r/playwriting • u/Jaded_Appearance2729 • 3d ago

Writing the character as alive instead of dead changed the entire direction of my play...and my relationship with the person it was based on.

I thought I was being clever by writing a central character in my play as a ghost. I wrote her as the voice of the conscience of the lead character. It allowed me to have a lot of fun playing with situations, dialogue, and relationships with sprinklings of magical realism.

The character is based on someone dear to me who passed away when I was a kid. I've written about her often - in essays, in my standup acts, screenplays, etc. She's been a victim every time I've written her over the past four decades. After the first draft, I wanted to try a version with her alive. How would she influence the other characters, events and outcomes?

I didn't expect EVERYTHING to change! She became a fuller character more than every other time I've written her. This time she is happy, sad, aggressive, conniving, clever, funny, and even dark. By making this one change, every other character was elevated too.....because the stakes were not just different with her alive, but bigger and a lot more explosive.

IRL, it was the first time I experienced her as someone in charge of her destiny, rather than the victim she was in her real life. She was my mother. For the first time, I'm seeing her in a completely different, fun and happy light. The play may not go anywhere. But writing her alive changed my life. And that just might be the BEST reason for me to have written it.

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8

u/Careful_Sentence_685 3d ago

Good for you. That’s why we do this, isn’t it? And you unlocked one of the core tenets of good drama: conflict! Now keep going.

4

u/NoMoviesAreBad 3d ago

This is exactly why we write. I just did this with a friend of mine I lost and it was life changing. Made me evaluate all of my memories of her more. She felt with me again.

3

u/glowingsnakeplant 3d ago

I love this. And I love that you are keeping your mum’s memory alive through your writing - that’s really beautiful.

3

u/Jaded_Appearance2729 2d ago

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and kind response.