Get into the act

Not only do I make faces in the mirror to study the way to illustrate convincing emotions, I actually develop sore muscles from maintaining various expressions the whole time I’m drawing or painting. I’m usually not aware of it until I hurt, but it’s a habit I can’t stop. I become my characters! I act out their movements too.

It was not surprising at a SCBWI workshop, that acting was recommended as a great way to help writers develop their characters. Presenters Caryn Yaciwitz and Betsy Franco (mother of actor James Franco—Freaks and Geeks, Spiderman, Milk) were taking acting classes through Stanford Continuing Education. They claimed the experience totally transformed the way they wrote. At the workshop we partnered up and acted out scenes provided. Taking on a character’s motivations, thoughts and feelings then, physically walking through a scene, was a telling way to discover what might come across as true or false.

Favorite stories provided the themes of our recreation when I was young. Friends and I took turns at being a hero/heroine and the remaining cast of a book. The author’s story then took on life unimagined and new chapters unfolded. This sense of play and discovery is at the heart of what we do when we bring life to the page through image and word. Perhaps we each might benefit by turning our writing groups into improvisational troupes!