Author K. H. Brower shares her work:
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Write what you know
Two things to say to ourselves to overcome the fear, what if it's terrible?:
1. K.I.S.S., Keep It Simple, Sweetheart. (Remember: circle, triangle, square, trapezoid)
&
2. Write what you know. This doesn't mean every event or every character comes from personal experience. This means start with the story points or character points that you know. For example, if you haven't yet determined the main character's super objective, a.k.a. action throughline, look at all the story events you've collected and see if any of them fit into stages of the hero's journey. Perhaps clarity about the bigger arc will emerge. AND IT MEANS, above all, WRITE. "Thinking about" or "figuring out" the story are meaningless activities. WRITE. Because, writing is a process and we discover what we don't know about the story and the character by writing.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Dramatic Scenes
- The beginning, what the character wants.
- The middle, or rising conflict, who or what that gets in the way.
- The ending, the surprise outcome known as 'the turn.'
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."
Friday, September 14, 2007
Value of a Deadline
I need to turn in a rewrite (2nd draft) of the children's novel I'm writing for Quest Atlantis.
Back later.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Character Sketches
Some questions to stimulate ideas about what to include:TIP: Write the character sketch in first person, as if you're inside the character's skin.
- 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.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Story Poker
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.
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.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)
After twenty minutes, each team pitches an original full-length story.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
What's in the Bag?
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