Have you been trying to figure out just how to write that perfect play? Have you studied the Bible and Shakespear, etc., etc., etc.? Good. Now let's get to work. Smile.
Ok, this is my great way to take a story and turn it into a play. I have been blessed to have a gifted friend known in the industry as Poetic Gold. He has taught me great things that I will share with you in several parts. The first thing is to get a copy of "The Complete Book of Screenwriting" by J. Michael Straczynski and 500 more index cards. Read it. Then put it aside. Then get your story in front of you.
Ok, now it is so exciting when you have a story waiting to be seen on the stage. We will get there but there are basics that we need to cover first.
1) You will use the same principals of the Plot to create your play. You see, everything works together and once you get the basics down, you can take one story and do a hundred different things with that same story. You can write a theatrical show, a video, a reality show, a book trailer, a sermon, a short film, a dissertation, etc. You can take the theme of your story, the conflict, subplots, etc. and research it using the Concordance in your bible and take your story higher as a Christian work of art to give God all the glory! amen? Amen! AMEN!
For example,in the Plot series, John wanted to leave his hometown to better his life. We can take the theme of happiness and find many topics in the bible: Love, Peace, Thanksgiving, etc. This will guide us to bible stories that we can adapt to modern-day living!
2) When writing a play, you leave out the long descriptions of the setting and characters;
3) Your two main focal points are dialogue and stage directions;
4) Your dialogues will "show" what the characters are like;
5) Your stage directions will "show" the setting;
6) When a Director reads your script, he should be able to "See" the story through dialogue and stage directions without any fluff!;
7) When a Director reads your script, she should be able to "see" the story and all its elements that we covered with the Plot (Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution ... The End);
8) Decide what the Purpose of your Play will be using your story. This is basically the same as saying what is your theme. Remember what was discussed about the theme? Well, take the theme from your story and it becomes the purpose of your Play. If love was the theme in the story, then why is love important can be the purpose of your Play.
9) Now, decide what the conflict will be that prevents love from being important or enhances love to be important to the main character (for example);
10 ) You can also use the same Plot or maybe use one of the subplots. Do you see how that one story can be used in many different ways? Maybe you were writing the main plot and you liked one of the subplots so much that you decide to use a subplot for screenwriting. Maybe you want to take one of the minor characters from your story and make them the main character in your Play? You get the idea...
Ok, the next thing is why all the index cards? Well, remember that a script has dialogues and stage directions. It is my practice and belief that if you stick to putting your notes especially for writing scripts on index cards, you are limited on how much information you can put on each card. This is a little trick to keep you focused on just the facts, please. (uh-hmm)
However, if you do better and feel more comfortable with outlines and note pages, there is no penalty. Keep in mind, however, that if your script arrives on the desk of a director who gets lost in a lot of unnecessary details on the first page, ...(uh-hmm)...your script gets trashed or (rarely) returned to you to fix it. Don't spend your life writing a script just for it to be trashed because you could not detach from all those emotional details you fell in love with.
This is how God works things out: your perfect and concise script will fall into the hands of the perfect actress who will be able to convey your emotions for you when reading the dialogue and performing the play. WOW!
Ok, I'm going to give you time to get your materials together and do some thinking about your purpose for the play, characters, settings, index cards, etc. Don't let the excitement trick you into rushing through the process. Take frequent breaks in between reading and writing so you can really let the information settle into your mind and transition to notecards. Spend some extra time with your story focusing on the character. Try to see the character moving through the story. How tall or short is your main character? Is she taller or shorter than the minor character? Is she a fashionable dresser? Does he have a beard or mustache? These are the sorts of things you need to be really deciding in order to move the characters from the story to the stage. If your main character is trying to leave his small town to better his life, he will need to look poor at the beginning of the play. Then he will need a wardrobe change as he improves his life. What will he wear? Ok, you get the idea.
The last thing today is to provide clues to the readers of your play and for the performance of the play. Did you know that there is a huge genre of folks who just like to read plays? amen? Amen! Ok, so start thinking of your clues such as backgrond information, photographs, illustrations, keepsakes, slangs, venaculars, etc. Create your list of characters from the story. Write them on notecards!
For the purpose of the Scriptwriting series, I will be referring to the book "The Same River Twice: Honoring The Difficult" by award-winning author of "The Color Purple" ... Her Heiness Alice Walker. This book includes the script for "The Color Purple." amen? Amen!
Check out Christian Performing Arts at website:
www.cpashowcasemag.org See ya next week,
Swaggie Coleman
Contact Swaggie at Swaggie86@aol.com. See Swaggie's Voice at
http://swaggiecoleman.blogspot.com. Swaggie's Voice is exclusively poublished by Levine-Oliver Publisher. Support the Black History Month Author Mixer sponsored by Ella Curry of EDC Creations tonight!
Visit RAWSISTAZ/Black Book Reviews at BlackBookReviews.net
Posted By: agnes levine
Saturday, February 27th 2010 at 9:12AM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
