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Printed from https://shop.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/8430-Subtleties-of-Dramatic-Effect.html
Drama: August 09, 2017 Issue [#8430]

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Drama


 This week: Subtleties of Dramatic Effect
  Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.”
― Alfred Hitchcock

"Drama is based on the Mistake.”
― W.H. Auden


         Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Drama Newsletter ~ I'm honored to be your guest host.


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

         Greetings, I'd like to explore human folly and its exposition in literature prosaic and poetic. Satire does this with both irony and exaggeration, subtle or overt as the writer chooses. Satire provokes though by problematizing seemingly positive aspects of the world, critically examiing negative themes, and creative use of language (i.e., irony and exaggeration). It can be funny, tragic, melodramatic, but always provocative, focusing on or attacking human vice or folly through irony, derision or wit.

         Satire is best expressed in literature and drama (both stage and film). In the 17th and 18th centuries, writers were able to appeal to a shared sense of normal conduct from which vice and folly were seen to stray. In this classical tradition, 'formal' or 'direct' satire directly addressed the reader (or recipient of a verse letter) with satiric comment. (Consider earlier also the plays of Shakespeare.) The alternative form of 'indirect' satire usually found in plays and novels allows one to draw his/her own conclusions from the actions of the characters (for example, the novels of Evelyn Waugh). (Definition of the two types of satire courtesy of Literary Dictionary.

         Fables and fairy tales (in their original form) were often satirical comments on society of the times. And, just as melodrama is often maligned by those unfamiliar with its variety of tones, so too satire has become associated over time with a lower merely commercial or bourgeois form of writing. Voltaire would beg to disagree, as would Shakespeare, Horace, Moliere, Sartre, Jonathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels a satirical look at society in its basest), Mark Twain, Dickens, Oscar Wilde. You can see from the writers I've noted the variety of satirical expression in verse and prose. Read again or think back on some of your favorite writers, the ones whose work you grew up reading, whose voices remain relevant and readable, either provocative or entertaining, through ages of living. How many use satire, either subtle or overt, to focus on the frivolity or injustice or inopportune actions of leaders of their times?

         Satire lives on as a vital and creative form of writing, to provoke, entertain, and perhaps effect change even if it be in the vision or acts of one reader. Consider it marginalized by those whom it exposes, whose ideas or dogmas are brought to light. Because satire criticizes or provokes in an ironic, indirect way, it frequently escapes censorship in a way more direct criticism might not, and the characters or scenes you craft often remain in your readers' minds long after the politician has left office or norms have become passe or defunct.

         *Starfishv*Take a common perception, dogma, ideal, theme or issue and give it an alternative twist; often, but not always negative, sometimes merely a different means of perception. Weave your image in fantasy, a mystery, horror, adventure, comedy - it's your vision to re-create!

         *Starfishp*Do the research. Know the facts before giving them a snug twist. Begin the story or verse as though it's real, and your readers will be hooked and believe. Then, when you misdirect it not mere play on words; your readers will see and appreciate the irony whether subtle or overt. The more 'normal' your readers think it is, the more impact your words will have in taking them for a time out of the mundane.

         Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading Author Icon




Editor's Picks

Check out a few of our writers who use satire and subtle dramatic effects to provoke and entertain and let them know if they've lead you for a time out of the mundane

 Life Happens Open in new Window. (E)
Written for Game of Thrones, Prompt 3, Week 1
#2130234 by Elycia Lee ☮ Author IconMail Icon


 Chapter 7 Tales told in Darkness Open in new Window. (18+)
The story of Sir Festus, his daughter Millicent and the Fey Spirit Edna.
#2130528 by percy goodfellow Author IconMail Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2130518 by Not Available.


 He Did It! Open in new Window. (ASR)
Response to prompt: The guy in the high rise apartment across from you commits a crime.
#2127048 by Natasha Author IconMail Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2125906 by Not Available.


 The Holiday House Open in new Window. (18+)
Sometimes life makes more sense when you don't.
#1427168 by Robert 'BobCat' Author IconMail Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2063768 by Not Available.


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2124615 by Not Available.


Daily Flash Fiction Challenge Open in new Window. (13+)
Enter your story of 300 words or less.
#896794 by Arakun the twisted raccoon Author IconMail Icon


 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

         As a guest host, I don't have a formal ask and answer, so I thank you, in sotto voce.

         I will be back next month and challenge you to write a subtle drama, satiric or otherwise understated yet intense - how about something about a birthday or anniversary *Wink*. Reply to this Newsletter or email me the {bitem : } and I will post a public review and offer some GPs for the read*Dollar*.

Until we next meet,
Write the Muse Creative

Remember ~ 'all the world's a stage,'
and our words direct the players
*Wink*

Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading Author Icon

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