The Dramatic Writer's Companion

by Will Dunne

  ABOUT THE EXERCISE

  Use this exercise to flesh out your main character's crisis decision. Look for new possibilities as you define and explore each alternative. Try to be as objective as possible during the final analysis of your exercise work.

  THREE CHARACTER DECISIONS

  Answer these questions about your main character:

  i. Easy decision. Your story shows us your main character at a number of different decision points. Identify one decision near the beginning of the story that is significant but relatively easy for your character to make. As an exercise, imagine this decision as a choice between two doors: Door Number i and Door Number 2. Describe what's behind each door in a simple phrase such as "to have dinner with Jules" or "to go sailing with Jim." You don't need to address the outcome of the decision: just state the alternatives.

  2. Difficult decision. As the story unfolds, life will grow increasingly hard for your main character. Decisions will be less and less easy. Identify one difficult decision that your character must make near the middle of your story. As before, think of this difficult decision as a choice between two doors. What's behind Door Number I? What's behind Door Number 2? Identify each alternative in a simple phrase.

  3. Crisis decision. As the story continues, the stakes will continue to rise and the obstacles in your character's way will become more and more chal lenging until, at last, a showdown of some kind occurs near the end of the story. It's when your character must make not just a difficult decision, but a crisis decision. It's the ultimate moment of truth when your character will, in fact, make the most difficult and important decision of his or her life. As before, think of this decision as a choice between two doors. What's behind Door Number I? What's behind Door Number 2? Identify each alternative in a simple phrase.

  FLESHING OUT THE CRISIS DECISION

  Think about the options your character faces at the crisis of the story. If the decision is truly at a crisis level, the character will perceive something extremely positive and something extremely negative about each alternative.

  I. Look at what's behind Door Number i from your character's perspective:

  • Identify the biggest benefit of this alternative. If you can't see a strong plus for this option, revise the choice so that you can.

  • Name three good reasons your character might choose this option at the crisis. State each reason simply and from your character's perspective.

  • Identify the biggest drawback of this alternative. If you can't see a strong minus for this option, revise the choice so that you can.

  • Name three good reasons your character might not choose this option. State each reason simply and from your character's perspective.

  2. Look at what's behind Door Number 2 from your character's point of view:

  • Identify the biggest benefit of this alternative. If you can't find a strong plus for this option, revise the choice so that you can.

  • Name three good reasons your character might choose this alternative at the crisis. If your response overlaps with your analysis of Door Number i, try to paraphrase the response to find a new angle of meaning.

  • Identify the biggest drawback of this alternative. If you can't find a strong minus for this option, revise the choice so that you can.

  • Name three reasons that your character might not choose Door Number 2 at the crisis.

  3. Sum up your analysis by identifying this crisis decision from your character's point of view as either a choice between goods or a choice between evils.

  4. Consider your character's traits, values, beliefs, discoveries, experiences, and actions in the story up to the time of the crisis decision. Based on what you have developed in the story so far, is your character more likely to choose Door Number i or Door Number 2?

  5. Rate the likelihood of your character choosing this door at the time of the crisis decision, based on what you have developed in the story so far. Use one of three responses: very likely, likely, or possibly.

  6. Now look at the door you didn't choose. This is the door the exercise is really all about. In your story planning and revising, you may need to beef up the case for this other door throughout your story, especially if you responded that your character's choice is very likely or likely. If there's little or no chance that your character could select this other door as well, there's less opportunity to create the stress needed to reveal your character and maintain suspense.

  THE OTHER DOOR

  Ideally, both doors are viable options by the time your character reaches the crisis of the story. Here are some questions to consider for the door that you did not choose:

  I. Values. Should you change anything in the main character's value system to help build a better case for this door?

  2. Traits. Do you need to add, emphasize, remove, or deemphasize any character strengths or weaknesses-such as physical, psychological, or social traits-to make the character as likely to choose this door?

  3. General circumstances. Should anything about the character's world be altered to beef up the case for this door? One key change may be all it takes.

  4. Relationships. Do you need to further develop or change the relationship between the main character and anyone else in the story?

  5. Behavior. Has the character established a logical path of decisions and actions that could possibly lead to this door and, if not, how might you alter the character's choices and behavior along the way?

  6. Events. Do you need to add or get rid of story events to make this door more appealing or seem more necessary to the main character?

  7. Knowledge. Does the character need to know more-or perhaps know less-in order to consider this door more seriously?

  8. Backstory. Is there anything from the backstory that you can find or bring out to help build the case for this door?

  9. Preparation. Have you foreshadowed the possibility of choosing this door and thus prepared us to believe it might be the character's final choice?

  WRAP-UP

  The last set of questions can be used to address any of the alternatives your character faces during the crisis decision. However, if you found yourself clearly favoring one alternative over another, stay focused on the option that needs more attention. Keep looking for ways to revise your story so that the character's final choice will be not only challenging but also unpredictable.

  THE QUICK VERSION

  Use a series of images to map the throughline of the story

  BEST TIME FOR THIS

  After you are well into story development and want a global view of what happens

  MAPPING THE DRAMATIC JOURNEY

  Your main character's dramatic journey is driven by the need to fulfill a certain desire and unfolds in a series of events that reveal and often change the character along the way. What keeps the story moving forward is the throughline that links these events like a strand connecting the pearls of a necklace. To get a clear view of this throughline is to see what events matter most and understand how they relate.

  ABOUT THE EXERCISE

  This visual exercise taps the power of image to help you better see and understand your main character's dramatic journey. The goal is to find five telling images of your character at critical times during the story. Exercise examples are from The Beard of Avon by Amy Freed.

  To begin, create five exercise blanks to record your work. Allow a half page per blank and number them chronologically from i to S. Then do the exercise steps in the order given (you will be asked to look at the events of your story out of sequence). As you proceed, think in images. Focus on visual details, and resist the urge to explain their meaning.

  IMAGE I: POINT OF DEPARTURE

  The Beard of Avon inspires a number of telling images. One of the first is a squalid barn in the middle of an English nowhere in the r58os. An eighteenyear-old Will "Shakspere" is lying in a scratchy pile of straw and staring up despondently at the cobwebs in the rafters. His wife Anne stands beside him akimbo and glares do
wn at him with fierce anger. In the shadows behind them, his friend Old Colin is grinning, drooling, and lustily eyeing Anne's protruding derriere. All three are plainly and poorly dressed in the rural garb of the times.

  In this opening image, the characters appear to be in three different worlds-sadness, anger, and lust. What seems most important here is Shakspere's unhappiness and restlessness. With that focus in mind, the image might be summed up by the single word "Failure." As an exercise, the image might be titled "Lost Like a Needle in a Haystack."

  Imagine your main character near the beginning of the dramatic journey: the point of departure. This is most likely when the story's inciting event occurs. Think about what's happening and create image i by completing the steps in "Picture This" below. Record your work in the first exercise blank.

  PICTURE THIS

  I. Look for an important dramatic moment when the character is doing something interesting with someone else. Freeze-frame this interaction in your mind's eye and study the image. Fill in the exercise blank with a description of the image and remember that you are describing, not explaining. Look for interesting details.

  2. Focus on what matters most in the image and sum it up in one word.

  3. Write a title for the image that adds further meaning

  IMAGE 5: FINAL DESTINATION

  Skip ahead to the end of your story and see what's happening. If you do not yet have an ending, be spontaneous and, as an exercise, make one up based on what you know about the story so far. Remember that your character is completing the dramatic journey. Things are different now. For better or for worse, something fundamental about the character has changed. At the end of The Beard of Avon, for example, "Shakspere" has become "Shakespeare." He is now surrounded by cloaked luminaries bringing him scripts that they have ghostwritten under his name. This image might be summed up by the word "Success" and titled "A Beard for All Seasons." Find image 5 for your story by repeating the steps in "Picture This." Look for as much contrast as possible with your opening image, word summary, and title. Record your work in the fifth exercise blank.

  IMAGE 3: MIDPOINT

  Now go backward until you see your character in the middle of the story. In a two-act play, this would be around the end of act i. In a three-act play or screenplay, it would be in the middle of act 2. Either way, this is a view of your character halfway through the dramatic journey that ultimately connects image i to image 5.

  Try to find an important event near this midpoint that is changing the character's world and contributing to the transition from the beginning of the story to the end. About halfway through The Beard of Avon, for example, Shakspere is now with a surprised Edward de Vere in a pose of oratorical brilliance. This image might be summed up by the word "Fame" and titled: "The Beard Speaks." Create image 3 for your story by repeating the steps in "Picture This." Look for contrast between this middle image and the other two. Record your work in the third exercise blank.

  IMAGE 2: EARLY TRANSITION POINT

  How does your character move from image i to image 3? Focus next on what happens between these two points in the journey. Find an event or revelation that contributes to the changes that have taken place between the start of the story and the midpoint. At an early time in The Beard of Avon, Shakspere has joined a traveling troupe of actors and is now on stage as a bit player holding a spear. This image might be summed up by the word "Hope" and titled "The Spear Shaker." Create image 2 for your story by repeating the steps in "Picture This." Continue to look for contrast. How is this image different from the others you have created so far? Record your work in the second exercise blank.

  IMAGE 4: LATER TRANSITION POINT

  How does your main character move from image 3 to image 5? Focus now on what happens between these two points in the character's journey. Find an event that contributes to the changes that take place between the midpoint and the end of the story. At a later time in The Beard of Avon, Shakspere is busy writing as Edward de Vere sleeps with Shakspere's wife. This image might be summed up by the word "Betrayal" and titled "Obsessions." Create your image 4 by repeating the steps in "Picture This." Continue to look for contrast. Record your work in the fourth exercise blank.

  EVALUATING THE THROUGHLINE OF YOUR STORY

  You've begun to look at the arc of action in your story through a series of telling images, word summaries, and titles. If you look at these elements now in chronological order, you can begin to see the bold strokes of the character's dramatic journey, just as Shakspere moves from Failure (Lost like a Needle in a Haystack), to Hope (The Spear Shaker), to Fame (The Beard Speaks), to Betrayal (Obsessions), and finally to Success (A Beard for All Seasons). Go back and review your images in chronological story order from i to 5. Keep these questions in mind:

  i. Does the sequence of events make sense?

  2. How does each of the five events connect to at least one other event?

  3. Is each event different enough from the other four in the sequence?

  WRAP-UP

  The throughline is sometimes referred to as the "spine" of the story. A strong throughline holds the story together and keeps it moving forward so that the end is different from the beginning because of what happens in the middle. Keep your story's throughline in mind as you continue to make decisions at the scenic level. Know how each scene fits into and strengthens the story's spine.

  THE QUICK VERSION

  Explore how your character is changed and not changed by the dramatic journey

  BEST TIME FOR THIS

  After you have a completed draft

  THE POWER OF CHANGE

  Drama shows us characters in transition. They start out one way and end up another because of what they do during the story and because of how the world responds to these actions. The power of change is often what keeps us leaning forward in our seats as we observe characters that we care about. We witness an important turning point, watch its consequences unfold, anticipate-and often worry about-the outcome, and wait to see what happens.

  Marketers understand the power of change and often use "Before and After" scenarios to sell their products-for example, a plain person has a makeover and becomes beautiful, a lonely person joins a dating service and becomes popular, a poor person takes a real estate course and becomes wealthy. Because such changes are designed to sell products, the change presented is usually positive.

  In drama, which deals not with products but emotions and ideas, the overall change may be positive or negative. Either way, it is a significant transformation, and it has occurred gradually in steps rather than suddenly all at once. A step-by-step transition keeps the world of the story dynamic and unpredictable, and gives us time to observe, digest, and emotionally participate in what's happening from scene to scene. In effect, we watch little bits of the "Before" scenario being slowly replaced by little bits of the "After" scenario until the transition is complete.

  To tap the power of change, you need to clearly establish the "Before" scenario: who your character is and how the character feels, thinks, and behaves when the story begins-for example, he is a 98-pound weakling who gets sand kicked into his face by bullies when he goes to the beach. If we do not see this starting portrait clearly and have time to understand it, we will not know later what is being undone. When your story begins, be sure to carefully introduce and define your unique character in relationship to his or her world.

  You also need to clearly establish the "After" scenario: who and how your character is when the story ends-for example, the 98-pound weakling has now become a bodybuilder whom bullies fear. If we do not understand this "After" and if we cannot see how it contrasts with the "Before," we will not know that a transition has occurred or be able to measure its impact or significance.

  Think about your main character's "Before" and "After" and how they compare. If the character has experienced a journey that matters, it stands to reason that some elements of these two pictures will be very different. For example, a weakling ha
s become strong. However, if the character is to remain identifiable as the person we first met, it also stands to reason that some elements of the two pictures will be the same. For example, the character may have been socially inept in the "Before" picture and, despite his new physical prowess, is still socially inept. How has your character changed and not changed when the story ends?

  ABOUT THE EXERCISE

  Try this with your main character or a principle character whose transition in the story you want to explore. Use what you already know about the character to make new discoveries. For best results, focus on the big picture of the story and keep your responses brief so you don't get bogged down in details.

  THE "BEFORE" AND "AFTER" OF YOUR CHARACTER

  Think about how the dramatic journey most affects your character:

  i. Before. Who and how is your character when the story begins? Briefly describe the character's "Before." This is a high-level, but defining summary of whom we meet at the journey's start. This summary may include any backstory information that is critical here. Limit your description to no more than a few sentences.

  2. After. Who and how is your character when the story ends? Briefly describe the character's "After." This is a high-level, but defining summary of the character at the end of the journey. Look primarily at how the character has changed. If it's especially important, you may also include how your character has not changed. However, try to keep the focus here on contrast more than similarity.

  FLESHING OUT YOUR CHARACTERS TRANSITION

  Get ready to evaluate how much your character has changed in each of ten categories as a result of the dramatic journey. In each category, compare the After to the Before. Use a simple o-1-2-3 rating system, where o equals "no change" and 3 equals "huge change," to indicate the degree of transition. Then give a specific example to illustrate the measurement. As you do this, focus on the material most important to the story.