Short blog because I’m already behind on Script Frenzy. The title of my play has changed, by the way. I kept looking at The Souls Academy and thinking “Souls” looked like it wanted to be possessive, when the original intent was for it to be plural. The current working title, still subject to change, is The Apocalypse According to Saint Michelle of the Coffee Shop.
Today’s writing lesson is in how not to be trite. Or maybe it’s about word choice. I’m writing a play about religious themes, but I don’t want to talk directly about things like “the healing power of love" because frankly it will make the audience wince.
So I am actively avoiding certain words. For “love,” for example, I’m talking about understanding and kindness. It’s less ambiguous anyway. And, like with the sonnets I discussed a few blogs back, it forces me to expand my vocabulary.
Another trick I’m using is hiding key words amongst words of lesser importance. Forgiveness is a major theme of the play – more so than love, actually. So I don’t want to beat the audience over the head with it, especially early on. So instead of saying “you need to forgive him,” I say things like “forget him, forgive him, or whatever you need to move past him…” The concept is still in there, but it is far less obtrusive.
And yes, authors worry about stuff like this all the time. Believe it or not, it’s part of the fun.
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