Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities, and have them relate to other characters living with him.

Mel Brooks

I ran across this quote the other day while watching a clip on Youtube. US president Barack Obama was giving Brooks an award, and he used that quote to illustrate why Brooks was worthy of one. Not bad for a boy from an immigrant family who went into 'show business' to avoid ending up working in the garment district. But Mel Brooks is right: every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. If you learn to talk to yourself, you can write a story.

A lot of people like to role-play in these days of the internet. There are paid services that supply games with challenges and costumes. As a way to spend time with your online friends, it can be very rewarding. The pre-scripted nature, though, can be limiting to writers.

Role-playing a story is a particularly effective tool for writers. After all, how can you tell a story before you know what the story is? It's better to do the pioneer work first. But role-playing helps writers only if they do it with trusted writing partners – emphasis on the 'trusted' – or, best of all, by themselves. That's where having hundreds of separate people living under your skin comes in mighty handy.

Role-playing a story can really help you built something exciting, even before you put finger to keyboard. And no, you don't have to physically act it all out. I once saw a film clip of the Warner Brothers cartoonists on their lunch hour, acting out a Bugs Bunny cartoon in the parking lot of their workplace. You could actually tell what cartoon they were acting out: Bugs chewing a carrot, Elmer Fudd chasing him with a shotgun, etc. Warner Brothers cartoonists were not too tightly wrapped.

You don't have to speak the dialogue out loud, though it helps, sometimes, if the cat doesn't mind. I have a personal test when I'm trying to write something funny. I read it aloud. If I can do that without choking with laughter, it's not really funny. Your results may vary.

Here are some hints and tips for role-playing your storyline. Whether you do it aloud, with or without props, on virtual paper, or just in your head, these are some ideas you might want to keep in mind.

• The 'hundreds of people' living under your skin are all actors. Just like you. They're playing a role in everyday life. So there's no reason to say, 'Nobody inside me would ever do that.' You're the casting director. Get one of your people to play the part of the bus driver. Don't know how to drive a bus? So what? One of your people secretly wants to try it out. (Manuals available online.)
• Try to avoid grandiosity. If every time you play this game with yourself, your male characters all want to play the strong-but-modest hero, and all your female characters want to play the princess with superpowers, there's something wrong. Take a time out. Then lecture all your characters on authenticity of experience. Threaten to withhold their union cards until they get with the programme.
• There is a temptation – a very great one, I believe – to linger over the 'fun' parts and skip over the 'boring' ones. If you do that, what you will end up with is a narrative that will be very, very interesting…to your psychiatrist. It won't entertain or enlighten anyone else, however. Go back. Point out to those characters that there's a lot to be learned in between love scenes, or car chases, or whatever floats their boat. Make them do their homework.
• Don't be afraid to revisit scenes. Professionals do it all the time.
  

  I had to revisit Graham's interview with Dr Lecter a hundred times to understand it and to get rid of the superfluous static, the jail noises, the screaming of the damned that had made some of the words hard to hear.
  
  Thomas Harris, 'Forward to a Fatal Interview', introduction to Red Dragon.

  
  
  In fact, one mark of a serious artist is their willingness to spend time getting it just right. No one knows who said it, but the 19th Century believed that 'genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.' There's something in that.
• Have fun in your head. Censor later. If what you came up with is more your shrink's business than your audience's, trim it out. But hey, it's your imagination. If you can't romp around in it, what's it there for? Of course, there are some writers we wish had censored just a little bit more. If you've ever read Portnoy's Complaint, you'll know what I mean. Just think of the word 'liver'.

Is this giving people permission to, I don't know, act like kids? Of course it is. Healthiest thing in the world, when done in the privacy of your own head. But it can also make you a better writer.

Writing Right with Dmitri Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

03.08.20 Front Page

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