Drama: April 25, 2012 Issue [#5007] |
Drama
This week: Stressed Out! Edited by: Fyn More Newsletters By This Editor
1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions
In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
- Lee Iacoca
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
- William James
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi
Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.
- Douglas Pagels |
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While I agree that much of our reading is to escape the stress and realities of our lives, we also tend to get a visceral thrill out of other people's stress. Theirs is worse than ours is sort of thing. Giving stress to your characters adds a level of drama, gives them conflict to resolve. When the worse 'drama' is 'Does he love me?' or 'Why doesn't he love me?' then the overall level of conflict is not as sustaining of our interest as it might be if a few more monkey wrenches are thrown into the mix! While in our lives we would be just as happy to have there be no stress at all, a character needs for there to be problems, conflicts and stress else there is no story worth telling.
Any problem, issue or conflict can be handled in a variety of ways. There are the 'Ignorers.' These folks think that if they don't think about it; the problem will go away, vanish or magically solve itself. Then there are the ones that I like to call the 'Poor Pitiful Me' characters. These rely on everyone else to solve their problems for them. They expect people to bail them out of everything whether it is paying for their car to get fixed, to support them or give them a roof over their head. Then, there are the 'Blamers.' Nothing is their fault. Everything that happens to them happens because of something someone else did; never them. There are the 'Stepping Up' characters who never see stumbling blocks, but instead see a stepping stone to something else. The vast majority are the 'Troupers' who muddle on through, best they can with heads held high, stomachs growling and empty pockets. Some are the 'Temper Tantrum Termagants' who react with ill-advised temper or anger to situations where all does not go their way, and others are the 'Crybabies' who dissolve into a mushy puddle at the slightest bump in the road. Others are 'Solvers' who thrive on handling conflicts, issues or traumas: their own or anybody else's.
Depending upon the type of character, they will use some combination to figure a way out of what ever mess they are in. When life is going along too smoothly for your characters, take a page from life and toss something in their path. Then sit back and see what happens next! |
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After writing this newsletter for almost two years,
I sure could use some suggestions!
Anything in particular you'd like to see in this newsletter?
Fyn |
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