September is National Sketch Writing Month

How to Start a Sketch, Part II, Lists

Lists are very similar to free writing, but a little more focused. You give yourself a question or category and then as quickly as possible you write a list of answers. Here is a list of categories you could use to generate lists:

Everyday locations
Things that people do that seem strange to you
Examples of everyday hypocrisy
Characters that you are well suited to play
Characters that you are not well suited to play
Characters from fiction, film or history that you would love to play

You can use lists to flesh out a sketch idea before you set down to write it. For instance, first come up with a list of ordinary situations, ones with which you have a lot of experience or ones where you have seen lots of examples in plays, films or TV. Next pick one, and make a list of all the ordinary things that you might expect to happen in that situation. Then, make a list of extraordinary, unusual, strange or weird things that rarely happen in that situation. Finally, pick the one unusual thing that you find most funny and brainstorm a list of examples and variations of this out of place element in an ordinary situation. You now have a premise for a game and lots of ideas to heighten that premise. The actual writing of the sketch should flow fast.

(Source: kevinmullaney.com)

post by mullaney