Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Play Projects Due!

Please complete your play projects. For details about what you owe, look at the previous posts and check you are turning in your complete project.


See tips about dialogue to put the finishing touches on your script:


--Good dialogue is precise and purposeful; a distillation of normal speech (not really normal speech). Too often inexperienced writers will have long, rambling stream of consciousness sentences in their script. Avoid this by clear, concise declarative sentences--or fragments. People talk. People often talk. In. Fragments.
--Characters NEED to speak in scenes--they shouldn't just hold their tongue or hope that a bad situation will go away
--Dialogue should reveal characters (characterization), provide point of view, move the story forward (plot), and allow the author to approach theme
--Dialogue is not everyday speech; it is crafted and carefully chosen. Throw in some imagery (metaphor, simile, allusion, personification, figurative language, alliteration, anaphora, etc.)
--Dialogue begins with your character's need to speak
--Dialogue is the result of well-defined character building (see entry on character below)
--Color your dialogue with details about your character's history, emotions, desires, and subconscious and conscious thoughts
--Dialogue is action taken to satisfy a need, want, or desire
--If a character doesn't say something--the audience cannot hear it
--Do not substitute stage directions for what a character should SAY
--Make your characters react to what they are HEARING (everyone listens differently and hears what someone is saying differently)
--How a character hears is just as important as what a character hears (or what a character says)
--Write exposition (backstory) to affect the present conflict (not just to provide a well-rounded character)
--Exposition should be revealed on a needs-to-know basis
--Characters should "play" off each other
--Monologues should not simply be plunked into a script; in some cases, break up your monologues to allow other characters in a scene to respond to what they are hearing. If you are noticing that you have a lot of paragraph speeches and few pages, cut up your monologue lines and allow other characters in the scene to comment on what is being said. One technique is to have characters repeat the key phrases or ideas the other character is trying to make. You mean all you have to do is repeat a line? Yes, all you have to do is repeat a key or important line!

Proofread. Make sure your work is as perfect as you can make it. Points will be taken off for incorrect spelling, mechanics, and grammar mistakes. Read over your own work before you turn it in!



Once you print out your work, please use the time in the lab to study for your final exam(s).


HOMEWORK: None. You should study the Exam Review post below this one. Know your terms, plays, techniques, and stuff...

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