Writing Workshop with Ed Harris 20.04.2021

To learn something about writing and what we should take care of, Ed Harris came in to host a writing workshop. Ed Harris is a very talented and successful playwright in Theatre and radio. Here's what I've taken away from it.

Writing is about putting pictures in peoples minds. Elements that can help doing this and reading it from one hand:

It's only a picture, but we already paint a whole story to it.

#1 Pinky - Protagonist

Don't bigger than anything little guy getting stronger.

#2 Ring Finger - Situation

Circumstances they are in, the pinky can just take a glimpse over it towards the middle finger.

#3 Middle Finger - Objective

What the protagonist wants.

#4 Zeigefinger - Antagonist

Can get into the protagonists way.

#5 thumb - the risk

What's the risk for the protagonist takes.

Vocabulary in writing:

Event: something happens, something changes. It changes the plot, status between characters, Ideas of characters. Every scene has an event.

Structure: The organisational points of the story that drives it from the exposition to the resolution Is scaffolding, architecture of the story)

Subtext: something that is not in the text or indicated by the text. Subtext can be used by metaphors

Inciting incident: the first event in the story that starts the story. first encounter. Drop in one "chemical" in and tell everything that happens then. first scene, what's the everyday life in the characters lives. setting up characters life's status quo.

Transgression: when a character

stands up against a rule set by society and change the rules of society. We're clearly told what the right way is until the character breaks it. It's helpful to find that no transgression is looking at the world from within it, which is not the right way.

Sometimes an inciting incident can force a character to transgress.

Plot: we plot graphs but it also happens behind the scenes, what happens to the characters emotions. Plot is the events of the story in the order the audience is watching it.

Story: themes, events throughout the whole story, what is the interesting stuff. that's what people are touched by.

Conflict:3 types

interpersonal: person against person. soap operas, all stakes are all

generated by personal conflicts.

Physical/material: person against- natural or being chased by animals. boyish action film.

inner conflict: morality, about whats wrong, monologue, the world of one.

How to make a text interesting

Subtext is harder with only one person. what is the audience aware of, circumstances that the character does not know? If the character tells a story about people being annoying and we can still know that he's probably leaving parts out where he's annoying.

The protagonist should always do something and even if the objective is doing nothing, it needs to be active.

The protagonist doesn't perceive everything. The protagonist is mostly perfect in first drafts but that is not a journey that is interesting. The audience likes faults. What is the protagonist not aware of?

What does perfect look like, sound like, feel like for a character? opposite?-if this is introduced in the beginning, we will connect it to the character and it adds to their circumstances, creating great drama.

Theatre is live, the story is meant to be now. People want to see the emotions of a

character and not a person that reflect on an event that was a year ago. It would end up in a ted talk. set it during the emotions.

The Riddle needs to be solved by the audience just before the character gets it. work in the clues so the audience can get it.

The steps need to be clear, very clear ambiguity.

Audience believes that he's in russia, then suddenly it' s not that clear anymore.

Ted talk tries to change the audience, the monologue

changes the character.

#EXERCISE Mapping, Record cards

Map, what is created already or what I want to create. which events lead to the main event? did I reflect them? when are the decisions made? the events around the character help to illustrate the thing the character is going through right now.

5- 6 main events on the map.

Start with a list of events, then go into detail. Break down the first draft into 5- 7

events. then go into more detail.

12 minutes post-it's

18 minutes to explain to someone what the story is, where am I confident, and where not

Being definite with decisions for dates and time within the story helps finding the right order of events.

Some interpretations of knowledge...

• All writing is about getting stuck and getting unstuck. Love being stuck, because it's the natural pre status of being unstuck.

• Let the first draft be shit.

• Everything should be written twice once drunk and once sober

• Do not sensor yourself, go and say fuck off to everything. (Parents, precious writers, anything)

• Stories about lying are great, lying that gets bigger, bigger and the risk gets higher

• Stakes only ever go up, what can you lose, gains, importance of it, example of gambling and the object of winning changes to not losing.

• As artists we are paid to be vulnerable.

The original notes taken during the workshop: