I will be running two workshops at Aberystwyth Arts Centre
on Sunday 3rd November and Sunday 1st December 2pm – 5pm.
Creative workshops in creating characters and writing dialogue for all forms of
script writing and prose writing.
I’ve specifically chosen subjects which are constant queries
from my writing for performance group. Basically whenever I ask what subjects
do you want me to do exercises on, the answers are always character and
dialogue – and no matter how many I do they always want more.
For me creating characters is at the heart of my writing
process – for me everything begins with characters. I build the character
developing their past, their flaws, their personal history, imagining the big
moments in their lives and working through how those moments have impacted on
them. Once the character starts to talk to me and a voice emerges then I know
I’m ready to start writing – and because I know the character in such detail
whatever problems I throw at them in the course of the play I know that their
reactions and behaviour are real. I also find that through the process of
developing character the plot and structure of the play will inevitably unfold
– scenes, other characters will start to spring. But first, always first is
character. Without the character it is just faceless people on stage spouting
words.
Over the years I’ve built a mountain of exercises – my box
of tools that help me get ideas for characters, develop characters, resolve
problems through characters when something is not working.
When I read scripts I find that more often than not, the
main problem is bad dialogue. Scriptwriters, prose writers – it doesn’t matter
really. Dialogue needs to be just that – dialogue. Characters speaking to one
another as they would speak, not how you want them to speak so you can push in
a cheeky metaphor or say – look how clever I am with words. I don’t care about
your metaphors, I don’t care how clever you are with words. All I’m going to
think is – bad dialogue. Just thinking about that made me wince. Because that’s
what happens, bad dialogue makes the listener, watcher, reader – wince. It
jars. It reminds us it is fiction. It will stop an audience engaging and
investing in your characters because they don’t believe they’re real.
I like dialogue, I like real dialogue, I want to hear
characters speaking as they would really speak, not how a writer wants them to
speak. I want to hear characters with
accents flowing through the patterns of how they speak. I want to hear
characters speaking grammatically incorrect because that’s what they do! I
don’t want to hear the voice of the writer, I want to hear the voice of the
character. I also like how theatre writing allows us to play with dialogue,
creating rhythms, patterns, music –characters not talking to one another but
dancing. I want to hear noise and overcutting of dialogue that reflects the way
we converse. I like poetic text, I like stylized text. But how do you marry the
demands of a more poetic or fragmented style with the need for characters to
speak realistically. These are subjects I’ve been exploring for years in my
writing and again I’ve found exercises that help a writer to resolve these
issues.
The workshop is for writers of all mediums – theatre, film,
radio, television, digital writing and prose. The workshops will look at the
difference and similarities in creating characters and writing dialogue for the
different mediums and what we can learn about from the different mediums about
creating characters and writing dialogue.
If you’re interested in more writing courses then please let
me know sandrabendelow@hotmail.co.uk
and I can keep you informed of any new courses in the future.
More information about me, my work as a writer and theatre producer here
To book a place on the courses visit the Aberystwyth Arts Centre website
