Characters

Okay, I know that's I was slacking off last week and posted nothing. I'm sorry for that. I also decided that, instead of posting meaningless jargon with a piece; this week, I wanted to talk about something that I get asked about a lot, namely character. There are so many running jokes and comments about writing and character, and almost all of them annoy both the artist and their inquisitor. So I think I'll start off with that list(maybe just two bits), and then continue on with the more interesting bit; my thoughts on characters.

1) Where do you get your inspiration from? I hate this question. My favorite response to date is, "How do you decide what to wear?"
Inspiration can come from anything, but in the context of character, it does, no surprise, come from people. I have often joked that working as a barista was always paid research, something most people have to go to college to get. And as much as that is a joke, it's also very true. People and their histories interest and inspire me. Where did they come from? How did they get here? Where are they going? What has shaped their lives? I am interested in WHO THEY ARE. The only reason I ever care about a character's look is when it has something to do with what is going on around them. Most of the time, I DON'T CARE! What a character looks like has so little meaning to me, that I seldom describe them at all. Same with setting. "A Bar" is good enough for me. What kind of bar doesn't really matter. Whatever bar you can see the conversation happening in is good enough for me. That should be good enough for you.

I realize that I write for the theater, and that I have no intention of directing, producing or starring in my plays. This means that everything aside from the script is out of my hands, and therefore out of my control. Besides. I've already seen it. I wrote it. I'm more interested in how other people see it. I really want nothing to do with the show until opening night, when I get to see what other people see. Theater is such a mutable medium, that the thought of that excites me more than you can imagine.

2) Can I be/am I in your play/scrip/story? People have no idea how annoying this question is, either. Trust me, my characters have rotten lives. If you have become a character in one of my plays, your life must be rotten somehow, rotten enough, rough enough, to inspire me to explore that pain. There is only one person who I have taken in their entirety and placed onto the page. Trust me, you don't want to be him.

The truth is; I hope lots of people can see themselves in my characters. That means I'm doing something right. I'm touching you. Most characters start off as an idea; someone similar to someone else. Usually, that is where the similarity ends. Characters take on a life of their own, and as I explore their past and what has brought them into my story, they seldom have anything in common with the person who "inspired" them. Their ideas and their conversation may come from a hundred sources, all coloured by their own pasts. I cannot tell you how often I sit down with one idea of what's going to happen, and by the time I lift my pen from the page or my fingers from the keys, something entirely different has happened. Sure, everything I wanted to happen happens, but usually in such a way that changes everything while changing nothing. It is amazing to watch as a playwright.

There are as many different opinions on writing and the creation process as there are gods in India, or writers on earth, whichever is larger. Everyone works in there own way. I once went to a playwright's lecture, and the speaker had a diametrically opposite view point than I do. That doesn't, in my mind, mean either of us are right. I can understand why it works for them. But how do I work...

well...

More often than not, especially for a play, my inspiration comes as a flash of title along with some basic premise. The idea of the characters get fleshed out a little, while, at the same time, I begin designing the plotline. Characters are born, and discarded. Scenes are written, only to be tossed. The two get designed together, crafting the story as they are crafted by the story to tell THEIR story. Then, if I'm lucky, I start writing, and 80-90% of my pre-writing goes out the window, as the plot and characters continue to evolve. Right up until the last period.

Sometimes there are major revisions as the editing begins, but usually the story stays the same. Even now, as I'm re-writing "A Girl Named Wench", the basic story is the same. The characters are only growing, and the triteness of their previous conversations disappears as the become more real; more complex.

It is very interesting to tell you that my afore mentioned counterpart started his work with Character. He would flesh them out in as much detail as he could, and then try to come up with a plot that could fit them. His plots were mutable while his characters were fixed. The last thing he ever came up with was the title. I can't work like that. My title is fixed, and the basic premise stays, but the character and the details of the plot are entirely mutable, much as I imagine life. How often do we leave the house with some idea about what we are doing that day, only to cross paths with a friend and forget all that we planned half an hour ago?

But, that is what I'm going for anyway. I don't want characters. I want people. I want the audience to connect with these strangers. I want them to see themselves in these strangers. I want them to see friends and people they know, and to leave with maybe just a little more perspective into someone else's life than they had before.

I know it's a tall order, but they say it's good to have goals...