Characters

"Here is the question for week #2!
Characters- how do you differentiate their voices? How do you choose their names? Do you find that you model a real person when creating a character?"

The answers to all these questions varies based on what I'm writing and where I'm coming from.

Sometimes they just come to me - voices, names, personality, etc. 

Often for my fiction writing I do some research to have the character's names have a deeper meaning; with an idea of the 'journey' the character is on through the story.

I have also modeled characters after real people. In my prose I have 2 characters named specifically after people I know (they wanted me to use their names in stories), however as I work with the characters the personality, and voice, become distinct. The play I produced at the 2007 Fringe was based on real people, names changed, and a couple of the characters were true to form.

Generally to help differentiate the voices of the characters I actually visualize them - whether they're based on real people, or not, they become more real to me in imagining them and understanding something of their life or back story. From there I try and bring their voices to the page.

For this play, Joe (Joseph) and Carl (Carlos) were the names from the start (as was Dr. Van der Hauk), though the characters did go through a flip in role. Maria had other names before deciding on her name. All of their voices come from my imagined presence of them. The other names in the play - Maria's classmates, etc, - had only the thought of balancing the alphabet through the play - with a little more thought on a few odd characters (Alyssa, Hugh, Blaine, and Mr. Fordom).

Celtx scriptwriting software information

As I mentioned when I sent my script to everyone to review, I use Celtx software to write my scripts. I thought I could add a blog post for anyone interested in knowing more about the software. This is not intended as a sales pitch for the software, just information on it for those who have never heard of it.

I have been using Celtx for about 6 years, and every time I go to their website it is different (mind you I don't go that often): https://www.celtx.com/

The software is open-source or free-ware. Either way it's free to download and use, however I just noticed as I explored their site this time, that you are suppose to register (for free) to get the download (free), though I found a download link through another site by googling "celtx free download" - if you want to check out the software yourself.

Why I use and like the software:

• There are a variety of preset script formats (Film, Audio-Visual, Theatre, Audio Play, and some others)
• It is more of a project binder than a document, so you can have pages of notes with your script but not part of your script (i.e. more than one 'document' are in the project). I have a page of links related to my research as one page in my project
• There are sections you can add where you can fully define your characters, props, settings, sounds, lighting, and many more (again all kept within the same main file / project binder)
• The script can easily be marked with all the props and settings, etc and a report / list of all of them is generated
• When I first started using Celtx they had free online storage, where you also share your script with others / collaborators. At one point that became a paid feature. With my brief look now I can't tell if they went back to free or still paid
• It is available on all 3 major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux).

If you'd like to know more, check out their site or feel free to ask me.

Biggest Challenge?

For me, probably the biggest challenge is getting pen to paper (or fingers on keyboard). After that, nearly everything else is still a challenge.

I have always had a good imagination, but haven't been good at getting the ideas down. Most of my previous writing has been more along the prose, so one of my secondary challenges in writing a play is ensuring the flow is appropriate; not switching scenes too often, keeping a flow of dialogue with any on stage action, ensuring the characters are not static on stage (either intent to move, or possibility to move if director so decides)., and keeping the dialogue interesting / on topic.

That sums up the challenges I thought of last night while contemplating the question.

I am also looking forward to the Playwrights' Circle and meeting you all tonight. :)

- Hugh Kemeny