@mytechtoday/augment-extensions 0.2.0 → 0.5.0

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/rules/dialogue-writing.md

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+# Dialogue Writing
+
+## Overview
+
+Great dialogue serves multiple purposes: reveals character, advances plot, creates conflict, provides information, and establishes tone. It should sound natural while being more focused and purposeful than real speech.
+
+## Core Principles
+
+### Natural Speech Patterns
+**Characteristics of Natural Dialogue**:
+- Contractions and informal language
+- Incomplete sentences and interruptions
+- Pauses and hesitations
+- Regional/cultural speech patterns
+- Age-appropriate vocabulary
+
+**Avoid**:
+- Overly formal or literary language (unless character-specific)
+- Perfect grammar in casual conversation
+- Speeches or monologues (unless justified)
+- Characters speaking in paragraphs
+
+### Subtext
+**Definition**: What's meant vs. what's said
+
+**Techniques**:
+- Indirect responses to questions
+- Changing the subject
+- Saying opposite of what's felt
+- Avoiding the real issue
+- Using metaphor or analogy
+
+**Example**:
+```
+SARAH
+How was your day?
+
+JOHN
+Fine.
+(beat)
+Yours?
+
+SARAH
+Great. Just great.
+```
+*Subtext: Both had terrible days but won't admit it*
+
+### Character Voice
+Each character should have distinctive speech patterns:
+
+**Vocabulary**:
+- Education level
+- Profession/expertise
+- Cultural background
+- Generation
+
+**Syntax**:
+- Sentence length and complexity
+- Formal vs. casual structure
+- Use of slang or jargon
+
+**Rhythm**:
+- Fast-talking vs. deliberate
+- Verbose vs. terse
+- Poetic vs. blunt
+
+## Dialogue Functions
+
+### Reveal Character
+- Personality traits
+- Emotional state
+- Background and history
+- Relationships with others
+- Internal conflicts
+
+### Advance Plot
+- Provide necessary information
+- Create or resolve conflict
+- Make decisions
+- Reveal secrets
+- Establish stakes
+
+### Create Conflict
+- Disagreements and arguments
+- Hidden agendas
+- Misunderstandings
+- Power struggles
+- Competing goals
+
+### Establish Tone
+- Comedy through wit and timing
+- Drama through intensity
+- Tension through what's unsaid
+- Romance through intimacy
+
+## Dialogue Techniques
+
+### Show, Don't Tell
+**Bad** (On-the-nose):
+```
+MARY
+I'm so angry at you for lying to me!
+```
+
+**Good** (Subtext):
+```
+MARY
+(cold)
+I'm sure you had your reasons.
+```
+
+### Conflict and Tension
+**Techniques**:
+- Characters want different things
+- Interruptions and talking over each other
+- Avoiding direct answers
+- Escalating stakes
+- Time pressure
+
+### Exposition
+**Best Practices**:
+- Disguise information in conflict
+- Reveal through character's need to know
+- Use dramatic irony (audience knows more than character)
+- Spread information across multiple scenes
+- Make exposition emotional, not just factual
+
+**Bad Exposition**:
+```
+DETECTIVE
+As you know, the victim was found at 3 AM
+in the warehouse on Fifth Street with a
+gunshot wound to the chest.
+```
+
+**Good Exposition**:
+```
+DETECTIVE
+Fifth Street warehouse. 3 AM.
+
+PARTNER
+Same MO as the Johnson case?
+
+DETECTIVE
+(nods grimly)
+Same gun. Same message.
+```
+
+### Rhythm and Pacing
+**Fast Pace**:
+- Short sentences
+- Quick exchanges
+- Interruptions
+- Overlapping dialogue
+
+**Slow Pace**:
+- Longer speeches
+- Pauses and silences
+- Measured responses
+- Descriptive language
+
+### Silence and Pauses
+**Uses**:
+- Build tension
+- Show emotional weight
+- Allow reaction
+- Create awkwardness
+- Emphasize what follows
+
+**Notation**:
+- `(beat)` - brief pause
+- `(long pause)` - extended silence
+- `(silence)` - significant quiet moment
+
+## Dialect and Accent
+
+### Guidelines
+**DO**:
+- Suggest dialect through word choice and rhythm
+- Use occasional distinctive phrases
+- Maintain readability
+- Research authentic speech patterns
+
+**DON'T**:
+- Write phonetic spellings extensively
+- Use stereotypical or offensive patterns
+- Make dialogue hard to read
+- Overdo regional markers
+
+**Example**:
+```
+GOOD:
+BOBBY
+Y'all want some sweet tea?
+
+BAD:
+BOBBY
+Y'awl wawnt sum sweet tay?
+```
+
+## Common Dialogue Mistakes
+
+### On-the-Nose Dialogue
+Characters saying exactly what they feel/think without subtext.
+
+### Exposition Dumps
+Long speeches that exist only to inform audience.
+
+### All Characters Sound the Same
+Lack of distinctive voice for each character.
+
+### Unnecessary Dialogue
+Greetings, small talk, or information already shown visually.
+
+### Overwriting
+Too many words when fewer would be more powerful.
+
+### Unnatural Formality
+Characters speaking like they're reading from a book.
+
+## Best Practices
+
+### DO
+✅ Read dialogue aloud to test naturalness
+✅ Use contractions in casual speech
+✅ Let characters interrupt and overlap
+✅ Include subtext and hidden meanings
+✅ Give each character distinctive voice
+✅ Cut unnecessary words
+✅ Use silence strategically
+✅ Make every line serve multiple purposes
+
+### DON'T
+❌ Have characters explain things they both know
+❌ Use dialogue for stage directions
+❌ Write speeches when conversation works better
+❌ Forget that people lie and hide feelings
+❌ Make every character eloquent
+❌ Include real-life filler ("um," "uh") excessively
+❌ Use dialogue to describe what we can see
+
+## Category-Specific Considerations
+
+### Film
+- Economy of words
+- Visual storytelling reduces dialogue need
+- Subtext over exposition
+
+### Television
+- Character voice consistency across episodes
+- Catchphrases and recurring patterns
+- Balance between episodic and serialized dialogue
+
+### Web Content
+- Punchy, quotable lines
+- Faster pace
+- Modern vernacular
+
+### Commercials
+- Every word counts
+- Clear call-to-action
+- Memorable phrases
+

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/rules/diversity-inclusion.md

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+# Diversity and Inclusion
+
+## Overview
+
+Inclusive storytelling creates richer narratives, broader audience connection, and authentic representation. This guide provides frameworks for creating diverse, respectful, and authentic characters and stories.
+
+## The Bechdel Test
+
+### Definition
+A work passes the Bechdel Test if it meets three criteria:
+1. It has at least two named female characters
+2. Who talk to each other
+3. About something other than a man
+
+### Purpose
+- Minimum baseline for female representation
+- Highlights gender imbalance in storytelling
+- Not a measure of quality, but of representation
+
+### Beyond the Bechdel Test
+**Other Representation Tests**:
+- **Vito Russo Test** (LGBTQ+ representation)
+- **DuVernay Test** (racial representation in positions of power)
+- **Riz Test** (Muslim representation)
+- **Mako Mori Test** (female character arcs)
+
+### Application
+- Use as starting point, not endpoint
+- Consider intersectionality
+- Evaluate quality of representation, not just presence
+- Apply across all marginalized groups
+
+## Authentic Representation
+
+### Research and Consultation
+**Best Practices**:
+- Consult members of represented communities
+- Hire sensitivity readers
+- Research cultural practices and history
+- Avoid relying on stereotypes
+- Listen to feedback
+
+**Resources**:
+- Cultural consultants
+- Community organizations
+- Academic research
+- First-person accounts
+- Sensitivity readers
+
+### Avoiding Tokenism
+**Tokenism Indicators**:
+- Single representative of entire group
+- Character exists only to serve majority characters
+- No character development or arc
+- Stereotypical portrayal
+- No agency or complexity
+
+**Solutions**:
+- Multiple characters from underrepresented groups
+- Give characters their own goals and arcs
+- Show diversity within groups
+- Avoid making identity the only character trait
+- Create fully realized individuals
+
+## Stereotypes to Avoid
+
+### Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes
+**Common Harmful Tropes**:
+- Magical Negro (Black character exists to help white protagonist)
+- Model Minority (Asian characters as uniformly successful)
+- Spicy Latina (Latina characters as fiery/sexual)
+- Noble Savage (Indigenous characters as mystical/primitive)
+- Terrorist (Middle Eastern characters as threats)
+
+**Better Approach**:
+- Create complex, individualized characters
+- Show diversity within racial/ethnic groups
+- Avoid reducing characters to cultural stereotypes
+- Give characters agency and depth
+- Consult with community members
+
+### Gender Stereotypes
+**Harmful Tropes**:
+- Damsel in Distress (woman needs rescuing)
+- Manic Pixie Dream Girl (quirky woman exists to inspire man)
+- Shrew/Nag (woman as obstacle to man's happiness)
+- Born Sexy Yesterday (naive woman with childlike innocence)
+- Smurfette Principle (one woman among many men)
+
+**Better Approach**:
+- Women with agency and goals
+- Complex female characters with flaws
+- Women in diverse roles and professions
+- Female friendships and relationships
+- Women as protagonists, not accessories
+
+### LGBTQ+ Stereotypes
+**Harmful Tropes**:
+- Bury Your Gays (LGBTQ+ characters die for plot)
+- Gay Best Friend (exists to support straight protagonist)
+- Predatory Lesbian/Gay Panic
+- Tragic Queer (suffering as only narrative)
+- Deceptive Transgender Person
+
+**Better Approach**:
+- LGBTQ+ characters with happy endings
+- Characters whose identity isn't their only trait
+- Diverse LGBTQ+ representation
+- Authentic relationships and experiences
+- Consult LGBTQ+ writers and consultants
+
+### Disability Stereotypes
+**Harmful Tropes**:
+- Inspiration Porn (disabled person inspires able-bodied people)
+- Magical Disability (disability grants special powers)
+- Better Off Dead (death preferable to disability)
+- Cure Narrative (disability must be "fixed")
+- Bitter Disabled Person
+
+**Better Approach**:
+- Disabled characters as full people
+- Disability as part of identity, not defining trait
+- Authentic portrayal of lived experience
+- Consult disabled actors and writers
+- Show accommodations and accessibility
+
+## Cultural Sensitivity
+
+### Religious Representation
+**Guidelines**:
+- Research religious practices accurately
+- Avoid conflating religion with extremism
+- Show diversity within religious communities
+- Respect sacred practices and symbols
+- Consult religious scholars and practitioners
+
+### Language and Dialect
+**Best Practices**:
+- Use authentic language patterns
+- Avoid phonetic spellings that mock
+- Research regional and cultural speech
+- Don't use dialect to indicate intelligence
+- Consult native speakers
+
+### Cultural Practices
+**Respectful Portrayal**:
+- Research cultural significance
+- Avoid cultural appropriation
+- Show practices in context
+- Respect sacred or private traditions
+- Consult cultural experts
+
+## Intersectionality
+
+### Definition
+Recognition that people have multiple, overlapping identities that create unique experiences of discrimination and privilege.
+
+### Application
+**Consider**:
+- Race + Gender
+- Disability + Sexual Orientation
+- Class + Ethnicity
+- Age + Gender Identity
+- Religion + Race
+
+**Avoid**:
+- Single-axis representation
+- Assuming universal experiences within groups
+- Ignoring how identities interact
+- Simplifying complex identities
+
+## Power and Representation
+
+### Who Tells the Story?
+**Questions to Ask**:
+- Who has creative control?
+- Whose perspective is centered?
+- Who benefits from this story?
+- Are we perpetuating harm?
+- Have we consulted affected communities?
+
+### Representation in Roles
+**Beyond Characters**:
+- Writers from diverse backgrounds
+- Directors and producers
+- Crew members
+- Consultants and advisors
+- Decision-makers
+
+## Inclusive Storytelling Techniques
+
+### Normalization
+**Approach**:
+- Diverse characters in everyday roles
+- Identity not always central to plot
+- Casual representation
+- Diverse backgrounds as default
+
+**Example**:
+- Doctor happens to be in wheelchair
+- Same-sex couple as neighbors
+- Protagonist's best friend is Muslim
+- Identity present but not plot point
+
+### Authentic Conflict
+**Guidelines**:
+- Conflict from character, not stereotype
+- Avoid trauma porn
+- Show resilience and joy
+- Balance struggle with triumph
+- Respect lived experiences
+
+### Positive Representation
+**Balance**:
+- Show challenges authentically
+- Include moments of joy and success
+- Avoid only tragic narratives
+- Celebrate culture and identity
+- Provide hope and empowerment
+
+## Best Practices
+
+### DO
+✅ Research thoroughly and consult experts
+✅ Hire diverse writers and consultants
+✅ Create complex, individualized characters
+✅ Show diversity within groups
+✅ Give underrepresented characters agency
+✅ Include casual, normalized representation
+✅ Listen to feedback from communities
+✅ Show intersectional identities
+✅ Balance challenge with joy
+✅ Question your assumptions
+
+### DON'T
+❌ Rely on stereotypes or tropes
+❌ Create token characters
+❌ Make identity the only character trait
+❌ Appropriate cultural practices
+❌ Ignore intersectionality
+❌ Assume universal experiences
+❌ Write trauma without research
+❌ Ignore feedback from represented communities
+❌ Perpetuate harmful narratives
+❌ Claim to speak for entire groups
+
+## Resources
+
+### Organizations
+- GLAAD (LGBTQ+ representation)
+- Geena Davis Institute (gender representation)
+- Color of Change (racial justice in media)
+- RespectAbility (disability representation)
+- Muslim Public Affairs Council (Muslim representation)
+
+### Guidelines
+- GLAAD Media Reference Guide
+- Conscious Style Guide
+- Disability Language Style Guide
+- Indigenous Peoples' Style Guide
+