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Hello,
Until I started working on a novel, I had never written dialogue. I'm hoping this class will enable me to improve that very important part of writing.  Below is an excerpt from chapter 3 of my novel, The Kurdish Connection. For continuity sake, I've started the excerpt with the paragraph leading into the dialogue.
When they arrived at Gewran’s store, Dersim went inside while Ismet remained in the truck. Gewran was busy helping several customers, so Dersim and Ismet went to look at some of the carpets for sale. 
When the last customer departed, Gewran came over. “Welcome back!  Sorry for the delay, but I stopped to call Babir.  He’ll be right over.”
“Okay, thanks.  Ismet is outside in the truck.  Since we brought some of the weapons, we didn’t want to leave the vehicle unattended.”
“Hello! Good to see you again,” Babir said.  “Where’s Ismet and Hawre?  I though they were coming with you.”
“Hello, Babir,” Dersim said.  “Ismet stayed in the truck.  Hawre’s illness has gotten worse so he remained in Halabja.”
“May Allah give him good health,” Babir said.
“Is there some place we can put the truck so Ismet can join us? Dersim asked.
“Yes, of course. Just drive behind the stores and there is a large warehouse.  I’ll meet you there,” Gewran said.
After driving to the warehouse and locking the vehicle inside, Gewran, Dersim, and Ismet returned to the store. Babir had tea waiting for them.
“To your health,” Babir toasted. “And to our future.”
They all drank to Babir’s toast.  Dersim then got down to business. “When we met with Mullah Ahmed three weeks ago, he wanted us to bring all of the weapons to Mardin.”
“That’s right,” Babir said.
“Well, Ismet, Hawre, and I discussed this. We don’t think it’s a good idea to take everything to Mardin at once,” Dersim said. “What if the Turks cut us out of the plan? Then we have nothing.”
“We’ll support them in Mardin, but on our terms,” Ismet added.
“So what did you bring?” Gewran asked.
“We brought fifty AK-47s, fifty Glock pistols, ammunition, five crates of grenades, and five crates of plastic explosives,” Dersim said. “That’s about half of the weapons cache we uncovered.”
“What about the canisters? Did you bring them?” Babir asked.
“As with the weapons, we split it.  We brought twenty canisters,” Dersim said.
“They’ll have to be happy with that,” Babir said. “Without you, they wouldn’t have anything.  Come, let’s eat and then call it a night.  You have an early departure for Mardin in the morning.”
“Good idea,” Ismet said.
“Oh, I almost forgot. Ismet, Mullah Ahmed gave me this letter for you.  He said he wanted you to head to Syria while Dersim goes to Mardin.”
“What? Why?” Ismet asked.
“Read the letter and find out,” Dersim said.
Ismet opened the envelope and took out a single sheet of paper. After glancing at it, he handed it to Dersim. “Can you please read this?  My reading isn’t very good.”
“Sure. Mullah Ahmed wants me to drop you off in Silopi and you’re to head to the border crossing and find a truck driver named Kadir,” Dersim read.  “Kadir will take you to Al-Bab.  You’ll be given further instructions there, but it looks like they want you to go to Aleppo.”
“Did he say why?” Ismet asked.
“No, but I assume it’s so you can meet with some of our Syrian brethren,” Dersim said.

Looking forward to the class, Randy

When I sit down to write, I take a look at my outline to refresh myself.  As I begin to write I find that sometimes the material isn't suitable for the current chapter but might fit in better later on.  I don't discard anything and put it aside as it might be useful later (or even in another story).  When I start rewriting, though, I do stick with just the chapter that I'm working on.  Even while working on my current novel, I've already put aside ideas for two more.  When ideas come, I grab them and worry about where to use the material later.  But that's me.  Good luck, Randy

Completed a review of Jube's 'The World Of Phyries" chapter 7.

Completed a review of CJ's 'Raven's Curse' - Chapter 8.

Hey everyone,
I've finished the re-write of chapter 1, The Kurdish Connection, so please add me back into your reading rotation.  I'll pick up again with Matthew as he was next on my list.  Many thanks, Randy

Completed a review of Cobber's "State of Vengeance', chapter 26.

What has helped me is to read other writers' work.  For some reason, when I'm doing this I'll suddenly find myself thinking about characters of my own, what I might want them to do, etc.  I don't set myself any word goal for a given day, but I will always write something down, even if it's just a paragraph or two.  I use my novel outline for my notes when things come to me and then refer to them later.  Might not work for everyone, but it does for me.

Completed a review of Jube's 'The World Of Phyries" chapter 6.

Agree with Norm about using some type of roadmap.  The book content summary gives the readers an idea of what the story will be about and can always be changed as you move along.  Like Norm, I use a chapter-by-chapter outline.  For each chapter I use 2-3 sentences to give me an idea of where I'm going.  I've done that for the entire book, although I have already added a couple extra chapters since I started and also moved some others around.  It may not be for everyone, but it can help when you are first getting started.  Good luck!

Posted a review of Matthew's chapter 6 (CH 2C) Contact in Space, First Contact

Completed a review of Cobber's "State of Vengeance', chapter 25.

Hi Linda,
Would be glad to read.  If your novel is posted, I'll find it and get started. Randy