In-Class Exercises

Below are some in-class exercises that I like to use in my playwriting and screenwriting classes:

Character development:  As a class we will come up with a single character, and see if that directs us towards any sort of storyline for that character.  I let the students decide where to start, but if they get stuck I will ask about the following information:

This can simply be a model to follow when they create their own characters, or it can lead to an exercise where they write a conflict or expository scene.

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Image exercise:  Using an image, which I provide, students will write a monologue from that character's perspective.  The images can be people, but I also sometimes use inanimate objects.

A variation of this exercise includes having students write a scene in pairs, in which the scene is between the characters/objects in the image.

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Character exercise:  After students have created two characters each, we, as a class, brainstorm unorthodox settings for them to use in the following exercise.  In the past suggestions have included: the side of Mt. Everest, the bottom of a wine bottle, and on a cloud.  The students then swap one character with a partner.  Because they have created a back-story for their characters, they must explain their character to their partner.  They then take one of their own, and one of their partner's characters and write a scene in one of the settings.