More Thoughts on Art

[varkat]

I did a lot of theatre growing up: acting, lights, make-up, assistant stage managing; I pretty much ran the gamut.  Some of you know I met my husband when we worked as actors at a haunted house.  And here's another interesting thing about art: most artists put themselves into the work, through their characters and points of view, as we've been

Comments

[superwench83]

How cool! I met my husband in the theater, too.

It's interesting to compare acting and writing. I think that for me, the fact that I've done a lot of acting helps me understand character better for my stories. Lots of differences in the two processes, but there are similarities as well.

[annathepiper]

I don't have an acting background, but I do come out of a multi-player online roleplaying history, which is sort of a weird meld of acting and writing.

I certainly remember that the best roleplay scenes I've ever done were ones where I got so immersed in portraying the character that I had physical reactions to what was going on on my screen: e.g., crying in the middle of doing a death scene.

Now that I'm writing, that history sort of crops up every so often in my head. I catch myself feeling, when I'm in a groove, that the characters are just roleplaying out a scene in my head and all I have to do is transcribe events.

[tina_jens]

Oh yes, when the characters on the page take over and possess you, it's a wonderful thing!

It doesn't happen every day, but when it does, a hour or two can fly by where you're not aware of time, the room around you, people or events happening near at hand. And suddenly you come back to yourself with a little jolt of fear. Or I do. (It's like falling asleep on the bus or the el, feeling vulnerable, knowing someone might have done something to you while you were "away".) That's quickly overcome by the thought, "Wow! What a trip that scene was!"

characters

[anonymous]

Sometimes after writing it's like coming up from underwater. That's when I know I'm gettting it right.

Eva

[zen_kitty]

My first play was in 4th grade. I was the lead in "Winnie the Pooh." Every year after that I was in multiple community theatre and school plays. I even worked in the chorus for a few Summer Stock Theatre performances. Like you, I was very much involved from being an usherette, to props, make-up, design, minor character, lead character, assistant director to director