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Do those awkward moments in life still haunt your dreams? Great! Use them! You might as well...
This week's Drama Newsletter is all about making use of the past to create connections with our audience.
kittiara |
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Have you ever had one of those dreams in which you revisited stressful events from the past? I have dreams in which I found myself in an exam hall, completely unprepared, the clock ticking... Despite it being quite a few years ago since I sat my high school exams, that scene still causes a knot in my stomach.
In Britain, right now, many students are either sitting their exams or buried deep in revision. I am lucky this year in that I have just one essay to complete (albeit what I call “the essay of doom” as it is a very difficult one), and one final paper to submit, and then I am done for the summer. Last year I had to write three philosophical essays within three hours, and that old tension returned with a vengeance. It wasn't fun.
Apart from the Hermione Grangers amongst us, the dread of facing exams is one of those life events that people can relate to. Similarly, there is the nerve-wrecking event of giving birth, and the pain of loss. These experiences are used frequently in drama novels, and it is easy to see why.
What I personally enjoy is when an author digs deeper in the search for events or moments that people can relate to. Moments that can make me smile when I remember experiencing them – or cringe, or wince. It can be a glimpse of childhood, or my teenage years, of adulthood. It doesn't matter. When I read about those moments, I feel that yes, that's me, I understand.
One novel that triggered quite a few of those moments was Bridget Jones's Diary. Although Bridget and I have very different lifestyles, I recognise her dreams of being a journalist, only for her first piece to be an embarrassment. I understand her sense of discomfort when around someone she perceives as much more beautiful than herself, her exploration of self-help books, her constant struggle with her weight, the strange relationship she has with her parents, and several situations that, although not exactly like those I have experienced, are similar enough for me to relate to how she feels. I, too, was never the most competent when on the back of a horse.
These moments can be less obvious than described in a novel like the above, though. Childhood experiences are a goldmine. What seems like the end of the world to a child may seem irrelevant to an adult, but that didn't diminish what was felt at that age. I can still remember the injustice of not being permitted that deeply desired Transformers toy – my parents thought that I would soon get bored of it, being a girl. I also recall the day I arrived back from school camp, age 12. My parents thought they'd done me a favour, changing my room from a child's room to that of a teenager. In the process, they had thrown out the majority of my plush toys. I was completely devastated.
The teenage years, similarly, offer a wealth of experiences to draw upon. During those years, we go through changes that can be awkward and uncomfortable. There are a lot of firsts – our first crush, and possibly our first kiss. Our parents suddenly seem overbearing, thinking they know it all when they are woefully out of touch and cannot possibly understand what we are going through. We become politically aware, we're making our way towards adulthood and independence, and it's frightening and exciting all at the same time.
Sights, sounds, scents, all sensory experiences can be triggers, even through the written word. If I write about listening to November Rain by Guns N' Roses for the first time, most people who know the song will suddenly find it playing in their minds. I'll try it with an even better known song. You ready? Y.M.C.A.
As I sympathise with all students who are panicking about being prepared to enter those hallways, and call myself lucky that I won't be facing exams this year, I hope that ten, twenty, thirty years from now they wont find themselves back there in their dreams. Of course, they probably will. If we are stuck with experiences like that, though, we might as well use them as writers.
Best of luck, students!
kittiara
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Here are some of the latest additions to the Drama genre:
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Drama: May 06, 2015 Issue [#6973]
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