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Hello! Welcome to my weekly newsletter!
Enjoy a dose of my playwriting process,
writing confessions, and all the mess in between.
Think about everyday life.
Of your characters.
What do they do?
What do they do when no one’s watching?
What do they do with their family? With friends? With colleagues?
Sometimes, when we’re writing, we ask ourselves:
What would make this scene more interesting?
Where can this go?
What should I make my characters do?
And sometimes, the answer is:
Write the most mundane thing.
Repetition = Relatability
Remember when I wrote about patterns?
Similar, but now, it’s about etching that pattern into something ritualistic. Something that gives texture and identity to your character, to your play.
Think about our everyday routines, rituals, and rhythms:
Saying table grace (alone or with family)
Brushing teeth
Hormonal/emotional cycles
Morning upbeat dance
Journaling
Washing dishes
Masturbating
Weekly face mask
That yawn you do at 11 pm sharp everyday
And honestly, the list goes on and on and on.
But why?
We, as humans, have routines.
We have rituals.
We have rhythms (circadian or not).
And this does two things in your writing:
Introduces a task your character has to do, wants to do, or needs to do, whether it’s to please someone, complete a day, self-soothe, or fulfil a desire/duty.
Makes your character painfully human.
Without It? Feels Manufactured and Monotonous.
If everything is exposition, action, climax, and drama, drama, drama — it can feel flat.
We lose the thread of real life.
We lose the part that says: “I see myself in them.”
Let’s Take a Serial Killer (Cos why not?)
Say you’re writing a play about a serial killer.
We can’t relate to the urge to murder (god, i hope so).
But what if there’s a scene where they make coffee — and the ritual reminds them of their addiction to bloodlust?
That we can relate to. Not the bloodlust part, the addiction part.
The craving. The routine. The ritual of doing something you know isn’t good for you.
But doing it anyway.
So when you write your next scene, pause.
Ask yourself:
What does my character do every day?
What must they do?
What ritual do they cling to or hate?
What rhythm does their body, their soul, naturally follow?
These aren’t fillers.
They’re the heartbeat of your play.
They’re what’s real.
They’re what’s human.
But… make it purposeful to your story.
What are examples of routines that you have written or you think is interesting?