Method Acting Helped Me Become a Better Writer by Karen Cantwell

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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like many authors I know, I took my first jab at novel
writing in elementary school. I was very proud of my original manuscript
titled, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Adventures of Frog and Mr.
Toad</i>. Ahem. Well, imagine my distress when I discovered a little book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wind in the Willows</i>. Shattered, I
gave up the goal of becoming an award-winning novelist, and set my sights on a
more realistic ambition: acting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">During my first year at the University of California, San
Diego, I declared myself a drama major and began taking classes to learn the
craft. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter was, that I was a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">terrible</i> actress. Really. I was awful. I
probably turned more than one acting coach to drink. Sadly, my performances
lacked that important element: talent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Aha, but my college tuition wasn't entirely wasted. I
learned something useful. Lack of acting talent aside, my theatre training
those years at UCSD, has eventually proven helpful as I have resurrected the
dream to write fiction. The drama department taught "The Method,"
also known as "Method Acting," originated by Konstantin Stanislavski,
and then further developed by Lee Strasberg and employed by students of the
famous Actors Studio. Per www.MethodActingStrasberg.com: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"The Method trains actors to use
their imagination, senses and emotions to conceive of characters with unique
and original behavior, creating performances grounded in the human truth of the
moment."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, we're writers – we already use our imaginations! So no
big epiphany there. But this process of accessing senses and emotions to create
unique and original character performances can definitely be translated to the
writing experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I began writing in earnest, I found myself naturally
applying this training. Who knows the character better than me? No one. But I've
found a writer can write from afar or from within – and writing from within is
much like Method Acting. To write from within, I get into each character's
skin, and write directly from their viewpoints. In polishing drafts, I can
always tell when I've failed to write from this approach. A character will say
or do something that isn't typical – not believable for that character. Readers
will pick up on such anomalies, pulling them from the story, and that's the
last thing an author wants.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A great exercise to help access your characters is to spend
some time (it doesn't have to be extreme, but the more specific, the better)
not only creating back story for each of your characters, but to write lists
that flesh them out – their favorite colors, books, songs, musical artists;
their dreams, considered failures or successes. Are they home bodies or
travelers? How do they react to stressful situations? Are they talkative or
quietly reserved? Do they consider themselves lucky or unlucky? How do they
view themselves vs. how others view them? You may never actually use any of
this information in your novels, but the more you create the character with
this information, the more "real" they will become for you, and the
easier it will be to access your character when writing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I sit down each day, it can take me a good half-hour to
hour to actually settle into the minds and souls of my characters, and during
this time, the writing is slower and more arduous. But as I utilize Method
Writing – a term that actually has been coined – the characters begin to write
themselves as does the story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Writers and actors do share a common goal – they both seek
to entertain. And if you approach your writing from that perspective, and
utilize some of the same tools, you may find your creative works will benefit
greatly.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Author
bio:</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">I
have been writing plays and short stories for many years, some of which were
published in various college literary magazines. In 2010, my short story “The
Recollections of Rosabelle Raines,” was published in the mystery anthology
Chesapeake Crimes: They Had it Comin’ available at Amazon, BarnesandNoble, or
directly from the publisher, Wildside Press.<br />
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But I had always wanted to write a novel. I found that more difficult. Finally,
a few years ago I became inspired to write my first novel, "Take the
Monkeys and Run," a comedy-mystery, inspired, to some degree by a true
monkey sighting. I followed that up with a Barbara Marr short story collection,
"The Chronicles of Marr-nia," and two more mystery novels,
"Citizen Insane" and "Silenced by the Yams."<br />
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Because I love to laugh as well as make other people laugh, I have the most fun
imagineable writing the character Barbara Marr as well as her friends and
adversaries. When I set out to write these books, I knew I wanted to write
something that readers would say, “Now that was FUN.” I HOPE I have achieved
that goal. And if I did, please feel free to drop me a line at and let me know!
I love to hear from readers. (especially if you LIKE the book!)</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.5pt;">Website:
<a href="http://www.karencantwell.com/"&g...
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