Improvisation and the Art of Storytelling
Introduction
Every single writer out there has had at least one person come up to them to ask the same question: "Where do you get your ideas?" This is usually followed by the comment of "I wish I could get ideas like that."
This panel is about using Improvisational Techniques to get the brain working better, to get ideas, that you can later explore and play with, in the hopes that you will be able to use these ideas to make stories (and articles, too - after all you don't have to be limited to fiction only). We invite the audience members to participate with us, as we explore some improvisation. With any luck, every audience member will all be able to come out of the panel with at least one good idea that can be worked with.
Although we have quite a few exercises that we can run the audience through, time limitations will mean that we will have to pick and choose from the exercises listed, so that the panel will be limited to around two hours. All exercises that are not done will be assigned as "homework" so the participants can still practice outside of the panel.
Events of the Panel:
Word Jumble
We bring a bunch of words on pieces of paper (man, woman, love, hate, fight, cry, save, evil, good, etc.) and throw them into a hat. With the audience, we pull out a few of them and see what sort of a plot can be made out of them.
- The object of the exercise is to force the free association of words into a story of some sort. As a 'homework' exercise, the participants are also encouraged to use things like Tarot cards or symbols instead, so long as it's something they can draw inspiration from.
Metaphor
Audience members are encouraged to create a short poem, haiku, or poetic prose, in which they describe a person using metaphor. It can be someone they know for a more in-depth description, or just the appearance of a stranger on the street or a favorite movie star. No more than 5-6 lines, with 3-4 words each.
- Since description is how the writer communicates his/her ideas to others, this exercise makes the participant think of the subject of his/her metaphor in ways s/he might not normally think of.
Scavenger Hunt
Using a newspaper or other media for inspiration. Look through the articles and see what sort of twist you can put on them. We will be providing articles from a variety of media sources.
- Truth, all too often, is far stranger than anything we could make up. This exercise allows the participant to see that, and be inspired by the things around them.
Sneak Critique - Homework
Editing is good for both the soul and the skills. Go looking for online fiction, print it, and get out your red pen. Finding the mistakes and errors in other people's writing makes you more aware of the things you need to fix in your own. DON'T then send the edited version to the author.
To get the audience members in the mood to try this, we will be bringing in a few samples of some of the worst writing we can find for the audience to work with.
- Editing other people's work is a good way to finesse your own writing style. This exercise gets the audience into the mood (so to speak) to look at their own work with a more objective eye.
Objects
Instead of the usual fun-noodles and off the way weirdness, we bring a selection of random, yet "normal" things. I'm thinking about stuff like an alarm clock, a piece of a spruce tree, a small piece of rabbit fur, an ordinary coffee cup (that we steal from the hotel, of course), etc. We hand out the objects to the audience, and make them come up to the front and give a two or three sentence synopsis of the first stuff that they come up with that might be a part of a story.
- The object of the exercise is to get the audience participants to look at things from a different light, so that they see the story that might surround the object, rather than the object itself.
Verse
Nothing is as annoying as Verse. We give them stuff at the beginning of the panel and as they come up with ideas, they can make a short verse about the stuff. NO LIMERICKS!!!!
- The object of the exercise is to make the participants make word associations that they would not normally make. Verse forces you to think about how you are putting words together, and creates odd associations in the mind.
Round Robin Tale
Each person says one sentence. The next one builds off the previous sentence, with the participants trying to tell a story (but kind of control it).
- The object of the exercise is to get the participants used to reacting to the things that come before, while attempting to control it. Often, you hear the phrase "I can't get the characters to do what I want them to," or "The story won't go where I think it will." This will help the participants learn a different way of thinking to help alleviate these challenges.
"Taleisin's Challenge"
They can't come up with a "real" story, but have five minutes to put together a story from random junk the audience throws at them. We limit it to a few that want to play near the end of the panel.
- This is straight storytelling at its best. The exercise is designed to make the participants think faster than they might normally. If they like the story that they tell, they can use it and expand on it to make it something publishable.
Dialogue dictation - Homework
Take a pen and notepad and either go to where people are congregating (a mall, a coffee shop, a bus stop, etc.) or turn on your television. Write down snippets of conversation that inspire you - or at least that you can remember some of. Conversely, listen to what's being said and then try to write it down in your own words. See if you can replicate the gist of the conversation and make it clear to the reader what's going on, using nothing but the dialogue itself). You can also try to spin off what's going on into a completely fictional story of your own, should you really become inspired. Just go with the flow.
- This is to get the participants to pay attention to the flow and exchange that happens in real conversation. One of the most difficult things for many writers is crafting believable dialogue. This is to help them do so.