Tom Swift

One of the assignments I never completed in my writing course was to record a conversation. Dialogue can be difficult to write and the instructor said that would be good practice. She was probably right.

There is a word-play game based on the dialogue found in Tom Swift books. (Tom Swift was a science fiction teenager dating back to 1910, but still popular in the 50's and 60's.) The characters in these books never said anything plainly; it was always “excitedly”, “slowly”, “laughingly”, and so on. The game is called Tom Swifties and goes like this:

“I’d like a martini,” Tom said dryly.
“I’d like ice in my drink,” Sue commanded coldly.
“I’d like milk,” John uttered.
“I’m a runner,” he said quickly.
“I prefer to walk,” she said slowly.
“I’m very sleepy,” Melissa said dreamily.
“Would you like a pillow?” Janet asked softly.
“Do stop and see me sometimes,” he said haltingly.
“Did you lose?” he asked winningly.
“I really like frogs,” Holly croaked.
“I like birds,” she chirped.
“You little devil!” she jeered evilly.

Here are some better ones from the web site http://www.jokesnjokes.net/:
"I forgot what to buy," Tom said listlessly.
"I need a home run hitter," Tom said ruthlessly.
"I need a pencil sharpener," said Tom bluntly.
"I only get Newsweek," said Tom timelessly.
"I don't like hot dogs," Tom said frankly.
"I'll try and dig it up for you," Tom said gravely.
"I'm back from my lobotomy," said Tom absentmindedly.

This one came from http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/27495 , a site with really bad (and some naughty) Swifties: "I dropped my toothpaste," said Tom, crestfallen.

“This is the end,” Martha finally wrote.