Dramatic Scenes

Great dramatic scenes all have structure, just as a complete work has.

1. The beginning, what the character wants.
2. The middle, or rising conflict, who or what that gets in the way.
3. The ending, the surprise outcome known as 'the turn.'

The dramatic conflict of the middle seems fairly easy to grasp. Yet, a soft choice for the beginning often leads to a lot of yelling and demands, but not much real drama, and no real chance for the scene to turn. The secret is in defining the goal.

The character's goal at the scene level is a specific objective, achieveable, & measurable. It includes taking positive action.

For clarity's sake, it's wise to state the goal exactly on the nose.

Let me give you an example from personal experience.

A short play I wrote called "Party Girls" was just produced at the Bloomington Playwrights Project. I'd done significant rewrites with the director and the cast during the early rehearsal period, but then didn't see a run through any time in tech rehearsal, trusting that all the basics were in place. The setting is in a side yard of a house where young high schoolers are partying. Opening night I was mortified that there was no sound to establish a sense of space, which meant no crickets, no dance music from the just off-stage party, no ring tone from the girl's cell. No sense of direction, or that the girls were on their way to a party.

Wait a minute. True, the absence of sound was deafening, but I'm ashamed to admit that somewhere in the the rewrites I'd dropped the girls' objective. This pair of teenage girls are on their way to a party, and the entire short is what happens between the edge of the yard and the back door. Nothing's going to stop them. The throughline is very simple, yet very specific. But I'd dropped the ball at the script level. No one in the audience knew where the girls were, where they were going or why. Thankfully, enough bazaar things happen in the first couple of the minutes that energy didn't sag.

Even so, I added two lines (now the fourth and fifth lines of the piece):

Kiki-I didn't even want to come to the party.
Hillary--Well I do. Come on!

The next night, the performance was so much better. Even without the sound design, we all knew exactly what was going on. And when the sounds were there the third night, even better.

TIP: As my friend Jennifer VanSijll says, "clarity trumps."

Value of a Deadline

I'm spending time with the greatest motivator of all, a deadline.

I need to turn in a rewrite (2nd draft) of the children's novel I'm writing for Quest Atlantis.

Back later.

Character Sketches

Here's a tried and true method for creating memorable characters.

TIP: Write the character sketch in first person, as if you're inside the character's skin.

Some questions to stimulate ideas about what to include:

• What do you look like?
• Where are you coming from? (ethnicity, educational background, religion, geography)
• Talk about the quality of your relationships with family, friends, romantic partners, co-workers.
• What's your talent? Handicap?
• What do you want? What will you do to get it?
• What do you need to learn?
• What do you fear most?
• How do you respond emotionally when things don't go your way?

TIP: Remember that physical attributes are only a tiny fraction of what makes up a three-D character.

Now rewrite the character sketch in third person, as if it is a set of notes by the character's psychological counselor or priest. The author can compare how the character perceives himself to how the outside observer sees him.

Story Poker

This story generating game works best with a group of people 5-25. Part of the game includes building and shuffling the playing cards, so you'll need blank index cards and pencils. We're using six basic element (or suits of cards): character, plot, storyworld, dialog, image, & theme.

For each story element the players write specific, concrete details on one card. For example, if I'm making a card for the storyworld suit I might choose:

An Island in the Great Lakes, accessible only by boat. There are no private automobiles, only bicycles and horses. The resort side of the island feels a little like a theme park without the rides. Outside the town, the blue sky and crystal clear water stretch endlessly, or at least as far as the eye can see.

Every player writes a card for at least two suits. All the cards are organized in piles (not shuffled) according to suit. Now, each player selects two cards (not his or her own) from different suits.

TIP: to help build the deck, some of the cards might describe a favorite film story. For example, for the dialog suit I might choose a man's pick-up lines: "We lost so many good men. (crying) I wish I were stronger." (from THE WEDDING CRASHERS)

The players work in teams of three to five. Using the story cards as inspiration, the goal is to take a wild collection of ingredients and generate an original story. Everyone has the option to trade in cards to find story elements that might make better sense together. But use caution when looking for 'better' cards. Some of the most delicious surprises come when unlikely story elements are put together.

After twenty minutes, each team pitches an original full-length story.

What's in the Bag?

A writing exercise inspired by William Froug and his book Zen and the Art of Screenwriting. It's about the importance of creating the need to know. The scene below is a synopsis of the scene in the chapter "What's going on? Don't tell me."

Imagine a rough looking fellow walking into an upscale jewelry store. He's carrying a paper bag. He steps up to the diamond counter and asks to see the manager. He's in a hurry. Everyone, the sales clerk at the diamond counter, the customer trying on pearls, and especially the security guard's wondering what the dude's got in the paper bag. The audience is desperate to know, too. The longer the writer keeps whatever's in the bag, in the bag the better.

TIP: If he whips out a gun, the audience will be instantly disappointed. Too obvious. Surprise is key.

exercise:

• write down ten things your character wants to keep secret.
• write down ten cool bags or hiding places for the secret objects.
• mix up the lists, putting secrets into different bags and see what happens

All the Senses

I'm rewriting a novel for hire, and one of the notes I received on my first draft was "more physical descriptions." I've seen the illustrations for the book (a children's novel attached to an on-line game), so I didn't think physical descriptions were that important. In fact, I don't particularly like long descriptive passages that bog down the story. So I was struggling with how to address my note for the rewrite. Another writer friend gave me a tip. Here it is:

TIP: Some of the most powerful physical descriptions aren't the way people and things look. Use all the senses, including sounds, smells, tastes, sensations like temperature and texture, and the 6th sense.

So, when I introduced a 35-year-old woman into the action line of the novel I sprinkled in a note about her age. But I didn't say anything else about her looks. When she entered the room another key character "relaxed." Then the text describes her quite simply:

"She radiated peaceful energy and she smelled like lavender."

Later in the chapter there's a phrase "her dark, fringed hair" and a few paragraphs down two words about her clothing, "simple robe," but the sentence that introduces her relies on senses other than sight.

Thanks for the tip, Lucy!

Lightning* Writing --a daily warm-up exercise

Inspired by Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

The goal of this warm-up exercise is to keep our hands moving across the page. It is a writing practice that is done without self judgement.

No attention is given to spelling or grammar. No attention is given to "good" or "lovely" words, "fly" or "marketable" ideas, "gripping" or "sympatico" characters.

Our full attention is given to stringing words together, one after another. Our goal is to envoke our subconscious creative source. Some days the writing will be extraordinarily lame. That's good and as it should be. But sometimes we'll actually strike gold and discover something wonderful, like a character's deepest fear or the most hilarious line of dialog.

Instructions: Begin with a simple prompt, such as "I remember . . . Or I smell . . . I want to write . . . " If you realize that your hand is no longer moving, write the prompt down and begin again. Write without thinking for 20 minutes.

TIP: We're inviting the muse to come and play. If we open that dialog every day she'll join us, sometimes when we least expect it.

* notes on the name: "Lightning writing" is Goldberg's name. Because I first came to this practice when I read her book, that's what I call it. (I've noticed many other writers describe a similar practice, but call it different names.) 'Lightning' might refer to speed, though I don't believe speed is the goal. For me the 'lightning' refers to a still place where a spark of inspiration may strike and, if the conditions are right, light a fire. The bonus is when I practice regularly, I notice a lightening that goes with everything I do, from creative efforts to less attractive chores.