“Can you tell a story just in dialogue?”

“Well, of course, what kind of question is that?— Aren’t all stories a kind of dialogue?”

“When you say it like that—“

“Well, think of it: stories are meant to be told— meant to be spoken. And if you have a storyteller–“

“Yes. Yes. I see now. You could ask them questions.”

“Interject things!”

“Correct them even.”

“Of course— so you see, taking that verbal dialogue and putting it down on a page… it has its limitations, yes, but it’s much the same thing.”

“Would you say, then, that the storyteller becomes his own interragator?”

“Hmm. Yes, I think so— You could call dialogue thinking outloud.”

“Haha! I like that.”

“Yes. Yes. Me too… In my mind a writer is just the same as any storyteller, except he likes to tell himself the story first.”

“An incubator.”

“Yes. A writer is just a storyteller with a perfectionism complex.”

“Hmm. Well, it’s a thought, at least.”

© 2023 Katie Baker