Everyone loves to hear writers talk about the process of writing, right?  I want to talk about the fear of writing. 
 
I’m in the middle of writing a play. I’m ready to write the next scene. I know what has to happen.  I stare at the screen. Nothing’s coming. Why? I can think of three reasons.
 

• Choices. I have too many. Are my characters happy, sad? Who’s going to speak first? What will they say? All basic writing, right? But every word is a choice, and every choice takes you down a path, and each path taken means I’ve skipped another. What if the other path is more interesting? What if this path is a dead end? It’s a lot. It can lead to paralysis.

 
I usually get over this by trying different openings, saving different versions with false starts, which I pretend I will look at later, but never do, and eventually pushing past to where the characters take over. They generally figure things out.
 

• Quality. I write a scene, everyone loves it. Onto the next scene. What if it’s not as good as the last one? What if it’s so bad that it will drag the play down and make The Moose Murders look like Shaw? How do I get around that? I force myself. This can sometimes take a few weeks as I find other ways to keep from writing. Maybe this is the time to alphabetize my library. I could do a little more research on the internet, whoah, look at what’s in the internet archive. Or I could write an essay about not writing.

 
Then I think about the characters in my play. They’re in a tough spot. Only I can get them out. They need resolution. If I write the next scene I can stop thinking about them. That finally forces me to write. (And if the scene is a stinkeroo, I can always rewrite it.)
 

• The end. The last danger is that I might finish the play. That’s supposed to be good, right? But that means that a) I’m going to leave these characters that I’ve spent about a year with, b) I have to go onto the unpleasant task of either rewriting, or submissions, c) I have a lot of free time on my hands.  

 
How do I get around that?  I’m thinking of taking up a hobby; maybe bookkeeping or tax preparation. Or I could start writing a new play … Any ideas?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, July 20th, at 7:00 PM in Manhattan, I'm producing a reading of my full length play Comfort Zone.  

To RSVP please click here.   (seating is limited).

Comfort Zone
Alan, a 73-year-old widower, lives on his own in New York City and has been unable to get past his grief. His son, Craig, worried that Alan is foundering, goes behind Alan’s back to arrange for Lisa, a 21-year old college student from Colorado, to rent the spare bedroom. Lisa has also suffered and unbearable loss. She blames herself for the death of her friend Robin, lost during a mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood office. Lisa cannot shake this memory, and while Alan is stuck in his self-imposed comfort zone, Lisa is desperate to find hers.  Together Alan and Lisa help each other find their way.

Recently I took part in Open Tent's OurGlass 24 hour play festival.  At 9:30 that night I was given a prompt: The theme of “missed connections,” two actors and a prop (a travel ironing board and iron). I had to be finished by 7:00 am. The plays would be performed at 6:30 pm the following day.

So an ironing board. The first thing that came to mind was a hotel. You're in a hotel you need an ironing board, simple. Who was in the hotel? A brother and a sister. Why? To go to a funeral? A wedding? I think about this some more. What's the drama? What's the progression. Maybe they were late for the funeral. Maybe they missed the funeral. But what is the need? Do the characters have an objective. OK, scratch the hotel.

What else can you do with an ironing board? Well, you can carry it...in an awkward place. Like a subway. Aha! Someone carrying a ironing board on the subway. Visual jokes. Relatable (if you're a subway rider). So who would be carrying an iron board on a subway? Someone new to the subway. An out of towner. This is Dmitri, he's a drummer from Iowa.

Now we have the second character. Someone who is annoyed by the ironing board carrying Dmitri. This is Shelly. She's had a bad day and just wants to be left alone. And Dmitri, unaware that strangers don't talk to each other in New York, starts talking to Shelly. OK, we have conflict.

But what's the want here? We'll know if the play is over if the characters get what they want (or don't). Shelly wants to know why Dmitri is carrying an ironing board. And Dmitri wants a place to stay.

Characters: Check. Structure: Check. Scene: Check. Title: I came up with the title “strays” around midnight. My temp title, “A pressing concern,” was a bad pun that didn't make any sense.

With all of the above in place, it was just a question of letting the characters have their say and writing it down. I got to see the results the next day (actors and director did an amazing job) and the audience liked it. If I ever try this experiment again, though, I'd like to get an earlier start. I get tired around midnight.

A lot of activity so far.   We'll start out with the world premiere of THE CUPCAKE CONSPIRACY (co-author CJ Ehrlich).  Read about it here:  

DANTE'S INFERNO: The Motion Picture, will be produced at Longwood University's 0 - 60 festival in March.
LAST WORDS, will be performed at Snowdance, in Michigan,  and Madlab Theatre's Theatre Roulette, in Columbus, Ohio.

LOCAL PILGRIMAGE, plays in NY the last weekend in January (see previous post)

And this was published end of the year, but I'll count it for 2015.  



Hopefully, more to come.

Tickets are available for Winter Shorts, where I will be directing my play LOCAL PILGRIMAGE,  It stars the talented Kathryn Stevens and Colin Chapin.

C'mon, what else are you going to be doing on Superbowl Sunday?

Click here for more information.  

I just got word that Local Pilgrimage, a ten minute play, will be performed by the Open Tent Theatre in their Winter Shorts Series.  This will be late January, early February 2015.  More news to come.  

Ancient World Final Exam, from the Furious Gazelle.  

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