Observation

Observation is my number one tool for finding play ideas. When you observe, you’re not just looking around, skimming the world around you. Observation is the specific looking at people, places and things. You’re looking at the world like a writer. And when you look at the world like a writer, everything becomes a play idea. Complete this exercise with your students. Have them collect their observations in their drama journals. Or you can click below to download the exercise and Observation sheet to print and hand out to your students to fill in. The conversation you can only seeWhat’s happening in the conversation on the other side of the cafeteria? What are they talking about? What is the relationship? What does the body language of the conversation tell you about the emotional tone? You can observe a lot in a conversation that you can only see. • Find a location with a lot of small group conversation – a mall food court, a school hallway, a cafeteria. • Pick out a conversation that you can only see. You shouldn’t be able to hear what they’re saying. • Take notes on what you see. What do you observe? How many people are in the conversation? What is the body language of the different people? Is there any physical contact? A lack of contact? • Based on what you see, decide on the content of the conversation. What are they talking about? • Write out your version of the conversation. What’s going to be outcome?

One of the best activities for gathering writing ideas is observation. How are you experiencing the world around you? A great way to practice this is to have your students describe your classroom using the five senses: • What do you see when you look around? What’s something you’ve never noticed before? • What do you hear? • What do you smell? • What are the textures? • You may think that taste doesn’t have a place, but rooms can have a taste! Overly air-conditioned rooms can taste dry. The smell of perfume can have a taste. Encourage students to use their imagination when it comes to describing how the room “tastes.” Have students share their observations. What are the similarities and differences? If you get your students into the habit of observation, specifically looking at people, places, and things, they will never run out of material to write about. This inner monologue exercise takes observation to the next level. Students will: observe an individual, create a few character details, and write a monologue for this person. Who are they? What are they thinking? Instruction1. Go to a public place: mall, cafeteria, food court, library — a place where you can easily observe others. 2. Pick an individual who is doing a mundane activity: folding clothes in a store, eating, walking to class, reading, trying on shoes. Write down all your observations. It must be someone you don’t know. You can free-write, write in point form, just get it down on paper. Bring in these observations to class. 3. Divide students into groups and have them share their observations. 4. Students will then come up with a few character details for this person. This is why it’s important that they choose someone they don’t know; they’ll be making up their character. Remind students to review their observation source material. How can they take what they observed and turn it into character details? Students are to write one paragraph. Suggested character details include: • Name, age • Family situation. Who do they live with? What are their relationships like? • Where do they live? How do they live? (Is it neat, messy, minimalist, cramped, spacious?) • Significant relationship: What is the most important relationship for this character? 5. Lastly, students will write a half-page to one-page inner monologue for this character. What are they really thinking about? Focus on the idea that their inner thoughts counter their outside persona. Remember, they’re doing something mundane on the outside, so choose an opposing emotion for their inner thoughts. What do they want that they can’t say or share? 6. Have students share their monologues in small groups.

The biggest obstacle to writing a play often comes before the first word. It happens in the idea stage. I want to write, but my ideas are stupid. I know I could write something great but where do I start? How do I know my idea is a good one? These are the thoughts that lead directly to writers block. When it comes to play ideas there are three things you should teach your students: 1. Ideas don’t grow on trees – you have to look for them. 2. The more ideas you have, the less you have to worry about good or bad. 3. Ideas are a place to start. Sometimes they are just a fragment, a sentence or a question. Ideas are not finished products. There is this misconception that writers just magically think of things to write about. And that every idea is a gem right out of the gate. It’s just not true. Writers look for things to write about. They create a habit of observation. To observe is to look specifically at people, places and things. If you observe on a daily basis, if you’re always looking, you will come up with ideas on a daily basis. Writers learn to write down what they see and hear, what they experience. They write down their observations. It’s not enough to leave an idea in your head. That’s when ideas get lost. Writers know that an idea is something to play around with, to try out. An idea is not a finished product. An idea is a place to start. And sometimes the idea will work, sometimes it won’t. That’s important to know. Ideas don’t always become finished products. When a student writers falters with an idea, their response is to assume they can’t write. Instead, remind students that not all ideas develop fully. This process of idea creation put a lot less pressure on a student writer. You don’t have to magically come with a wonderful thing to write about. You simply: • Observe the world around you • Write it down • Try it out ReflectionWhen starting a playwriting unit, it’s important to get idea misconceptions out in the open and then out of the way. Discuss with students – What is an idea? Where do they come from? Have students reflect on their abilities to turn an idea into a play. Practice the act of observation with your students and get them in the habit of writing their observations down. And lastly instil in your students the fact that an idea is not a finished product. An idea is just a place to start.