Scene Stream - Exercise

One of my goals for having this blog is to keep record of the exercises I do in order to become a better writer. So this is an intro of what I'm calling, a Scene Stream. It's basically writing a scene, that's timed, out of thin air without thought or any preconceived notion of where the play/situation/characters will take me. Of course, for a real play, knowing me, I NEED to have an ending for me to plot out where I'm going and how I'm getting there.

This is an exercise that we learned in class 2 weeks ago. 2 characters are in a situation and I have to write a script based on their conversation. To begin, I'll need character names which are RANDOMLY picked from my iTunes library and base the character's names from the artists I select. After the character names are set, I'll find a situation/event/dialogue snippet to place them taken RANDOMLY from the book, The Writer's Book of Matches). After getting the names and the event, it's fair game from there!

But there are objectives that I must try to achieve:
1) each character MUST have their own voice
2) there is dramatic action (drive towards one's goal) constantly happening with EVERY character ALL the time
3) each scene and/or beat must:
    - move the story forward
    - reveal something about the character
    - infer action
4) keep writing CONTINUOUSLY for the allotted amount of time.
5) after I'm done writing, give the piece a KICK-ASS unique title!

Oh, yeah... i'm not expecting these scenes to be any good at first! As I said, this is an exercise to get me writing. What sucks is that I don't get into a groove with the story until the last couple of lines when I realize just where the hell is this story going? But in a way that's the fun of all this!

My Destination Ends at You

My Destination Ends at You
a Scene Stream exercise

Character 1: Brian (Littrell - Jesus Loves You)
Character 2: Nelly (Furtado - Say It Right)

Situation:
While driving to work one morning, (Brian) decides to pass the office and keep on driving.

Time: 20 minutes (start: 11:34pm)

NELLY
Brian, what are you doing? You just missed the exit.

BRIAN doesn't say anything.

NELLY
You know that I have a meeting at 9:30 with the marketing person from Tokyo. I can't miss it.

BRIAN
You'll talk to him next time.

NELLY
You crazy? I've been prepping for this presentation for a month now. I even learned some Japanese.

BRIAN
Like what?

NELLY
Like, "I need this job!"

BRIAN
That doesn't sound like Japanese to me.

NELLY
That's because my Learn to Speak Japanese in 1 month book is on my desk where I need to go but you just missed the exit.

BRIAN
Let's just take this time off.

NELLY
What's wrong, Brian? This isn't like you.

BRIAN
But this is me.

NELLY
No, the Brian I know gets freaked out when he's 5 minutes late for anything.

BRIAN
Didn't you ever have one of those days when you just wanted to explore life and everything around it. You know not just the everyday stuff?

NELLY
Sure, who doesn't?

BRIAN
I don't. Every morning I get up at 5:30am. Put on a pot of coffee. Put on the Jogging shoes. Head out the door. Run until 6:30am. Take a shower. And get the clothes from the hanger that I selected the night before, get dressed. Read the paper with my coffee and jump in here and be at work by 8:45am. Every day.

NELLY
For the last 5 years. Every day.

BRIAN
Exactly.

NELLY
So, what's the change? What's different today than those other days in the last 5 years?

BRIAN
Kevin Sparber.

NELLY
Did this Kevin Sparber tell you to drive passed your work?

BRIAN
He couldn't have. He's dead.

NELLY
So if he's dead, what does he have to do with me missing my Japanese appointment?

BRIAN
Kevin and I went to school together. High school. He was a good guy but I never saw him really achieving much. He was always happy, but the thing I didn't ever connect with him on was that he never achieved. He was a slacker. I haven't seen or heard of him since we graduated from High School... like all high school kids did, we lost contact. We're from a small town, and all I ever wanted to do was move to the big city and make it big. Have the best car. The best Job. Respect. Power. Yeah, that's all I ever wanted... until this morning, in between sips of my Sumatra Blend, I read KEVIN SPARBER from Marina, CA leaves behind a wife and 2 kids ages 9 and 4. He's my age... and I came to think to myself. I don't have anything that I can leave behind. How sad is that? I clawed myself up the school and corporate ladder to travel the world and have this success and now not to have anyone to share it with is... sad.

NELLY
Uh... geez thanks. I thought I was something you'd... fine.

BRIAN
That's not what I meant. I meant that.

NELLY
Why are you stopping? It's the middle of the freeway.

BRIAN
That's why I wanted to drive passed the lives of us trapped in a building. Why we're here on 101 in the middle of the freeway during rush hour. Look, everyone's constantly moving with a destination in mind, when my destination is sitting right next to me. I want to end the crazy pursuit of what I thought was life. I want to have something to leave behind. I want you. Will you marry me?


DONE! time 11:57pm

I totally forgot the other objective to this exercise and that's to have the other person, NELLY, have a totally DIFFERENT voice!!! she has to sound different and I guess my character of BRIAN got too monologue heavy. Eh, it's an exercise, and I'll learn to get better with each one of these I do. Hmmm... now I gotta come up with a title....