scripted

Script writing was one of my best classes in undergraduate school. Creating a story by visualizing each frame presented me with writing challenges unlike those encountered when I wrote short stories. Lost for hours, my imagination furiously developed dialog, movement, camera angles copied in script format in a notebook of filmy paper. It was an art form that I did not recognize as such back then; I truly thought I would go on to be a screen writer, I was so engrossed with the work and did that well in class. But my road took me on another venture that along the way introduced me to people who lived as if they were following a script. To this day, whenever I encounter them, part of me wants to grab my old notebook and take down what sounds to me like lines being read in a dress rehearsal. I find myself blinking in disbelief as they regurgitate buzz words and quotes from the mouths of others, recite dialog that seems unnatural for the person who they are, fashion

sentences that sound like what they think is supposed to be said no matter how insincere, say what they think someone else wants to hear no matter how nonsensical. I always wonder if these folks are following a script they think will please others past or present, if they are actually verbalizing words and actions that no longer make sense for the person they have become but are either ignorantly or blissfully oblivious. I so want to hand them a fresh manuscript or better yet a blank notebook…if only they would use it.

And then again, maybe it's just time for me to begin exploring other writing formats both new and old to stimulate my brain. I am sure if I do there will be pages taken from the wealth of priceless stuff I've heard because really, some of the things have tickled me to no end! So we'll see, but until I figure this out...

keep your peepers open!®