By: Joelle Charbonneau
Writers are always asking themselves “What happens next?” What happens next with the mystery? The love story? The grandfather’s Elvis impersonating
career?
Coming up with an idea for a story isn’t the hardest part
about being a writer. Answering the
question “What’s next?” is. Moving the
characters and the story forward in a compelling way takes work. It takes confidence and it takes a lot of
thought.
I’m currently in the process of completing my third manuscript
of this calendar year and I’ll tell you right now that making myself sit in
front of the screen isn’t the hard part.
It’s coming up with the next moment in the book—the next hook—the next
whatever. Perhaps it would be easier if
I outlined because then I’d have more than a foggy, barely formed thought as to
where the story is going. Only, I can’t. I’ve tried.
Trust me when I say that I wish outlining worked for me. But it doesn’t. As much as I love the idea of knowing exactly
what happens next when I start typing, my writing is more like performing an
Improv show. I need to type one moment
before I can tell what the next moment is going to be. I can’t decide what’s next until I know what
comes before.
Perhaps it isn’t so strange that I am an improvisational writer. All that training as a stage performer had to
pay off at some point, right? The best Improv
performers follow certain rules which apply not only to creating a story on
stage, but also creating a story on the page.
I’ve listed a few below that help me while I’m writing. I hope they help you to.
5 Rules of Improv (and writing)
1) Be
willing to try anything
To succeed, one must be willing to
fail. Not only fail, but fail in spectacular
fashion. In Improv, a performer never
knows where the scene is going.
Performing is a risk. Just like
writing is a risk. When you sit down and
start typing you risk writing something silly, stupid, or foolish. And guess what? Sometimes you will. Sometimes the risks won’t pay off, but the
more you try, the more successes you will have.
In Improv there are no mistakes – only opportunities. Sometimes the most off the wall ideas in Improv
are the ones that lead to brilliance.
You have to risk making mistakes and see where they take you.
2) Stay
in the moment
When doing improvisation, no one
worries about what happened five minutes ago.
You have to focus on what is happening NOW. The only way to figure out
what happens next is to discover what is occurring at this moment then follow
that path in order to arrive at the next moment.
3) Action
beat inaction
Don’t just talk about doing
something. Do it! Make a choice. That choice will move the story forward. The more specific the choice the better. The more specific the choice the more
committed your character will be. Other
characters will then respond with more conviction to those choices and the
story will build from there.
4) Trust
Trust yourself enough to take the
risks required. In Improv, you have to
trust your instincts and the people around you otherwise the story falls
apart. In writing, you don’t have a
teammate to perform with. You are alone
at the computer, which makes that trust all the more important. If you don’t trust yourself to tell the
story, how can you expect your reader to show up and trust that the story will
be engaging?
Trust your instincts when it says
to veer away from a preconceived idea or outline. Trust your gut when it leads you through a
dark, windy road that doesn’t seem like it will ever end. Learning to trust yourself will teach you
that the number ideas and ways to tell a story are infinite. Only by trusting and experimenting will you
find the one that works best for you.
5) Yes….And?
The most important rule of Improv
is the principle of “Yes….And?” In an
Improv scene, a performer starts with an idea. “Hey, you stole my ferret.” To move the scene forward, the other
performer must agree with that idea and then add to it. If they disagree by saying, “I don’t have
your ferret” the scene ends. However, by
saying, “It’s only fair since you ran over my cat,” the scene continues.
“Yes and” implies acceptance. It also acknowledges the reality of the
moment and gives us permission to create the future. “Yes and” inspires us to discover what
happens next.
So, No matter how silly something
you wrote is, don’t immediately discard it.
Agree with it. See where it
goes. Trust yourself. Stay in the moment. Try anything that pops into your head,
especially if it is filled with action.
(Notice that I just pulled in the first four rules!) Eventually those moments become scenes. Those scenes becomes chapters until the story
reaches The End.
1 comment:
Ha! I am another Joelle, trained in the theatre, specializing in improvsation who can't outline! Also, I've written similar articles. It's true...if you write by the seat of your pants, you should take an improv class. I'm actually thinking of developing an improv workshop for writers! Loved your piece.
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