Writing Within Restrictions Part 1: Plot and Meaning

A complaint I often hear from young writers about mediums like Comic Books and film is that they rarely allow for complete freedom to the artists. Like having to take into account a complex character history, or the intended audience. This leads to the term 'artistic compromise' -  a term treated with far more contempt than it deserves. I'm all for artistic freedom, where would be without it? Not somewhere nice, that's for sure. But restrictions aren't always a bad thing. They can be what keeps your work succinct, as you can no longer run away too far with your thoughts. It also means that your creativity has to be thoughtfully modeled around a core concept/character/theme etc, and isn't something random like 'THE ANT WHO SOUGHT TO TAKE OVER THE UNIVERSE' (Though I personally love the sound of that, it'd still be very easy to produce trash from it. Narrower subject matter would do better to keep a writer on track)

Over the course of a few months (Which concluded last July) I chose to write a play script for my Drama GCSE,and the restriction there were fairly rigid. I had to work in a pool of existing characters (Theseus,Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo and Ares)  and stay true/acknowledge their basic symbolism. The plot had to be sandwiched with the mythology of Theseus, taking place during his first journey to Athens. All within 12 pages (meaning I had little time to invent my own characters)

That was pretty daunting at the time, but I think I managed to do it with a reasonable level of quality. I don't put much stock in academic grading/accolades, particularly with opinionated subjects like the Arts. But for what it's worth, I got an A* in the script and accompanying coursework. I don't actually like the script too much, but I think I got my ideas across, and those ideas I believe in.

This isn't a guide on how your supposed to write characters within restrictions, because such a thing doesn't exist. There'll never be any 'right' way. It's just my own basic character profiles, their personalities, and relevance in the story.  It's merely how I did it with my GCSE, and what I think stands as an example of a way it can be done.




1) The Stimulus Material (A pre-existing script with ideas and characters my own writing had to relate to)

The original stimulus (by Neil Duffield)  involves a few overseeing Gods, controlling the lives of genuine humans as if they were chess pieces. The writer attempts to delve into deep emotion with drama that shakes two separated brothers to the core. Theseus is completely haunted by the discovery of his long lost father's kingship, and seeks a sense of belonging he seems to think his father has taken away. This links to the very universal theme of identity, something Theseus lacks, and something people usually require to fit in with life, move on, and grow.   

Story outline

Theseus meets a group of travelers in the wilderness with whom he joins with (strength in numbers)  

The group are mortals; however, their personalities are derived from the four gods in the stimulus material. Revenge and jealousy exist within this group, and it will be depicting the way the Greek Gods are very human, puerile and not fit to control or influence someone as intelligent as Theseus. The group behaves in an almost silly melodramatic style, while Theseus remains melancholic and natural. This will set up a contrast, the non-naturalism seeming even sillier due to being put beside a normal, intelligent, and charismatic lead.

The group’s dispute shall be numerous and petty, all diminutive echoes of the Mt. Olympus Gods.  Theseus will eventually learn that he is better on his own, making his way alone to Athens, where his own people lie. He will find relief from the almost scary thought of being ruled by clueless fools. The development will lead to a point where the message should seem to be this: Gods/Leaders often exist in their own little world, largely ignorant of the world they control and affect, and are not fit to rule people like Theseus.

The camp in which Theseus is staying with the mini Gods has two distinct sections; Theseus' area of normalcy, and the mini Gods area of surreal, and overemphasized social issues, all/most of which could be easily solved by intelligent people who were sufficiently in tune with the word and its nature. (I.e. not Gods) It reduces the God’s problems to that of an inane and self-indulgent soap opera, with incredibly transparent emotions.

Objectives/Intentions

The implication is that to truly know how to deal with humans,  to strive and long to be in a world with imperfect beings, one must understand the imperfect humans, and thus must be one of them. The idea of a creator is too abstract, and too vague for us to truly find everlasting belief in. To truly be free, we must be independent from a so-called ‘higher’ level of thinking.

The closest a God could ever be to human, is exactly the over-emphasized caricatures my travellers inhabit, as they don’t have the experience, memory and thinking that a normal human would have.  Attempting to fake or imitate something as complex as human nature can be met with very little success.

 Theseus sees the equivalence of Gods, isolated individuals who control and influence that which they do not understand, he leaves and goes gives the kingdom of humans (Athens) a leader, giving it back to the chaos of war and human’s art and greed. They are free. The anti-God message could easily be further applied to anti-authority, or at least authority that invests a lot of power in a few individuals. 

I want to use the dialogue and stage directions to be able to show how the two sides of naturalism and non-naturalism seem to coexist in this world. In writing it like this I want to be able to allow actors the opportunity to explore the themes raised earlier and showcase them to the audience.

You see? I'm not stating that's all super profound, but it did manage to take a largely meaningless script (Duffield's story was largely a loud clamor of different caricatures) and give it my own meanings, through subverting it. I do that even more with the characters, which will be the subject of Part 2.

Stay Tuned Folks!

- Taha