Not sure how to work an overheard comment into a finished piece? Here are some examples of how other writers have previously written with their ears. Sometimes the overheard words are just a starting point, and don’t appear at all in the finished piece. Other writers barely let the narrator intrude at all – we seem to hear only what they heard.
Added June 10th 2010:
Ian Duhig – Cage on the Armley Gaol Bus (poem)
Added June 7th 2010:
David Calcutt – In The Hairdressers (script)
Added June 3rd 2010:
Lorraine Mariner – Feathers (poem)
Alwyn Marriage – Overheard (poem)
Added late May 2010:
David Calcutt – The Last of England (script)
David Gaffney – Are Friends Electric? (Story)
Myra Schneider – I Have Never Milked a Camel (poem)
Derek Adams – One Sided Story (poem)
David Calcutt – In The Hairdressers
Bugged 
I have a poem called ‘Waiting for the German Market” which was in my first collection, in which there are a couple of lines quoted verbatim from a woman I heard talking on her phone. She was actually, without knowing it, talking in iambics! I can send a copy of the poem.
Jacqui – please do, to jo@bugged.org.uk!
This is a fabulous idea and a great creativity-prodding exercise. I should admit I’ve often included snippets in stories which were just too delicious to be allowed to disappear:
“She’s got a boyfriend at last.”
“That’s good!”
“Yes, but he’s short.”
“Oh I am sorry.”
And
“What have you learned today?”
“Not to pick up curling tongs by the hot end.”
Good luck with this 🙂
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What a brilliant idea!
It’s a really nice idea. I actually started to record and to listen to people on the bus just a few months ago as part of my final major project in college and now I’ve got a long book full of sketches and writing of people on the bus that I’m definitely going to use!
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I love the idea of Bugged! You’ve made it onto the AWriter-AtWork blog, and I’ll be taking part too! 🙂
Lorraine Mariner’s Feathers… that poem is amazing.
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‘Are friends electric’ – absolutely brilliant, and what a wonderful quote to overhear.
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