Improvisation can improve your writing

When I started learning how to improvise, it wasn’t so I could improve my writing. Actually, it wasn’t specifically about creativity at all. It was about fun and love. One lonely night, I’d sat down and meditated on my aloneness and I asked the question — what does love look like? The answer came back in a vision of a room full of people laughing like hyenas. When I came out of the meditation, I decided I’d best learn how to improvise.

Much later — after landing a loving relationship and sitting in many rooms full of people laughing like hyenas — I realised that this insane storytelling artform had given me the tools to become a better writer too. All the time I’d spent learning how to make stuff up as I went along had given me what I needed to improve my writing too.

YES And
The first rule of improv is the principle known as ‘Yes And’. It’s the basic building block of improvisation. Because we are making things up as we go along, improv depends on the ability of the players involved to accept each other’s offers and add to them. I hand you an imaginary potato — you say ‘YES an I’m going to make a salad out of it’. We have a scene. If you were to look at it blankly or call it a rock instead, the scene is dead.

As a writer, you may be the only one making offers, but the same rule applies. Is there a thread, theme or subplot you’ve thrown into your story that you left under-developed? Is there an interesting character that we see a couple of times and then disappears? Or a plot point that doesn’t connect to anything else? The problem may be that you’ve made yourself an offer on the page that you’ve not fully accepted. YES and yourself. Look for those gifts you’ve given yourself on the page and play them out. You’ll find out soon enough which belong there and which don’t.

Delight Yourself
A second rule of improv is to always strive to delight your partner and make them look good. Improv requires us to constantly ask — what would delight the person opposite me right now? What would delight the audience? On the page it’s the same. You’re looking for what will delight you first as a writer and then what will delight your readers.

When I ask this question on the page, a whole world of possibility opens up because my inner child is itching to get in on the act. Instead of reacting predictably, a key character suddenly does the unexpected. A setting is changed that adds colour to the scene or ups the stakes. Character details are added that add a touch of quirk. If you’re stuck — touch base with your inner child and ask yourself — what would delight me now? Then paint that delight into your story.

Jump Into the Void
You quickly learn on the stage that if you’re not prepared to boldly launch yourself into the unknown, that the scene will fail. Good improv relies on players taking risks and being prepared to jump into the void (and damn the consequences). We have a tendency though — both as writers and improvisers — to try to play it safe. We don’t want our characters to get hurt. We don’t always want to subject them to the worst that the story can offer. We’re hoping to keep them happy and alive.

Very often this can be the reason why a plot that’s been kicking along beautifully suddenly feels stale. The best stories are the ones with the highest stakes for their characters, whether those stakes are emotional, psychological or physical. So if you find yourself in this place, use an improv trick. Ask yourself: Am I taking enough risks?

Quite often the answer in mediocre scenes is no. The characters are partially risked but essentially kept safe. Ask: what is the very worst that could happen here? Then let it happen. Jump into that void.

Colour It In
One of the narrative tricks we learn in improv is how to add colour to a scene to give it instant depth and a platform to grow. This can be in the form of an actual colour—a purple umbrella is better than just an umbrella — but what we really mean is add detail. What are we smelling? What’s the temperature? What sounds are around us? How do we feel? What relationship is being played out?

Detail helps improv scenes immensely because it imbues confidence in what’s being offered and assists everyone involved on stage to know what’s going on. On the page it can be the same. A lack of specificity can communicate a lack of confidence in your story. A lack of emotional, physical or psychological colour can leave your prose dead in the water. Don’t sell yourself short. Be detailed. Be specific. Name the thing. Colour it in.

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So there are my key take-aways. There are probably more. Let me know what you think or if you have any others to add. And happy impro-writing!

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