| How to clarify “author intent” |
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By
Che’Rae Adams
What is “author intention”? Put very simply, it
is the goal that the author had in mind when
writing the play. It is important for directors
and actors to know the author’s intention
because it is our job to fulfill it, serve it
and do it justice.
How can a writer find their intent? Here are
some quick exercises that you can do-Get the
answers down on paper and keep them close-by
during your writing process!
1. What is your intention in writing your story?
Do you want to entertain, educate, or enlighten
your audience? Do you want to shock them, tease
them, seduce them? The answer to this question
will help you determine the tone and style of
the piece.
2. Why do you want to tell this story now?
Do you have a political agenda based on the
current political climate? Are you going through
or have you been through a life-changing
personal experience, and you want to show people
about what you have learned? Do you want to
convince the reader of something? Do you want to
change the world? Again, being clear with
yourself about your intentions can only help you
to write a good script.
3. Make a list of five themes you want to
explore in your story.
Are you interested in exploring the question of
love vs. lust, of moral dilemmas, or the mystery
of relationships? Finding the themes in your
story will help to drive it forward.
4. Make a list of five adjectives that describe
your story.
Is your story sexy, angry, mysterious, magical,
dark? The answers to this question should help
you determine the atmosphere of your play.
5. Make a list of five ways that you can show
your themes and/or adjectives instead of telling
about them.
How can you show on the page that your story is
about the mystery of relationships and that your
story is sexy? Effective storytelling requires
that you show as much as you can in lieu of
telling on the page. This exercise will help you
tell the story through action instead of
exposition. Jon Bastian provides examples of the
above for four of his works. In the following
tables, the first column contains a list of five
themes for the work synopsized above. The second
column contains adjectives for that work. The
third column demonstrates how to show, rather
than tell, the theme that is to the left, with
adjectives used in conjunction with the theme in
parenthesis at the end.
Che’Rae Adams is the Producing Artistic Director
of the Los Angeles Writers Center and the
co-author of Writing is Hard…And Other Whiny
Baby Comments, An Objective Approach At Looking
At Your Own Writing
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