Writing in my mind

When people think of writing, they think of writing on a piece of paper, on a computer. But at least for me, ideas, stories, characters, structure — they’re all considered, sifted in my mind even before my fingers ever touch a keyboard or a pen. I’ve been pushing myself to come up with an idea for a one-act play by next week for the Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre’s MSG Lab and was stuck for a while. Then I came up with what I think is a pretty interesting idea, and certainly a somewhat controversial one, and have been figuring out how the story will unfold since yesterday — all the deliberations done in my head. At least for me, it helps a lot more to know what the story will be, generally, before I ever go and write. Last year, when I did NaNoWriMo, I had an idea for a novel I wanted to write but ultimately couldn’t get more than 200 or so words down because I didn’t know the characters, setting, and story well enough to know how it was supposed to go.

The biggest challenge for me is writing a complete one-act play, which I’ve never done before. I’m also in the process of writing a two/three-act play but even that was a struggle because I’m not used to writing longer forms. The longest play I wrote was just over ten pages and it was on the shorter side compared to the other plays at the Brave New Play Rites Festival earlier this year. I guess I feel like some of the pages in between the beginning and the end are filler pages, and I don’t want there to be any. Anyway, it’s my play and I should be able to do with it how I want. Now let’s see if I can knock off a draft or two before next week.