Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Where Angels Fear to Tread

In a group of students there is always one who is filled with probing questions. Right now the class is transitioning from the science of writing a drama to the art and trying to explain art is always more complex and challenging. This latest lesson is about monologues.

At this stage in my life I 'm no longer under any delusions regarding who and what I am as a writer. I consider myself most ordinary and explaining to others how I do things might not be the same for others as it is for me. After all when it comes to art as opposed to science I am the first to acknowledge the talent and skill out there that often exceeds my pay grade. However when asked, a “teacher” has an obligation to explain things as best they can.

In writing monologues I go through several stages. The first step is to clearly articulate in simple words what the monologue needs to accomplish. There are things I want to tell the audience (reader) that will move the drama along....there are things I want to show about the character. There are aspects of back story I want to communicate as well.

Once I have this figured out and stated in simple terms, I think about what a person's thoughts sound like. Historically these have been written in a more poetic and higher form of the English language. This tells the reader or audience that a thought process is going on. In exposition we often use elipses for this purpose, however in a monologue ratcheting up the language a notch often serves. This doesn't mean a monologue has to read like a Dr. Seuss poem but a monologue tends to be expressed more poetically with what I call a resonance or meter to the prose. A monologue stands in sharp contrast to the crisp banter of dialogue. It is more like a song than a conversation, a breeze than a breath of air. Many novel writers have a signature to their exposition and how I go about writing a monologue is my signature as a dramatist. It is point in the writing process where a transition takes place between the science and art of written expression.

Thus a monologue often transcends a person's speech patterns often showing an elegance in thinking that is different from how they articulate their conversational speech. The expression is often more fanciful than words spoken in conversation.

In dialogue you have a model of how people express themselves in every day life, but in a monologue you are expressing thoughts and the only model you have is the voice and imagery you hear and see rising up from your imagination.

It is very common to get the two processes confused. I often see dialogues written like thoughts… words that would never pass between two people in any sort of conversation I have ever heard. The flip side is monologues and exposition that sounds like the writer is talking (muttering) to themselves. These are distinctively different processes and the way the writer expresses them is the art of writing. Each adheres to the structure and has an unmistakable luster and color.

This is my take anyway and while I might insist on following the model, in setting up the story, when it comes to the art of telling it, I get nervous suggesting to others how to go about it, like walking on egg shells and begin furtively looking about… fearful of entering the realm where angels fear to tread.