Monday, December 18, 2006

To undertake the study of fantasy brings an ineluctable sacrifice of some valuable practicalities...let me tell you. For instance, reality, existence. About six months ago I was in a car accident involving logs, the dark of night and an unavoidable dreamstate. One would hope that to access your creative well you wouldn't have to sacrifice the bucket, but sometimes the car wants to crash. Before impact, for about two hours, I hovered somewhere on the edge of my psychic lake where I could dip my fingers in and let ideas run through that had been occluded from me for months, if not years. Suddenly pieces fit, trajectories were visible, I had plans! I'm lucky if I get back there in my less perilous daydreams.

A word about creatures: the magic of any character is in their apparent (I stress that) and gripping reality. Their power stems from how deeply you believe in them. So no one--especially not those fantastical creations--should be auxillary or abstract. Everyone--human or not--needs depth.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

A play--a good one--is like a pressure cooker or a broken elevator (you all know the game)...these people you've created need to be kept together--no matter how much they ask you to let them separate. Your drama is in the moments they are forced to share. The longer they interact (which means what, "act between"?), the better chance you have of potent effects.

Dialogue corresponds to the pinnacles and pits of our daily experience. Though other encounters, with art or the wild or our own minds, can be brilliant and satisfying, they never parallel the humungous devastation, frustration or jubilation we take in from dialogue.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Part of drama is stretching people. You write them out like a fishing line and stretch them as far as you can before the pain on your finger tells you that they're no longer human.

Language in the hands of characters becomes:
*a weapon
*a tool
*a shield
*a diversion
*an aphrodisiac
*a fuse
*a salve

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Things you don't often see in plays, but should:
*Dinosaurs
*Werewolves
*Herpetology
*Model spacecraft
*Toy factories
*Weasels
*Crustaceans
*Swarms of insects
*Swamps
*Gorilla suits
*Hailstorms
*Globes
*Mannequins
*Characters who are puppeteers
*LEGO architects