Should I keep my character's deal a secret?

[amn]

When I'm not given a suggestion, I try to make an arbitrary declarative statement to myselft about my character.

For Instance:

"I never want to get married."
or
"I think all children are spoiled."
or
"I'm greedy." .. etc.

Now, in your opinions, is it better to hang on to that and inform my choices with that statement, acting as the kind of person I think would make a statement like that OR should I come right out and say it, pretty much verbatim, at the top of the scene to clue my scene partner in to the kind of character their character will be dealing with?

 

[BrenttHarshman]

Personally, I think informing you scene partner ASAP what your deal is is for the best. It puts you both on the same page and gives you at least a nugget of a clear game to play.

 

[BrenttHarshman]

Also, informing your scene partner is a good thing.

 

[mike short]

There's a lot of different ways to start suggestion-less scenes. You can set mood, you can create environment, you can start with an emotion or a strong I statement like you've pointed out here. Sometimes, when I have nothing, I take a quick read of my scene partner and see if they're giving me anything and if I can come up with any ideas based off of that. In those moments, I love it when my scene partner has done something - any one of the aforementioned things. It makes it so much easier, and I love knowing that my scene partner is giving me something strong. I'd say keep playing around with this idea - making a strong I statement up top. We may get to the point where we can communicate these ideas in a more hip and naturalistic way, but the important thing right now is to quickly gift the scene with information.

 

[Resnik]

"I never want to get married" is the kind of "deal" that can very easily not make sense after your scene partner's initiation.

What if you walk out on stage with that and you are given "Man, kindergarten is boring"? In theory, you could shoehorn your "deal" into the scene ("No, it's great! We don't have to check with our spouses before we eat paste, we just eat paste!"), but I would recommend tweaking "I never want to get married" and "I think all children are spoiled" into things that are more emotion-driven and less detailed ("I am a free spirit" and "I am incredibly grateful") and then figure out the why within the context of the scene.

"I'm greedy" is great, because the how and why can be just about anything. But "I want to take everybody's cupcakes" will be hard to hold onto when you're on a firing line about to be executed.

Although, "Before you shoot me, could everyone please give me their cupcakes?" would definitely get a laugh from the audience.

*(this is entirely my opinion -- feel free to disagree)

 

[amn]

I would recommend tweaking "I never want to get married" and "I think all children are spoiled" into things that are more emotion-driven and less detailed ...

This resonates with me. I guess by making a declarative statement to myself I'm one step too far and should take it back to a simple WHY I never want to get married or WHY I feel all children are spoiled so that it has room to morph with the context of the scene.

I'm a free-spirit so, if it comes up, I know my character would not want to be married and so on..

I was also thinking that it would probably be more appropriate to initiate a scene with a declarative statement rather than trying to force my "deal" into fitting within the context of the scene as it is developing.

 

[Resnik]

That'll be $30.

 

[mike short]

True, it is more useful to broaden your I statements to something that can be applicable no matter the situation, like an emotion or general feeling. I also think that any choice is better than no choice at all. That's why I say play around with it and see what works better. You'll figure out what kind of I statements are stronger the more you use them.

There is an exercise that involves having a secret and using it to inform a scene. However, the idea is not to make it a guessing game for your scene partner or to keep it completely obtuse and hidden. The idea is to find ways to do things relating to your secret - making it active. The example I like to give is this: if your secret is that you want to die, then you make it active, by writing your suicide note, giving away your possessions, and then loading a gun or tying a noose. If your secret want is less morose, say "I want to be tickled" then you might tear open a down pillow and roll in the feathers. Your secret gets turned into actions. If you do it well enough, your scene partner will intimate your idea and help you play with it. The real lesson is to be active. It's not enough to just have the thing in our head, we have to do something with it.

 

[BruceCarroll]

"I never want to get married."
"I think all children are spoiled."

Either of these would make a perfectly acceptable opening line. "I'm greedy" might not.

 

[mike short]

Either of these would make a perfectly acceptable opening line. "I'm greedy" might not.

It might be a bit inelegant, but I think these are all perfectly acceptable first lines. My personal opinion is that I don't care how you start a scene - you just gotta start it. But then that first thing you do becomes a promise, a thing that you'll now spend the rest of the scene figuring out.

If you mean that "I'm greedy" is too open-ended, I see what you mean. But it probably won't stay that open-ended for long. Hopefully we'll quickly make some choices about what the person's greedy about and why they act that way. Not every detail has to be present in that first line.

But I'm splitting hairs on a context-less example. I'd have to actually see it in play to make a call.

 

[Holmes]

It doesn't matter what you start the scene with, so long as you have something.

It's fun to see how different ideas get smushed together in the moment of creation.

It doesn't matter what you do in the scene, so long as there's a point to it.

The way you make a point to whatever you're doing is by repeating and heightening.
If the scene is about some deep character relationship, we want more and bigger of it.
If the scene is about some weird game, we want more and bigger of it.

 

[goldfish boy]

You can figure out what your deal is based on your initiation and your partner's reaction, or your partner's initiation and your reaction; you don't have to start the scene with a predetermined deal.*

*your teachers/school may disagree