 Drama: December 17, 2008 Issue [#2772] |
  Drama
This week: Edited by: Joy  
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Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!
Hamilton Wright Mabie
Hello, this is Joy , this week’s Drama editor. Our topic in this issue is the Holiday Season.
One kind word can warm three winter months.
Japanese proverb
A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together!
Anonymous
Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.
Martin Luther King Jr.
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Happy Holidays!
Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Season’s Greetings, WdC Members!
Was it worth the wait? Does it justify the hype? We ask these questions to ourselves each year when the Hanukkah-Christmas-Kwanzaa time draws near. I have to say, yes. If not for anything, but for the dramatic situations this season offers to writers.
Before the actual celebrations start, an awful lot of other stuff happens during the preparations when the adrenalin races faster than during any time in the year. If people think this season was put in place out of any desire to relax and have fun, they are mistaken. Well, only partly because, on and off, fun and laughter do occur. As to the relaxing part, how can people relax when so much drama, even happy drama, is taking place around them?
Consequently, this season is a boon for writers. To start with, it is akin to a special market for discovering characters for our stories. A writer’s cheer can be found in observing, for example, the drooling Uncle Charley, Aunt Aggie who finds fault with every present she gets, a self conscious hostess, and the two guests in a party who still argue over the merits of the president-elect.
As for our settings and props, wouldn’t our stories be enriched with, say, the Gingerbread latte in Starbucks, the red bows on downtown street lamps, the lights on the shrubbery, people carrying boxes of peppermint candy and other gifts, crumbling holiday cookies, and that non-stop holiday music in the mall?
Accordingly, the songs, the blessings, and different types of menorahs beautifying the nights also serve as wonderful props and settings, as do the Kwanzaa candles in kinaras, libations in a common chalice, corn, first fruits, feasts and gift-giving, and people dressed in dashikis, kufis, and boubous.
When you weave your holiday stories, remember to develop your characters well; then, do not forget the importance of conflict, dialogue, and action. As to the emotion, you’ll never feel the lack for it because these holidays have a way of supplying it in large amounts.
The holiday season also presents a good reason to learn about each other’s traditions. While we still muse and delight over Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol, we can also enjoy a Hanukkah musical drama Tree of Light , and we can watch the movie The Black Candle by M.K. Asante, Jr., which is a 2008 documentary narrated by Maya Angelou.
Among the many good books of drama is Jennifer Johnston’s Christmas Tree, in which a Holocaust survivor returns home to Ireland to die. As she dies, the fragments of her past come to her like the Christmas tree awaiting its day. Also, a book of fifty short stories, Christmas Omnibus – The best of John B. Keane by John B. Keane is a joy to read. Then, A Cedar Cove Christmas (Cedar Cove) by Debbie Macomber adds warmth to the holidays with the metaphorical story of a pregnant woman named Mary.
To go with the books above, The Power of Light: Eight Stories for Hanukkah by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Irene Lieblich, Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat: A Chanukah Story by Naomi Howland, and Jason's Miracle: A Hanukkah Story by Beryl Lieff Benderly provide good reading for this season. More good reading comes in A Kwanzaa Story: Or How One Gentleman Found His Way by Nancy Guthorn Harrington, Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis and Daniel Minter, and Fia Stories (Celebrating Kwanzaa Values in Daily Life) by Lonnetta Tay-Gaines.
This season's holidays may have originated from different religious observances, but all of them unite in celebrating, family, community, and culture. In other words, we human beings celebrate who we are. So, as you think of gifts, lights, candles, and trees, why not also consider writing a story of celebration?
Have a wonderful time during this holiday season.
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“Although it falls in December, Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas. It is one of the several Jewish holidays that can be summarized as: They tried to kill us. They didn't. Thank God. Let's eat.”
“Then, just before Rusty’s seventh Christmas, he overheard his parents talking about some friends of theirs.”
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“Maybe it was the Parishioner or maybe it was the hand of God, but a solid plastic Shepherd was slammed down hard on Father Mathews head.”
“I took my eyes off the road for a moment as I turned up the radio. Christmas music filled the air in the car. “As we dream by the fire...” I sang along, enjoying the ride down the snow-covered freeway.”
“By the time our first customer arrived, the bazaar was beautiful! Christmas tablecloths and decorations abounded, holiday music played in the back, the smell of hot cider hung in the air.”
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“The house became more decorative that day, and the symbolic colors for Kwanzaa were used as much as possible. Reds, Greens and Black. Serengeti’s favorite color was red.”
“Princess Ginger was born on Christmas Day seventeen years ago. Her parents named her Ginger because they loved food cooked with Ginger and the smell of Ginger.”
“At Hanukkah in splashes of red blood
The smell of fresh white snow…”
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“So, all these years later, with our lives going in so many different directions, Christmas was just like it used to be.”
“I, ten years old then, was walking down to my aunt's with a few choices of holiday cookies for the day of Kwanzaa from my cozy home, not knowing what was prepared from the magical powers of fate. I never did know that my aunt lived on the grounds of a creepy attraction.”
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“The car was warm, but Valerie shivered as Josh drove toward his parents' house. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and she still didn't feel the Christmas spirit as she had in the past.”
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“as the Menorah is lit
in a room so very dim.”
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An Activity Reviewers May Find Interesting
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Thank you for reading this newsletter.
Before I thank the writers of the feedback on the last issue, let's take a look at a tip.
This issue’s tip is on climax:
Whenever it fits, keep the climax quick and fast-paced.
Climax is when the protagonist comes face-to-face with the antagonist, and the problem is resolved or the goal accomplished or vice-versa.
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Acme 
What a fun, and practical, newsletter on pacing, Joy  I'm off to play with my coloured pens 
Thanks, Acme. 
Coloring my texts helps me, too; although sometimes, I make a mess. 
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donprescott
Joy,
Great newsletter. Pacing is a particularly important when the timeframe of a play spans years. I found in writing my play, Snags, that I had to ensure focus on the critical, pair away the unnecessary and delicately keep the audience moving with the characters through time.
Don Prescott
Thank you, Don.
It is commendable that you focused on the pacing when you wrote your play.
As a side issue, writing a play is very good practice even for those who do not aim to become playwrights. 
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KimChi
Love the pacing exercise, although I'm kinda scared to actually see where I'm dumping info. I do think pacing comes naturally to some people--when the text feels like poetry coming out of your mouth (or brain), that's excellent pacing. Thanks for a great newsletter.
Thanks, Kim.
Yes, some writers are very lucky when they do not have to work on their pacing. Yet, pacing can be dealt with little by little if we pay attention to it.
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