Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Writing Reflections: A New Day, A New Play
Since I’m working on a new play this month, each Tuesday for the next four weeks will feature an inside look at my process. Not quite as intense as the 30 days of writing project, but hopefully interesting all the same.
Step One. The Notebook.
There’s really nothing like a fresh notebook. Clean white pages. No mistakes. No wrong turns. Nothing scratched out. Nothing but possibility. It just makes a girl swoon. Sometimes, I think I made paper in another life. And I loved it. Paper has THAT much of a weird affect on me.
Swayed by a discount and lots of pretty white pages, I bought a huge spiral bound notebook this summer in Atlanta. It’s rather unweildly and very un-travel friendly so I haven’t used it yet. But it’s perfect for this project. Because this play is a commission rather than something out of my own brain, it’s going to take a lot of on the page work. I’m going to need a big book.
Paper Work.
What is paper work? It’s pretty basic. I sit with pen and paper and my laptop. The lap top’s for research - really is there anything you can’t find on the internet these days? I research my theme: definitions of words, different variations of words, phrases, newspaper headlines, pictures, on and on. Any time the research sparks something, it goes in the book, where I riff on the spark.
The ideal process is that the spark becomes an idea, which becomes a character, which becomes dialogue. Doesn’t always work (hence the need for lots of pages) but it’s a process that works for me when I’m starting at ground zero. It’s my favourite stage. Everything is right, nothing is wrong, there are no plot holes, no under developed characters. Pure unadulterated creativity.
So here’s an example. I’m research on the concept of odd. What is odd? What makes odd different that weird? What about freak? Freak is too harsh, this has to be a bright, light comedy. Stories of the odd, odd jobs, odd phrases, odd fears (oooh I have an unfinished two-hander on that one) odd numbers, something odd that no one can see, odd socks - ah. A spark. The odd sock phenomenon. The confrontation with a dryer. There’s a character and a conflict, something everyone can relate to, lots of comedic potential. Very appropriate for the situation. Bingo.
Round and round the page.
Not every idea makes it all the way through the paper work process. Sometimes you start writing and what comes out on the page just makes you go hmmmmmmm. It’s just a little off. There’s a fine line between writing that is a dud, and writing that needs a different approach. You have to decide whether to go round the page and have another go or to abandon ship. I had to make that decision with the dryer confrontation.
In the first go round the character was confrontational. Facing the dryer head on:
“I have had enough. This is the final straw, mr heat monster. You can eat my argyles, my anklet cuff, my bobby, my now show, my slochine and my sport. You can even eat my cashmere crews. But this, this I am not going to take lying down. You better know, that I know, and I got your number bucko - I am on to you.”
So I’m writing, and I keep writing, (always keep writing, keep that pen moving) and I’m hating it but I keep writing (cause day one is not the day to decide whether something sucks or not) so I keep going till I’m absolutely sure. Till I can’t take the off-ness anymore.
The problem is that a confrontation is a confrontation. That’s it. It’s a one note emotional state. A character needs to grow to confrontation, not start at confrontation. And confrontation, while fulfilling the conflict, isn’t all that funny.
So. Dud or new direction? It’s such a familiar situation, and so suitable I decide to take another shot. Turn to a new page, no mistakes. Start again.
This time I take an opposite approach. The dryer has all the power still but this time the character is afraid to confront the dryer over the missing socks. I also played with making it a conversation:
A: You gotta stand strong.
B: I’m strong.
A: You’re spaghetti.
B: Spaghetti can be strong.
A: Look at you! Your knees are shaking.
B: They are not.
A: You got jello knees.
B: Jello can be strong.
A: What jello are you eating?
B: I”m ready. I’m ready. I’m ready. I’m not ready.
A: Stand strong Jeannie!
B: I can’t. I don’t need matching socks. I don’t. I’ll be the quirky girl who wears odd socks. It’s ok. Really.
That’s a better starting point. It gives the dryer more of a personality. Fear can grow to strength. There’s growth here - will character B be able to stand up to the dryer? How will she address the conflict? How far will she go to run away from the conflict?
Better and better. At this stage, when there’s the promise of an idea and the characters start to emmerge, it’s like a radio that’s just out of range. You can sort of hear the music if you strain, and the static fades in and out. What you want is there, it’s just not clear yet. The dialogue is there, just out of range.
This morning I woke up and heard this line in my head:
‘Last week, I saw the dyer move….’
That’s interesting. Very interesting. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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Spread the Love: Malled - Two One Act Plays for Young Women by Colleen Neuman
This week we spread the love for Malled: Two One Act Plays for Young Women by Colleen Neuman.
Forget resolutions. What’s Your Word?
“A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow.”
What is the one word that defines 2009 for you? What is the one word that defines your focus? Your goals? What you want for your life? Ali Edwards introduced this concept on her blog last year.
I love this. As a writer, I have a high respect for words. They are, to be quite flaky, my music and my muse. They need to be treated with reverence; it’s so easy to be careless with words. I love creating characters who use words in an interesting manner - maybe they make up words, or they use words they don’t understand, or they use the absolute perfect word for a situation. The words a character uses can be such an efficient and effective way to show who their personality (or lack there of!) I spend a lot of time trying to figure out the right sound of words. It’s an important part of a play’s process - what’s on the page is only the first step in bringing the world alive. Words on the page have such a tricky way of sounding completely different when spoken aloud. Words are a writer’s gold. We can’t fritter them away on useless exposition or ill conceived characters.
Not only is this a great writing exercise, it’s an awesome alternative to resolutions. Those never work any way, right?
My word for 2009 is persevere. There’s a lot of possibility for 2009, a lot of excitement, and it will be easy to become distracted and off track. I want to be steady, constant and creative in 2009.
More Pinter and let’s not forget Dale Wasserman
The Guardian has ten pages (TEN pages) of articles, blogs, comments, interviews, letters about Pinter. A great one stop shop as it were, to read the positive and negative, the lauding and the tearing down. It’s quite an interesting revealation of one man’s ongoing relationship with a newspaper.
Pinter’s death seems to have overshadowed the death of another playwright. Dale Wasserman, who wrote the play version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and the book for the musical Man of La Mancha. He died on December 21 at 94. Read about him here. And here.
The New Year starts out poorly for arts ed in LA
Not much more to say than what’s in this Los Angeles Times article. Why is arts ed seen as so expendable? Ugh.
The Year Ahead
My spirits were elevated by the enchanting appearance of nature; the past was blotted from my memory, the present was tranquil, and the future gilded by bright rays of hope and anticipations of joy. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Well look at that. Another year begins. 2009. Feels pretty good so far. Hard to tell with it being the first day and all, but so far so good….
This isn’t going to be a ‘hey look what we did!’ post. ‘2008! Whooo!’ I don’t like to look back much. The past isn’t very interesting to me because, well, it’s the past. It happened. With every day it recedes farther and farther back. The grand events lose their glitter and the painful events become less so. The tide rolls in and washes away the lovely writing in the sand. It doesn’t make the writing any less lovely, but it is gone.
I know a couple of people who pig out on their past. No riptide ocean or swift flowing river for them. They swim in the past pool in almost every conversation. Do you remember when? When I was in high school… when we were in university…. Do you remember? Do you? You know that story I told you the last time we were together? And the time before that? Wanna hear it again?
As if it it means something. All these people are doing is treading in standing water, which as an image is frankly - ewww.
On the other hand, I seriously dig the future. And having something in the future. I love looking ahead and seeing something there. That twinkling light. A promise. A possibility. Many a time, I’ve looked ahead and thought I’d seen something better than what really happened. No matter. I can’t tell the future for heaven’s sake! At least there’s been something. On occasion I have looked ahead and seen absolutely nothing. Zero point zero. There’s nothing more frightening than a big black nothing. Light is always better.
So in the final stages of the year known as 2008, there’s no desire to look back. It was a lovely year where a lot of stuff happened. Some great accomplishments. Some interesting survival tactics. Some peaceful bliss. A lot of bliss. But you see, it’s all over. It’s hard to even capture the emotional air of the year. Water over sand, sand through the fingers. It’s all in the past.
Looking ahead to 2009 there’s a lot, well, to look forward to. The potential of a very exciting year for myself as a writer and for Theatrefolk as a company.
- There’s going to be a new full length play.
- I’ll be writing a new non-verbal play like Emotional Baggage. Very exciting.
- A new vignette project which will hopefully play at the Edinburgh Fringe.
- A super secret project that’s going to involve a lot of fire (metaphorically and physically) which is only a secret till the contract gets signed which is going to be very soon.
- A whole new process in terms of how Theatrefolk does conferences. Exciting. And scary. Not sure which is the dominant feeling….
- Some new conferences, and less old ones. The economy will dictate….
- A whole new process in terms of how Theatrefolk markets itself. Exciting. And scary. This feeling I know, it’s more scary. But in the best possible way. Exciting scary. Sometimes you just have to be scared.
That’s a pretty full year already! Lots of light. Lots of future. Who knows what will actually transpire (remember that whole ‘can’t tell the future thing?) But honestly, there’s no time to look back. Full speed ahead….
Top Plays of 2008
These are our top ten most-performed plays in 2008.
- Hamlette, by Allison Williams
- Mmmbeth, by Allison Williams
- Drop Dead, Juliet!, by Allison Williams
- Circus Olympus, by Lindsay Price
- Anne-Arky, by Lindsay Price
- Wait Wait Bo Bait, by Lindsay Price
- ths phne 2.0: the next generation, by Lindsay Price
- The Canterbury Tales, adapted by Lindsay Price from Chaucer
- School Daze, by Lindsay Price
- Little Nell and the Mortgage Foreclosure, by John Donald O’Shea
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