Observation Thursday

Every Thursday I post something I’ve observed. I don’t know when or where I’ll use it but that doesn’t matter. What matters is the consistent habit of making an observation and writing it down. When you start to do that, everything becomes an idea for the future.

What’s your observation?

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Observation: Out on a walk I saw two boys on bikes. One swerves to cut through the graveyard. The other one says “I’m not going in there!”

What you can do with it: 

  • Decide why the one boy won’t go through the graveyard. What’s the story? Why won’t he cut through the graveyard on his bike? What does he believe about graveyards and who instilled that belief in him? Write a monologue for him.
  • Write what comes next in this conversation after the one boy makes his statement. What’s the response?

Observation Thursday

Observation is my number one method of finding play ideas. If you’re ever at a loss for coming up with something to write about, start logging observations. I write down observations on a daily basis and on Thursdays, I’m going to share one with you what I’ve seen and then you could do with it.

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WHAT WERE THEY SELLING?

When: Tuesday July 15, lunch time.

Observation: Three boys, in the street, yelling out side the post office. They’re selling something – I don’t know what. Whatever it is, is $4. And they’re trying to figure out if the guy they just got money from, gave them $4.  (The Loonie is a dollar coin in Canada and the Twonie is a two dollar coin)

“He gave me two loonies”

“Then he didn’t – !”

“No – Two Loonies and a Twonie.  Two and two! We’re good, we’re good!”

Whatever it was they were selling, one of the ladies from the post office then came out and told them to clear out. The boys were apologetic and polite.

What you can do with it: Doesn’t this one write itself? What were they selling? Why were they so bad at math? And why would the post office lady shoo them off? Write the conversation between the three boys before they get to the post office to set up their wares, the conversation with whoever it was who gave them $4 and the conversation between the ladies in the post office as they watch the boys and decide to shoo them off. Have the boys been there before?

Of course that’s the realistic approach. Think about the fantastical approach. What fantastical thing could these boys have? What if the ladies in the post office were not just clearing the street but maybe were jealous of the boys? How does that change things?

Happy writing!

 

Observation Thursday

Observation is my number one method of finding play ideas. If you’re ever at a loss for coming up with something to write about, start logging observations. I write down observations on a daily basis and on Thursdays, I’m going to share one with you what I’ve seen and then you could do with it.

Observation Thursday

THE AFTERMATH

Observation: Take a look at the picture below. This was taken on July 5th, it’s the aftermath of fireworks on the beach where I live.  Now I’m not a regular partaker in home fireworks but to me that seems like a lot of aftermath. How big were these fireworks? Who put them in the sand? Did they know what they were doing? What was the situation that led to these fireworks? The questions continue.

What you can do with it: Decide for yourself if this is an overkill of fireworks or a lacking of fireworks. Go with one or the other, there’s not much dramatic in “it was just the right amount.” And then write a scene between the person who is putting the fireworks in the sand and someone reacting – either that it’s too much or too little. What is the reason for the response? What’s the relationship? Why is it necessary to do their own fireworks instead of go to an actual showing?

 

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Observation Thursday

Observation is my number one method of finding play ideas. If you’re ever at a loss for coming up with something to write about, start logging observations. I write down observations on a daily basis and on Thursdays, I’m going to share one with you what I’ve seen and then you could do with it.

Observation Thursday

 

SNAKES!

Observation: Two elderly women alternately talking about their fear of snakes and another woman they don’t like who was getting married.

Date: Monday June 30 2014

Comments: Sitting in the doctors office, I pulled out my phone to document the conversation between two elderly woman. “Some snakes are legal, did you know that? Legal./ I’d be afraid it would get out of the aquarium. I’d have to kill it/She bought two mice. The receipt was in my car/I won’t go in the house. She makes me sick./She had two mice in my car./When’s the wedding? ” They went back and forth between talking about snakes and talking about the wedding of “She.”

What can you do:  This is one of those truth is stranger than fiction moments. You can’t get better than this – a hatred of snakes, a hatred of some unknown woman. To go deeper think about who this “She” is, what’s the relationship between the two elderly woman and “She” and why they really hate her. What’s going on here beyond the snakes? Is one of the women the mother of the guy “she” is marrying? What are they worried about?

Goldilocks is a rotten writer

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Are you a Goldilocks writer? One of those people who has to have everything perfect?

 That idea’s too hot. That idea’s too cold. I’m not ready to write, I’m not in the mood. I need to have the exact right idea to get started.

Goldilocks writers have the best of intentions. They want to write something good. They want to be a good writer. They want to write under the best conditions. They are willing to wait until everything is just right.

Goldilocks will wait forever for the right conditions. They spend their entire lives saying “I’ll write tomorrow. I don’t have time today. I’ll get started when I know exactly what to write about. “ 

The only way to become a writer is to put words on the page. Good words, bad words, ugly words. If you wait to only write something good and perfect,  you’ll never write. If you wait until you have the perfect writing conditions, you’ll never write. If you wait until you have time, you’ll never write.

Is that you? Are you a Goldilocks?

The first  secret to being a writer is that writers know there is no such thing as constant perfect writing conditions. Sometimes you have to scribble notes down in a car. Sometimes you only get five minutes. Sometimes what you’re writing is awful – but you don’t stop. That’s key. You write when the bed is lumpy and when the porridge is cold.

There is no quota or quality control when you’re a writer. No one will come and knock on your door and say: You wrote poorly today. Hand over your writer’s license.

The second secret to being a writer is consistency. It’s better to write every day no matter what.   If you write every day  good moments start to pile up. Five minutes a day is better than an hour once a month. The more you write, even when you don’t want to, the more writing becomes a part of you. The more  you want to write. The more you celebrate your bad and ugly words. Ugly writing is still writing. It’s way better than no writing than all.

Don’t wait for perfect. Don’t be a Goldilocks. Don’t wait for porridge that is just right. And don’t take someone else’s porridge either. Get your own.

Ideas Are Not Magical Ponies

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Playwriting, the act of being a playwright comes with a lot of misconceptions.

  • Playwriting is something special.
  • It can only be done by a certain type of artist.
  • It can only be done by creative people who wear a lot of scarves.

And when these creative people decide to write a play, ideas  burst out of their head like a
magical pony, and land on the page ready to be turned into a play.

Ideas are not magical ponies.

Ideas are not fully formed nuggets of perfect creativity. This is what stops many beginning
writers in their tracks. “If I don’t have a perfect idea, why both writing at all? I should wait til
something perfect comes along.” You could wait forever.

Writers don’t wait to write. They write when they don’t feel creative. They write when the
ideas are less than perfect. They write when the writing is ugly and horrible and clunky.
They write when they don’t want to. Writers get words on the page. Ugly horrible writing
is always better than no writing at all.

Reframe the definition of that word: idea.

An idea is not a finished product. Ideas are not novels, or scripts, or songs, or
screenplays. An idea is not the end. It is only the beginning. It is A on the way to Z not A on
the way to B.

Ideas are just  the beginning. Think of them as the first step toward a draft. If all you have
to do is take one step to create an idea, it’s easier to start writing. It’s easier to take one
step than worry about running up an entire staircase.

Think of an idea as a sentence, or a fragment, a thought, a headline, a question.  All of
these are ideas because they start the writing process.

And that is all the writer should care about. The strategies that get words on the page. The
strategies that allow you to start writing now.

Take the first step.

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An Idea Is Not A Magical Pony