Voice
Consider creating from the point of view of VOICE.
Of course, we all speak and we all have voices—many voices—in which we speak. Indoor voices. Outdoor voices. Classroom voices, with their attendant vocabularies. Parent voices. Barroom voices. Political voices. Shy voices. Bedroom voices. We may have different shadings of voices for all of the kinds of community and situation that we are in. But these are not circumscribed. The truth is that we are perpetually shifting between images of ourselves that we have (or are spontaneously creating) without ever being aware. In acting, we often talk about the shifts of voice as being related to action (X), object (Y), and situation (Given Circumstance).
OK, fine.
And if you are literally writing voices, creating conversations and stories, you can simply use this exercise as a way of checking in on the diverse range of voices that your character(s) might use.
EXERCISE:
A. Take a piece of writing you are working on. Use colored pencils or markings to denote evidence of the different voices that are in play. Key these to archetypes the character might embody (in their mind or in reality). When does the voice change? Why? If it changes briefly (maybe a single word), what’s up with that? You will not discover anything “right” or “wrong” about what you are doing, but you will come to know better, I think, that we all contain multitudes...and that these many pieces of ourselves are always in conversation with one another, fighting, reinforcing, protecting, revealing, seeking independence or connection... etc.
B. Consider a piece of writing you need to do but have not created. Make a list of the archetypes your characters might occupy. (If you’re feeling ambitious, call up an IMAGE for each archetype.) Now go ahead and write your scene or your story. Don’t fret about the archetypes, but do keep your list visible. After you’ve written a draft, take a look and see which archetypes are there. Which ones are invisible? Why, do you think?
IF YOU ARE NOT WRITING (or, if you are working on performing writing):
Everything above still applies. If you are moving an object to create its identity, it moves with a voice. AND it has variations on that voice.
EXPERIMENT:
Take an object. Ascribe to it all of the identities that it might have. Be playful. If it is an egg-better, find out how it exerts authority, how it seduces, how it hangs out with its best friend, how it tries to convince someone with the Wrong Politics...how it competes as an athlete, how it catcalls...how it responds to being catcalled, how it studies for exams.
Take a movement pattern (a dance, an action, a routine). Do the same experiment.
Take a song. Find all the voices inside it.
CONSIDER:
These are some (few) aspects of voice. In your experience, what else is there?
What is the personal dimension?
What role does speaking in various languages play?
What voices are in effect in SILENCE?
How often do we use “inappropriate” voices? Why? (I’m thinking about how, in a lover’s quarrel, someone might use a classroom argument voice or how, in a classroom, someone might use the coarse language we generally use only with friends.)
In a “stream of consciousness” there is a “string of voices.”
How do gender, class, religion, other factors mitigate for the prevalence of certain voices. And what pleasure is there in speaking against those pressures?
On stage, we do not have any pressure to use only “real” voices. What if our dreams, our poetic natures, our secret selves, can be spoken?
AIM FOR: an end product that is 3-5 minutes of material, made or remade to showcase your deeper appreciation for the role of voice in performance.
Of course, we all speak and we all have voices—many voices—in which we speak. Indoor voices. Outdoor voices. Classroom voices, with their attendant vocabularies. Parent voices. Barroom voices. Political voices. Shy voices. Bedroom voices. We may have different shadings of voices for all of the kinds of community and situation that we are in. But these are not circumscribed. The truth is that we are perpetually shifting between images of ourselves that we have (or are spontaneously creating) without ever being aware. In acting, we often talk about the shifts of voice as being related to action (X), object (Y), and situation (Given Circumstance).
OK, fine.
And if you are literally writing voices, creating conversations and stories, you can simply use this exercise as a way of checking in on the diverse range of voices that your character(s) might use.
EXERCISE:
A. Take a piece of writing you are working on. Use colored pencils or markings to denote evidence of the different voices that are in play. Key these to archetypes the character might embody (in their mind or in reality). When does the voice change? Why? If it changes briefly (maybe a single word), what’s up with that? You will not discover anything “right” or “wrong” about what you are doing, but you will come to know better, I think, that we all contain multitudes...and that these many pieces of ourselves are always in conversation with one another, fighting, reinforcing, protecting, revealing, seeking independence or connection... etc.
B. Consider a piece of writing you need to do but have not created. Make a list of the archetypes your characters might occupy. (If you’re feeling ambitious, call up an IMAGE for each archetype.) Now go ahead and write your scene or your story. Don’t fret about the archetypes, but do keep your list visible. After you’ve written a draft, take a look and see which archetypes are there. Which ones are invisible? Why, do you think?
IF YOU ARE NOT WRITING (or, if you are working on performing writing):
Everything above still applies. If you are moving an object to create its identity, it moves with a voice. AND it has variations on that voice.
EXPERIMENT:
Take an object. Ascribe to it all of the identities that it might have. Be playful. If it is an egg-better, find out how it exerts authority, how it seduces, how it hangs out with its best friend, how it tries to convince someone with the Wrong Politics...how it competes as an athlete, how it catcalls...how it responds to being catcalled, how it studies for exams.
Take a movement pattern (a dance, an action, a routine). Do the same experiment.
Take a song. Find all the voices inside it.
CONSIDER:
These are some (few) aspects of voice. In your experience, what else is there?
What is the personal dimension?
What role does speaking in various languages play?
What voices are in effect in SILENCE?
How often do we use “inappropriate” voices? Why? (I’m thinking about how, in a lover’s quarrel, someone might use a classroom argument voice or how, in a classroom, someone might use the coarse language we generally use only with friends.)
In a “stream of consciousness” there is a “string of voices.”
How do gender, class, religion, other factors mitigate for the prevalence of certain voices. And what pleasure is there in speaking against those pressures?
On stage, we do not have any pressure to use only “real” voices. What if our dreams, our poetic natures, our secret selves, can be spoken?
AIM FOR: an end product that is 3-5 minutes of material, made or remade to showcase your deeper appreciation for the role of voice in performance.
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