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Help with Drama

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zoper33 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote zoper33 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Help with Drama
    Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 2:59am
Help! I'm so lost. This is my 5th year doing this competiton, and it's the first time I've been given Drama as a genre, and I just can't understand what I'm supposed to do with it.

My prompts:  drama - a routine - a provocateur

Every time I try to come up with an idea, my mind goes blank. What little I have managed to come up with so far all seems to veer towards other genres pretty quickly - horror, crime, comedy, romance... How do I keep it strictly drama? Or is that not necessary?

It doesn't help that the definition for "provocateur" is reaaaaallly specific. At first I just thought it was someone who goes around provoking people, but then I checked and it's a very specific term. :-/ I'm worried I'm going to end up with absolutely nothing at this rate.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nobodyowens Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 3:20am
Originally posted by zoper33 zoper33 wrote:

Help! I'm so lost. This is my 5th year doing this competiton, and it's the first time I've been given Drama as a genre, and I just can't understand what I'm supposed to do with it.

My prompts:  drama - a routine - a provocateur

Every time I try to come up with an idea, my mind goes blank. What little I have managed to come up with so far all seems to veer towards other genres pretty quickly - horror, crime, comedy, romance... How do I keep it strictly drama? Or is that not necessary?

It doesn't help that the definition for "provocateur" is reaaaaallly specific. At first I just thought it was someone who goes around provoking people, but then I checked and it's a very specific term. :-/ I'm worried I'm going to end up with absolutely nothing at this rate.

Well I think you can add other elements of genres but you should stay mostly drama. I always think of drama as like "My Sister's Keeper" or "Grey's Anatomy" because both use the viewers emotions like they try to make you feel for the characters. 

I looked up Provocateur and you're right it seems very specific. 

One example used was like an undercover officer or like offical. 

Maybe you could do something with that? 

Like you could have an officer who uses a certain "routine" to go undercover and catch criminals by being a Provocateur but one day they end up arresting their son/daughter/wife/husband and it makes them rethink their career? 

It's sort of drama like as it adds in the family drama because they arrested their family but also the inner turmoil and of guilt they feel?   

I hope that helps, hang in there! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote zoper33 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 3:26am
Thanks for the suggestion Smile Especially the bit about playing with the reader's emotions.

Actually, since writing the post (as always happens), I did find an idea. I'll see how it goes.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nobodyowens Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jan 2023 at 4:30am
Originally posted by zoper33 zoper33 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion Smile Especially the bit about playing with the reader's emotions.

Actually, since writing the post (as always happens), I did find an idea. I'll see how it goes.



😂That's how it usually works 

I hope it helped and good luck I look forward to reading if you decided to post it 😊
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote zoper33 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jan 2023 at 3:47am
Originally posted by nobodyowens nobodyowens wrote:

😂That's how it usually works 

I hope it helped and good luck I look forward to reading if you decided to post it 😊


It did, actually Smile It helped me think of a good twist ending.

I will post it, and I look forward to reading yours too.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2023 at 12:12am

This may or may not be of help. Drama: to put to sleep in stages.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Silverlock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jan 2023 at 1:11am
I think Drama is a tough challenge.

Many genres (particularly Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Historical Fiction) have specific characteristics that can easily be identified.  Put some magic into a story, and it's automatically Fantasy.  Then you can do anything else you want.  You can write a mystery, a spy thriller, an action/adventure, a domestic melodrama, or anything else - and it still counts as Fantasy because it has magic potions, or dragons, or a wizard in it.

Drama lacks such clear identifiers.  You can't just insert a unicorn, a time machine, or an 18th-century battlefield, and regard the genre box as definitively checked.  I was assigned Drama this time, and found I was really grappling with the story to prevent it from turning into a Thriller.  In the past I have found the judges tolerant and flexible when it comes to genre - sometimes too much so.  Correctly or not, I feel the need to play it very safe with this one.
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