Self Directed Writing Exercise #7

Time Required: two hours
Here's How:
Choose a scene from one of your short stories or novels that seems to drag. Scenes designed to be more action-oriented are particularly well-suited to this exercise.
Rewrite the scene as a play or screenplay. In other words, tell the story using only dialogue and brief descriptions of action and characters. (If you aren't familiar with screenwriting or playwrighting formats, don't worry. This isn't an exercise in formatting, but in thinking visually.)
Practice economy. Think strategically about how character can be revealed through action and dialogue. (Syd Field has excellent examples of how this can be done in his classic book, "Screenplay.") Instead of telling the reader what a character is like, find a way to illustrate character as the plot unfolds.
Rewrite the scene in prose, abstaining from back story and long descriptions, and incorporating some of the details you have added in writing it as a screenplay.
Take a few days off from the work and return to it later, noting how the pace of the work has changed.
Tips:
In some instances, backstory will be necessary to the plot of a story. Determine what's absolutely necessary and what the reader can surmise from the dialogue and the action. Readers generally pick up on and remember more details than you might expect.
Don't confuse foward-moving fiction with fiction written for the screen. It's possible to write rich, literary work that also has movement.
It's easy enough to reinsert any necessary information later. When you start to get feedback on the work, people will let you know if anything is confusing:

You're supposed to do this exercise with a scene you've already written but after going back and looking at what i've written I don't know that any of them lend themselves to this exercise. Sooooo in the spirit of adventure and the fact that I HAVE to write for two hours everyday i'm going to create a scene in dialogue. Feel free to rip it apart in editing as today it's just a writing exercise ;-)

"I am so sick of having first watch Kevan".

"Aww Page it could be worse ya know you could have last watch, or second to last watch, or hell you could be the one out in the forest foraging for food".

"Yeah except I don't know the differance between a poisonous mushroom and a tasty one, also I don't like domestic labor Kevan it gives me the willies"

"Oh aye you'll make some man a wonderful wife Page"

"I've no intentions of making some man a wonderful anything! I've devoted my life to the Watchers and small children disgust me, they're sticky and are always wiping grossness off on people! No thank you this chicka will pass"

"Wow you're that sure you'll be celibate the rest of your life Page? I'm two years older than you and at 17 i'm not even sure i'm ready to call it quits on that part of my life!"

"Here! Here! Gavin!"

"Oh stop it both of you and leave Page alone. If she says she's made up her mind then she has you know girls mature faster than men anyway so technically Page is a year older than you Gavin and Kevan we all know you just want to flirt with anything of the opposite sex".

"Thanks Annabeth. It's good to know at least someone understands where i'm coming from!"

"What are you all talking about?"

"Hey Magnus, Kindyl, think you could settle this debate?"

"What debate Gavin?"

"Well Page says she's not gonna be anyone's wife or mother and Annabeth says that since girls mature faster than us guys that technically she's a year older than me. She also says Kevan is a horrible flirt and will hit on anything that moves."

"Hmm doesn't sound like much of a debate to me Gavin. Sounds more like you want Kindyl and I to make a ruling on ya'lls argument and I'm not sure that you and Kevan really have a leg to stand on here".

"Well baby brother the good news is we're not reliant on a logical ruling so you can relax and let your more base instincts rule here."

"Oh that's nice Gavin just reduce your higher thinking brother to the level of a caveman"

"I saw you roll your eyes at me Page".

"Children, children calm down the real argument here is whether or not Page is old enough to have pledged her entire life to the organization alone. Not whether or not Gavin is an immature slob, which we already know to be true, or that Kevan is a lad with a wandering eye, something we also already know to be true. So to be fair and unbiased we'd have to consult the Good Book!"

"Wow you brandished that about rather dramatically Kindyl I hope you have a specific passage you're going to refer to, be a shame to ruin all that drama with no idea of where to go."

"Gee, Gavin you are such a treasure! I can't understand why some girl hasn't snatched you up for her own yet?"

"He hasn't found anyone desperate enough to settle that's why Kindyl"