The Play

I finished the first rough draft of my play a few hours ago. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, considering I haven't read a lot of plays. Although it's still a rough draft, and I'm sure it could use a lot of improvement. 

I don't think I had a writers block, though. I think it was more like I couldn't figure out the story, and didn't know what kind of story would fit a ten minute play, so I read some ten minute plays online, and I finally got an idea. I really liked this play: Sun Dried. It really appealed to me as a writer because it was about a struggling writer. I was surprised by how much you could get out of a ten minute play, although I really shouldn't have been. I mean, they're really like short stories, but with more action and stuff going on. There isn't as much info given, and what information is given, is given through word of mouth. 

I think what really helped me get into writing this, is knowing a little of my characters. A person might think this is obvious, but it's really not when you're trying to figure out a plot. When you are writing about a plot, all you're thinking about is how a character goes from point A to point B. Like Justine Lee Musk (creator of the blog Tribal Writer) says in her post theme, Theme, your writing and you: stuff your teacher never told you  that 

"If premise is the world of your story, and plot is the road that guides you through it — weaves you over the mountains and through the desert and finally to the relief of the coast — then you might say that theme is the car you’re traveling in."

Having a character is like having a driver, in this metaphor, the character is what leads you through this road called plot. 

Once I knew the name of one of my characters, I could finally piece together my story by letting them take the lead, by letting them react together, and that really helped me out with this piece.

I also have to give some credit to my sister-in-law, she's going into forensics, or something like that, and I had to ask her for ideas as to how my characters could rob a bank without being extremely conspicuous. I felt like a real author when I did that because I know authors have people they have to ask questions so that their stories can be as real as possible. (Funny, I was actually thinking of my play being about a writer who joins up with a bank robber to get a real life experience on how a person robs a bank for his story, but I decided against it because it seemed too surreal.)

Although, I still have some questions about my characters. Like with my girl character, Jade. I couldn't figure out if she was just acting pitiful because she noticed my WOMAN character was the police, or if robbing a bank really affected her, and she was breaking down. I do know Nick, the teen that joined Jade, was getting more frustrated as the story went on. He really didn't want to be there, robbing a bank, but hmmm, he loves Jade. Not in a romantic way, more like in an extreme friendshippy way. He would die for Jade, and not regret it, and Jade does take advantage of this sometimes, for example, robbing the bank. He even says a curse word during the story, and I was going to go for the worst of the worst, like I was really into him, and I was about to write exactly what he would have said, but I don't use curse words in real life, so I try to keep them out of my characters mouths, but in this case, I think the situation needed a curse word. 

Writing Block

It's been a while since I've posted, and I really have no excuse except procrastination. However, this weekend I am so getting a routine going because I cannot continue winging it what with all the school work and things that I want to get better at, like writing, and drawing, and things I want to do like read for fun and not for school (although I don't mind that too much, I just don't have time!). Anyway, I'm done with my little rant.


So, I think I'm going through a writer's block now. That's never happened to me before, but then again most of the time I used to write just for fun and whenever I felt like. Even when I was writing for fun, I never created a routine and I never wrote every single day. In fact, it was more like I would write on one day, be surprised at how much I wrote (maybe, maybe not), and never pick up that writing again. Now, though, I have a paper due each week, and while I don't ever really get writer's blocks with research papers and the like, I'm also taking a class on creative writing, and that's where the block comes in. 


Because I can write about almost anything it's hard to come up with an idea. Plus, we are also writing a 10-minute play, which I have no clue how to write, but I am doing research on it! Anyway, the first two papers, I didn't have much trouble with because they were in story format, which, because I read a lot, I have that format down pretty much (I mean, I'm sure I have lots to improve upon, but I know how that format works.), but I don't read a lot of plays. In fact, the only plays I have ever read were Romeo and Juliet and Caesar, and those were for school. The only play I have ever seen was Shepherd of the Hills. I don't have anything against plays (or poetry for that matter), I just prefer reading a novel over a play (and I'm still working on the whole understanding poetry part). 


Another thing, it was also easier for me to write our first fiction short story is because I'd already been toying with that story idea. I hadn't written it down, but I already knew what I was going to write about, and the biography writing was, obviously, pretty easy once I figured out what memory I was going to write about. I know I have some ideas that I would gather like, "Oh, that would make for a great character," etcetera, but I don't have a plot idea. At all. My professor had us be in groups and come up with a thing like setting, theme, etc. and our group came up with a bank robbery. Which is a fun idea, but I have no clue what my plot is going to be, and that's why I think I have writer's block. It may help to start writing some things day, and maybe get some character backgrounds and the like, but I'm really worried about this paper. I mean, I'm worried about the poetry, too, but at least I know some poetry things like limerick, haiku, and rhyme, but I have no background knowledge of plays, so I'm concerned. 


Anyway, I better go and start plotting out some ideas.