1. Hoosha

    Hoosha New Member

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    Playwriting Character Purpose

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Hoosha, Nov 6, 2015.

    Hi I'm doing a group project in my playwriting class. It's the first class about playwriting I've ever taken. We each have to write for 1 character. We have Victoria (a rich snobby drug taking brat), her smug uncle, the uncle's caring daughter who's in contrast to Victoria and then me the grandma who's as bitchy as Victoria but looks out for her best interest. We're at the uncle's business opening gala

    We have the dynamics for Victoria and the uncle down. Victoria wants to partay the uncle wants her to behave. Also Victoria's father has gone bankrupt but she doesn't know yet. The uncle and grandma do. But we're not sure what the grandma and the cousin/uncle's daughter are supposed to be doing. =[ What their purpose in the story is supposed to be. We're also stuck about what's supposed to happen in the middle but mainly since we're graded individually on how well our character is written I'm more concerned about the grandma.

    Any insight or tips you could give me would be greatly appreciated!!

    P.S. What are some common believable business secrets in case I want the grandma to become a little Game of Thrones esque? I'm not so good at political intrigue..
     
  2. Ippo

    Ippo Member

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    Hey Hoosha,
    Selfrighteousness is a common attribute amongst arrogant and "bitchy" people. Why don't you stir up some drama between the grandma and Victoria? I guess the old lady didn't have much of a different lifestyle than Victoria so why not let her condescend. Victoria, of course, doesn't take it. Beat follows beat and eventually, by the end of the scene, granny throws the meanest of punches available to her at that moment: "Well, while princess Victoria went out and brought shame on the family name, daddy went bankrupt" (or something like that :))
    And boom there you go, the middle is preprogrammed to be a fiasco - all due to the premature revelation that escaped the "bitchy grandma" in the escalation of the argument. It's just an idea but it includes some more dynamics between the characters, a whole scene based on character-exposing beats that climaxes in something that might be useful for more storytelling down the line.

    Hope that helped,
    Ippo
     

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