 Drama: September 06, 2017 Issue [#8482] |
  Drama
This week: It Begins with a Mistake Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Greetings, I'm honored to be your host for this week's Birthday edition of the Writing.Com Drama Newsletter!
Drama is based on the Mistake.
All good drama has two movements,
first the making of the mistake,
then the discovery that it was a mistake.
- W. H. Auden
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Greetings, fellow writers of prose and verse and fact and fiction.
As writers, we each want to create a sense of the dramatic, whether ironic, emphatic, overt or subtle, in our writing. We want our readers to take notice, to sense our world from our words ~ to make them care. That, I think, is drama. It's not a series of exclamation points which, when overdone, by the way, lose all effect (remember 'the boy who cried wolf'?).
In order to create drama, we are told that we must 'show, not tell,' and 'make sure dialogue advances plot/character'. Now, isn't that what we strive for whether we write for screen or paper or tablet? But there is a difference I've found in dramatic writing. There's a sense of pacing and connection with surroundings; the local 'scenery'. It's visual and sensory; alive, like a heartbeat. And it's up to us to control the rhythm of that heartbeat - excited, passionate, relaxed, but never flatlined. Consider a birthday party, with games, chatter, noshing, more games, cake - each ripe for a mistake in words, action, attitude, resulting in conflict that needs expression and resolution (one way or another)..
So how do we show the drama, expose the mistake and get our must creative to work it?
 Let's start with an image/active exposition of our protagonist, the antagonist(s), basic conflict and setting. Remember, we don't want to flatline with a lengthy non-active introduction, but a scene to introduce the story, to invite the audience(readers) to attend the story, whether on paper or stage. It's more than mere 'hook' as it offers more depth, an opportunity for you to share a sensory image of the characters and their interaction with each other and their surroundings in a few short paragraphs.
 Have the exposition end with the inciting incident (the mistake), without which there would be no story. This is the reason for the story; it sets the rest of the story in motion, with expression and attitude; your characters are committed to act.
 Now, there's a pulse to the story, and conflict speeds the pulse of the story, as an incline would speed the heartrate of a runner. As a conflict is resolved, the heartbeat becomes more relaxed, like the runner loping downhill. This pulse can continue over several obstacles as each is first encountered, then engaged, then resolved for the benefit or further lesson of the protagonist.
 The resolution arrives after the final push uphill, heart racing, to reach the climax, changing the characters, resolving the obstacles and allowing once and for all the protagonist and antagonist(s) to win or fail, to be changed by their journey - the resolution after the climax providing the understanding, perhaps a final instance of suspense to make your reader/listener/audience doubt the climax.
 And we don't end a story on a cliffhanger but resolve what was begun in the opening ~ answer the questions raised, changing the lives, interactions, of the protagonist/antagonist, fix the mistake. Have our cake and eat it too The protagonist may fail, but learn something about him/herself; the ending may be joyous, comedic, or tragic; but do bring it to a conclusion for your characters (and your audience whether in print or on stage).
I'm exploring dramatic writing now, as I'm working on shorts and poems that I hope to weave into a visual or literary series, with expression and dramatic impact. I like the image of a party, where people gather, interact, make mistakes that invite resolution with dramatic impact 
Write On!
Kate 
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Do you feel the tension, the drama, in this work? Let the writer's know with a comment or review. Then be a drama queen/king yourself, in verse or prose
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Thank you for sharing my exploration; that I'm not just being a drama queen
Remember, paraphrasing a wise sage (Shakespeare) - all the world really is a stage, and we are the playrights of our verse and prose and articles whether set for stage or print or video ~ the worlds we each create.
Happy Birthday Writing.Com
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