WRITING PHYSICAL ACTION
How do you write a sword fight? Or a moment of caresses between a robot and a human? In this workshop, participants will attempt to act out what others have written, giving everyone an opportunity to observe and re-describe. Learn to bring your action to realistic, vivid life without stumbling into odd descriptions (he looked back at her with his eyes). An analysis of what makes an effective written action drawn from the theatre work of Montanaro, LeCoq, Meyerhold, Chaikin, and Spolin.
Exercises include easy-to-do theatre games that illustrate how to use physical action to portray emotions, lessons on how martial arts work in practice (an examples from cinema), writing from action in class, acting out your writing as you work.
In person and online classes available. Inquire about fees.
REVIEWS FROM THE WORKSHOP AT READERCON 2024:
I've been writing for most of my life and this workshop was a revelation. Marcy introduced me to ways of thinking about objects and settings that I had never considered before. I left with my story-brain firing on all cylinders!
Brad Parks; Author; Founder, Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers
Any writer's greatest asset is their own imagination, but it's easy to get lost when you're alone in your head. The Writing Physical Action Workshop equipped me with quite a few techniques to not only visualize my writing but better assess how others could perceive it. Marcy Arlin brings a unique perspective from the intersection of creative writing and theatre, and weaves that expertise into an immersive session with audience participation in an unintimidating environment. I would definitely recommend it to any writer, as there is a lot to learn about the scene direction of prose that you won't find in a craft book or even after years of writing.
-Brad Kelechava, Author