Sunday, January 25, 2009

What I find to be rather important.

note: hello everyone this is probably not written as well as it could be but alas I couldn't find how to express all of my thought effectively as I had hoped.

Aristotle says there are six things that are most important for a play : (1) Plot and ACTION, (2) Character, (3)Thought (WHAT is said) (4) Diction (HOW it is said) (5) Song and (6) Spectacle.

For the most part I find myself in agreement with the order of his list. There is just one area in which my opinion differs. I think character should come first on the list above all else. If we look at our lives as a play, we don't know where we are going until we find out who we are. Whenever I write a play or my books I keep this in mind and I always come up with a main character first. I find out his name, origin, interests, and personality. The character tells the plot, comes up with thought, diction, song and spectacle. He takes you on this journey and introduces you to his friends and tells you his problems and you help him find the solution. He speaks and his origin decides diction. Sound and spectacle then follow naturally. You see how things should look and sound. When I write something I never know what is going to happen. The story unearths itself and I merely copy it down.
Aristotle also says in our plays we imitate noble things and basic things. I also believe that after the character presents you with the plot of the play these two things are embedded within. The character tells you his life which is full of basic things, and if your character is a protagonist then noble things are in his being and if he is the antagonist, his nemesis must be noble and therefore those two bases are covered.

Those are kind of just my thoughts on what I find to be important when I am writing.

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