Cooking along
Recent depressing events in my (now non-existent) love life have caused me to have trouble concentrating on anything. You should see me during the day. I'm a complete basket case. All I can think about is being dumped, and about what the future holds for me. I have no idea. But despite those unhappy circumstances, or maybe because of them, this play is really cooking! I'm writing a little bit every day. I'm really taking great care to flesh out the characters first and foremost.
According to the book The Art of Dramatic Writing, a good play has well drawn characters. "Well drawn" means they are filled out in those qualities of humanity that constitute a human being's three dimensions: psychology, physiology, and sociology. Once all three of those aspects of the characters are filled out, you can begin to get your play rolling. So I've got all my characters filled in now, I know what they look like, what their personality is like, and what their place is in the social structure in which they live. Now, I have some more work to do before I can get them on the stage. For one, I feel like the only way to really get to know these people is to get to know all about what business they're involved in: the art business. Charles owns a gallery, for example, Nicholas is a delivery boy/odd jobber at the gallery, Nora is an art dealer, Tim works in a record store, but he's an art collector, Grace is an art dealer, and Gregory is an artist. So I need insight into the business of art. For example, if Nora is an art dealer, how did she come to have that job? I have no idea what the career path of an art dealer is. How does one come to own a gallery? I have no idea. So I'm working on that research now. It shouldn't take long to get all the information I need to finally start writing.
In other news, after a short break from working on songs, I've just started going on a song for A Common Pornography called Silhouettes. After a couple of days of toying with it, I finally got a melody, and I'm sitting down now to write the words. I'll keep you posted on what's going on with that. I think it would be worth it to reflect on the process of turning prose into poetry. Once I'm finished with the lyrics I'll post about it. More later.
According to the book The Art of Dramatic Writing, a good play has well drawn characters. "Well drawn" means they are filled out in those qualities of humanity that constitute a human being's three dimensions: psychology, physiology, and sociology. Once all three of those aspects of the characters are filled out, you can begin to get your play rolling. So I've got all my characters filled in now, I know what they look like, what their personality is like, and what their place is in the social structure in which they live. Now, I have some more work to do before I can get them on the stage. For one, I feel like the only way to really get to know these people is to get to know all about what business they're involved in: the art business. Charles owns a gallery, for example, Nicholas is a delivery boy/odd jobber at the gallery, Nora is an art dealer, Tim works in a record store, but he's an art collector, Grace is an art dealer, and Gregory is an artist. So I need insight into the business of art. For example, if Nora is an art dealer, how did she come to have that job? I have no idea what the career path of an art dealer is. How does one come to own a gallery? I have no idea. So I'm working on that research now. It shouldn't take long to get all the information I need to finally start writing.
In other news, after a short break from working on songs, I've just started going on a song for A Common Pornography called Silhouettes. After a couple of days of toying with it, I finally got a melody, and I'm sitting down now to write the words. I'll keep you posted on what's going on with that. I think it would be worth it to reflect on the process of turning prose into poetry. Once I'm finished with the lyrics I'll post about it. More later.