by Will Dunne
12. Events. Some dramatic events are caused by the characters. Some happen by chance or by accident. List ten events that occur in your story—for example, bribing the boss, closing a sale, failing to close a sale, plotting revenge, robbing the office, getting caught in a lie.
■ LIST ANALYSIS
You have now randomly identified 120 elements of your story. Some of these elements matter more than others. Use the following steps to evaluate your findings.
• Lists 1, 2, and 3 describe the most important character in your story. Mark the three items in each list that feel most important. Then record whatever insights occur to you now about your Character 1.
• Lists 4, 5, and 6 describe your second most important character. Mark the three items in each list that feel most important. Then record your insights about Character 2.
• List 7 describes your third most important character. Mark the three items in this list that feel most important. Then record your insights about Character 3.
• Lists 8, 9, and 10 describe the world of your story. Mark the three items in each list that feel most important. Then record your insights about the world your characters inhabit.
• Lists 11 and 12 focus on the big picture. Mark the three items in each list that feel most important. Then record your insights about the story overall.
■ MASTER LIST
Create a master list that highlights what matters most in your script.
• Top ten elements. Of the thirty-six items you marked in your lists, which ten are most important? In random order, copy them into a master list. These final choices will be distributed unevenly among the original lists.
• Observations. What are you really writing about? Review your master list, and record whatever insights occur to you now.
WRAP-UP
You have created three levels of information about your script: the dozen lists that you developed first; the entries that you marked in these lists; and, the master list. During this process, you have sorted through the many details of your script to find the ten elements that most clearly reflect the big picture of your story.
To see this big picture is to know its subject, theme, and plot and to be able to express these elements in simple terms. It is also to know how these elements work together to form one story. If the subject is love, for example, the main character may be, or may wish to be, a great lover. If the theme is that love conquers all, the character’s pursuit of love will be empowering. If the plot centers on a miser who becomes generous through love, the character will embody a set of traits, experiences, and actions that work together to cause this transition.
What is the subject, theme, and plot of your story as you see it now?
Related tools in The Dramatic Writer’s Companion. For other approaches to the big picture of your story, go to the “Building Your Story” section and try any stage 3 exercise, such as “The Incredible Shrinking Story,” “The Forest of Your Story,” or “Ready, Aim, Focus.”
DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE STORY
THE QUICK VERSION
Explore your story from different perspectives
BEST TIME FOR THIS
After you have completed a draft
YOU AND YOUR CHARACTERS
As a dramatic writer, you know more about the world of your story than any single character does and have the most objective view of the dramatic journey. Since your characters see story events from their individual perspectives, they may not agree with each other—or with you—about what really happens. Knowing these differences may help you gain new insights about your material.
ABOUT THE EXERCISE
Use this exercise to explore your story from different perspectives: the objective view of the writer and the subjective views of different characters. The goal is to learn more about your script by letting your characters challenge some of your conclusions about them and the dramatic journey.
Examples are from the one-act farce A Marriage Proposal by Anton Chekhov. First performed in St. Petersburg and Moscow in 1890 and set in the Russian countryside of the nineteenth century, the play shows what happens when a nervous landowner decides to propose marriage to his feisty neighbor. Character 1—who drives most of the story—is Ivan Vassilevitch Lomov. Character 2—the second most important character in the story—is Natalia Stepanovna.
To begin, identify the two most important characters in your story. In each round you will need to identify a third character, who may change from one round to the next and, if appropriate, may be selected from your story’s offstage population.
■ SUBJECT: CHARACTER 1
Focus first on the most important character in your story.
1. Objective view. Lomov, age thirty-five, is an unmarried Russian landowner who is in good health but tends to be a hypochondriac. How would you objectively describe your Character 1?
2. Character 1’s view. Lomov would describe himself as a lonely man who is approaching middle age with several serious medical conditions that even the best of doctors have been unable to diagnose. Right or wrong, how would your Character 1 describe himself or herself?
3. Character 2’s view. Natalia would describe Lomov as an irritating but not-bad-looking man who lives alone with a mangy, half-dead dog on the land adjacent to hers. Lomov comes from a long line of scandalmongers but is one of the few men she knows who are still single. Right or wrong, how would your Character 2 describe Character 1?
4. Another view. Natalia’s father, Stepan Stepanovitch Chubukov. would describe Lomov as a strange, annoying scarecrow of a man who is not to be trusted. Like every member of the Lomov family, he is probably mad. Identify a third character from the world of your story. Right or wrong, how would this character describe Character 1?
■ SUBJECT: CHARACTER 2
Focus next on the second most important character in your story.
1. Objective view. Natalia, age twenty-five, is the lonely daughter of a Russian landowner and the only one of his children who has not yet married. She tends to be competitive and has a quick temper. How would you objectively describe your Character 2?
2. Character 1’s view. Lomov would describe Natalia as an educated, hardworking, and not-bad-looking woman who is certainly not an ideal mate but has begun to look better as he gets older and lonelier. She does, however, have a temper that often makes her insufferable. Right or wrong, how would your Character 1 describe Character 2?
3. Character 2’s view. Natalia would describe herself as a dutiful daughter and hardworking member of the Chubukov estate who is not afraid to get her hands dirty. She is self-conscious of the fact that, unlike her siblings, she is not married. She attributes her solitary existence to the belief that she lives in a countryside full of idiots. Right or wrong, how would your Character 2 describe himself or herself?
4. Another view. Chubukov would describe his daughter as a fickle young woman who should have gotten married ages ago but still lives in his house and mooches off him at a time in his life when he would rather be alone. Though he loves Natalia, he wishes she would move out and get a life. Identify a third character from the world of your story. This may or may not be the same third party you used before. Right or wrong, how would this character describe your Character 2?
■ SUBJECT: THE MAIN EVENT
Think about the most important thing that happens in your story.
1. Objective view. As the title suggests, the main event of Chekhov’s play is a marriage proposal: Lomov and Natalia get engaged. How would you objectively describe the main event of your story?
2. Character 1’s view. As Lomov sees it, the main event is that his heart palpitations and other medical conditions lead to such a state of confusion that he accidentally finds himself engaged to a woman who annoys him. Right or wrong, what is your Character 1’s version of what really happens in the story?
3. Character 2’s view. As Natalia sees it, the main event is that while she is distraught in the mistaken belief that Lomov has died, her fa
ther tricks her into getting engaged and has her celebrating with champagne before she can realize what’s happened. Right or wrong, what is Character 2’s version of what really happens?
4. Another view. As Chubukov sees it, the main event is that he finally unloads his last daughter and will soon have the house to himself. Identify a third character from the world of your story. Right or wrong, what is this character’s version of what really happens?
■ SUBJECT: THE BACKSTORY
The backstory is what happened in the lives of the characters before the story begins.
1. Objective view. The Lomov and Chubukov families have lived for decades on adjacent estates that are separated by the beautiful Volovyi meadows. Through the years the families have feuded viciously over who owns the meadows. This history will trigger one of the battles between Lomov and Natalia as they try to woo each other but keep getting distracted by their own need to be right. Objectively speaking, what fact from the past will most influence what happens in the present of your story?
2. Character 1’s view. For Lomov, the most important backstory event was his recent thirty-fifth birthday, a milestone that sparked fears of ending up alone in his old age. That birthday was what motivated him to visit the Chubukov estate today and consider marriage to a woman who does not meet his impossibly high standards. From your Character 1’s perspective, right or wrong, what past experience matters most?
3. Character 2’s view. One of the most significant events in Natalia’s past was her youngest sister’s marriage. As a result of it, Natalia became the only daughter still living in her father’s house and developed the belief that she might be doomed to solitude. It is because of this belief that she will entertain the possibility of marrying a scoundrel and fool like Lomov. From your Character 2’s perspective, right or wrong, what past experience matters most?
4. Another view. While the death of Chubukov’s wife was a tragedy, it made him a free man who could do whatever he pleased, were it not for the daughters who still occupied his house. Now that only one daughter remains, he will do whatever is necessary to marry her off and satisfy the desire for independence that his wife’s departure aroused. From a third character’s perspective, right or wrong, what past event matters most in the world of your story?
■ SUBJECT: THE AFTERSTORY
The afterstory is what happens in the lives of the characters after the story ends.
1. Objective view. The marriage of Lomov and Natalia will end the long-standing feud between the Lomov and Chubukov families over who owns the Volovyi meadows. Now the ownership will be legally shared by husband and wife, who will devote their time to arguing about other things. Think about the main event of your story and how it changes the world of your characters. Objectively speaking, what is the greatest consequence of this event after the story ends?
2. Character 1’s view. As Lomov sees it, he will have a partner by his side to nurse him through the many mysterious illnesses from which he suffers. Right or wrong, what is your Character 1’s vision of what will happen in the future?
3. Character 2’s view. As Natalia sees it, she will be able to set up her own household and run an estate without her domineering father constantly telling her what to do. Right or wrong, what is your Character 2’s vision of what will happen in the future?
4. Another view. As Chubukov sees it, he will finally have the house to himself. All of his problems will end, and he will live happily ever after. Right or wrong, what vision of the future might a third character offer for the world of your story?
WRAP-UP
This big-picture exercise is designed to help you learn more about your story’s main event by looking at it from different perspectives. Knowing this outcome can help you build a more cohesive plot as you juggle details at the scenic level and try to figure out what needs to be included, step by step, in order for the main event to occur.
Related tools in The Dramatic Writer’s Companion. To continue exploring the big picture of your story, go to the “Building Your Story” section and try any stage 3 exercise, such as “Main Event,” “Your Story as a Dog,” or “Six Steps of Revision.”
COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU!
THE QUICK VERSION
Learn more about your story by imagining a marketing poster for it
BEST TIME FOR THIS
After you have completed a draft
SEEING YOUR STORY THROUGH NEW EYES
When a dramatic script goes into production, a number of other people will step in and begin to look at the story from different angles. These newcomers include the director and actors who will bring the script to life and the various other artists who will contribute their talents to the production, such as the set designer, light and sound designers, property master, and costume designer.
During writing and revision, you can learn a lot about your work by looking at it occasionally from some of these other perspectives. To see your script through the eyes of a set designer, for example, is to translate it into a physical place that reflects the lives of its inhabitants. To see your script through the eyes of a property master is to translate it into the objects that will be needed to support the dramatic action. Such translations can lead to important new insights about your characters and story.
ABOUT THE EXERCISE
In the spirit of exploring your work from a new perspective, this exercise asks you to look at your script as if you were a marketer developing specs for a theatrical poster. This is an exercise not in advertising but in dramaturgy, since you need to know your script thoroughly in order to figure out how best to promote it. Examples are from actual posters that have been created for successful plays and films.
■ CONTENT
Use the following steps to sum up the content of your script.
1. Title. Identify your title. If you don’t have a title yet, make one up for now.
2. Length and genre. Define the length and genre of your script—for example, a one-act drama (The Zoo Story), two-act comedy (Vanya and Sonja and Masha and Spike), or three-act thriller (Cape Fear).
3. Audience. Your script may be geared to a general audience. Or it may appeal to a particular interest group defined by such factors as age, ethnicity, geography, history, politics, religion, sports, or lifestyle. Define the audience for your play.
4. Sentence synopsis. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the seventeenth-century town of Salem is terrorized by teenage girls who claim the power to expose witches. Write a one-sentence summary of your story.
5. Paragraph synopsis. The Crucible takes place in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts, where teenage girls get caught performing a satanic ritual in the woods. Accusations of evildoing spread through the town and lead to public trials, in which the girls claim the power to identify witches among the local residents. John and Elizabeth Proctor become prey to the hysteria that has gripped the community and soon find themselves facing not only the ruin of their marriage but also the threat of being sent to the gallows. Write a paragraph summary of your story.
6. Emotional impact. What is the main emotion you wish to stir in the audience, such as love, laughter, anger, or fear?
7. Point of interest. What is the most compelling aspect of your story? This may relate to the characters, plot, social or historical significance of the material, your reason for writing the script, or your storytelling style if there is something unusual about it.
8. Casting. If you could cast anyone in your script, living or dead, famous or otherwise, who would star in the principal roles? Think big. Your responses may help you discover something new about your characters.
9. Color. Think instinctively about the power of color and your emotional associations with it. What is the dominant color of your story, and why?
10. Poster medium. In addition to graphics, theatrical posters use photography, art, or collage to deliver their message. Photography is often used for realism. Art and collage suggest nonrealism. Which medium feels best for you
r story, and why?
■ TAGLINES
A tagline is a marketing slogan, or teaser, designed to attract an audience by revealing something interesting about the characters or story.
1. Sentence fragment(s). Since teasers are designed to grab the audience’s attention, they tend to be short. Write a tagline that sells your story in less than a sentence. For example:
• “The true story of a real fake.” (Catch Me If You Can)
• “The untold story of the witches of Oz.” (Wicked)
• “Five criminals. One lineup. No coincidences.” (The Usual Suspects)
2. Sentence. Some teasers make a statement. Write a tagline that uses a complete sentence to sell your story. For example:
• “A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere.” (Fargo)
• “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” (The Social Network)
• “Some memories are best forgotten.” (Memento)
3. Question. Some taglines appeal directly to the audience’s curiosity. Write a tagline in the form of a question that your story will address. For example:
• “Think politics today is as bad as it gets?” (Julius Caesar)
• “How much does life weigh?” (21 Grams)
• “It’s 4am. Do you know where your car is?” (Repo Man)
