When I went to acting school in Washington DC I was taught there are two kinds of acting - technique or method. My school employed technique but we did study method as well.
Later on, I went to Graduate school and earned my degree in Theatre and Communications. I always preferred writing over acting. Studying acting, participating in plays and even writing them helps me now with character dialogue.
I always found that experiences helped me with acting. It also helps with writing.
Yes, you can research things you write about and never go and do them, etc. But, how much more real is your writing if you are able to actually do some of the things, go to some of the places your characters do, within reason, of course. I think it adds that terrifically special element into your works.
For instance, I wrote an award nominated mystery series (The Glass River and A Sunless Sea) that each time included local history and real places in the community where I live. People were excited to have been to the places in the books. In “A Sunless Sea,” I went up the mountain, Hibriten Mountain, where it is mostly set and that way I could include very real details in my story. I know that what I learned in Acting has been beneficial to the way I write!
Whatever I do during each day, whatever I get to do, I’m always trying to pay attention to specific details (the man in the tank top, with round holes in his ears filled with green rings, his companion a preppy dressed lady in a fancy designer coat) and I make note of them for later use. I read a lot, watch a tiny bit of TV, and I pay attention in conversations or around me to absorb all these goings on. As a result, if I fall deeply asleep I often have very vivid dreams. My dreams could be movies, I sometimes say and laugh about later.
Take aways from them often help me get through a stuck plot point or give me an idea for a poem. You can dream your way into a good poem, ask my favorite poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge!
Have an adventure when you write! And pay close attention to your dreams … a special verse may await you!
No comments:
Post a Comment