dramatic tension or thematic resonance Show evolution or contrast in routine details that suggest change in character psychology Feature dialogue that deepens mystery or sharpens emotional stakes without summarizing intent
Weak responses will:
Rely on backstory or explanation to tell what the character feels Present scenes in chronological order without creating tension or layered meaning Use dialogue as a shortcut for revealing character motives Offer routines that feel generic or lack specific sensory and behavioral detail
Follow-Up Workshopping Questions
What does the order of scenes reveal about the character’s emotional arc? Where is the strongest emotional beat, and is it earned by the structure? Which moment in the routine feels most revealing, and why? Does the dialogue open a door into character psychology, or does it close one with explanation? What could be removed or re-sequenced to heighten subtext?
Recommended Reading
“Conversations with My Father” by Grace Paley (especially the final scene).
Paley uses mundane, nonlinear interactions to reveal a lifetime of emotional complexity without direct exposition. Her dialogue resists summary and lives in subtext, while the story’s structure deepens our understanding of routine, intention, and loss.
Example Comparison
Strong:
A woman empties her dead husband’s coffee mug every morning before making her own. In one scene, she overfills it, lets it spill. In another, she wipes the rim before putting it away. A neighbor says, “You still keeping the blinds open?” and she answers, “Only till noon.” The scenes are out of order; they echo grief and adjustment without stating either.
Weak:
A woman wakes, thinks about her dead husband, makes coffee, cries. She tells her neighbor, “I’m still so sad since Jim passed. I keep his mug to remember him.” The sequence is chronological, the dialogue explains everything, and no action carries meaning on its own.
Leave a comment