The Avengers and Writing Killer Dialogue

First off, The Avengers was pretty much everything I could have ever hoped for. I mean, think of how difficult this thing must have been to write - you've got like seven main characters with built-in backstories that you have to honor and also super powers (most of them) that you have to showcase, oh and also you have to defeat some bad guy which is the point of the film in the first place. And make it funny. And action-packed with a purpose. That's a lot of hyphens for one paragraph.

That Iron Man is so punchy

So, of course, after seeing this I was like "I am hereby going to lock myself in my apartment until I have completed my script to the standards by which The Avengers was held." Obviously I'm known for my practicality, just ask my friends who were around to experience my gluten-free, sugar-free vegan diet plan. But as soon as you make a resolution to do anything that requires complete solitude, your pesky friends come a'calling on you to make with the social graces. Furthermore, they were armed with beer and German sausage. I was powerless. 

 Easy Tiger on 6th - this is where I was last night, blatantly enjoying myself

So I wrote off the evening as a wash. Then a funny thing happened. Math happened. Now, most of the time, math is not something I find funny. Numbers are hard; I prefer words. But when my friend started talking it was all quantum physics, M-theory, black holes stuff, which I find infinitely (math reference) interesting. Then another thing happened. He started to sound familiar to me. He was getting excited talking about dimensions and possibilities, using big words and wide eyes to get his point across, and it was then I realized who this guy was. He's my scientist! He's my alien-obsessed, math whiz, cat crazy lab dweller from the script I am currently writing. Suddenly, I'm elated.

Reasons for elation:

1. This guy doesn't sound like me, he sounds like my character; that means my character doesn't sound like me, which is super important.

2. This is like free dialogue here - I'm basically getting hand fed lines upon lines of postulations and basic science talk that I can rework and use in my script.

3. I figured out my character's fatal flaw - pride. He over thinks things because he's like the most genius of all geniuses and nobody else could possibly understand him. The origin of the aliens, a fundamental question, couldn't possibly be a simple answer, so he will complicate the crap out of it, therefore postponing the solution to the problem. 

I think the point I'm coming to here is that locking oneself in a room is occasionally a very effective way of actually getting parts of your script written, but human interaction and basic mind rest is essential to the creative process. You need to hear how other people talk - interesting people, boring people, old people, young people, red people, blue people, one people, two people. People that don't sound like you, or other characters you've either seen in movies or read in a book.

Completely original characters with completely original ways of thinking and acting and speaking are out there. They're real people. With math degrees. Doctorate math degrees. Crazy.