Peace Breaks Out

I have noticed that there is a renewed interest in the wonderful sequel of A Separate Peace,, Peace Breaks Out, and I thought it would be a good time to announce that I was planning on trying to draw the book graphic novel style (all rights reserved) so while it'll be a.. long while until I have the first chapter done, if anyone is a fan of PBO, is interested in reading PBO, doesn't know what that is and likes comics, anything else, then please check it out!

And uh feedback is appreciated (constructive feedback hopefully) since I don't have much experience drawing comics 😅 It's just for fun fortunately (because I would never be paid for this😅) And in the meanwhile, please check out @ofmiceandpeace's art and stuff for it! I have found that there are a few (very few) other posters about it, so honestly just read the book and then check out the tag. I know there's not a lot of fans on here, but that doesn't mean there aren't any spoilers...

another prompt saga

April 8th: Talk about friendship. How important are friends to you? Do you find it hard to make and maintain friendships? Are your friends generally supportive? Is there anything about having friends that confuses you?

another big question for me to go on plenty of tangents lol

well i haven't often had friends Really, there's like, being amicable with classmates, being friends with people While We're At School Together, being friendly acquaintances lmfao, or like, the occasional "yeah ig we're sort of friends, not exactly very close tho" lol and then rarely where yeah i'd call someone a close friend, although naturally, it's not like i completely discount those other, less close relationships. and, even more so, not like overall i'm like "oh friendship? yeah that's pretty frivolous and unimportant and it's just something mildly entertaining vs the Real Shit & True Emotional Support & Love of your biological family and romantic soulmate" lol, Friends Are Important and it's entirely serious 2 me

also natch i Do find it hard to make and maintain friendships lol. goes back to like, preschool and being around a bunch of age peers regularly for the first time, where my "best friend" defaulted to this one person who sought out interacting with me when i was otherwise doing my own thing during preschool recess, and i was pretty enthused about getting invited to a bday party one kid invited a bunch of us to, because that was like, a Friend thing, and a fun social thing, and i was included.....that i Do remember just feeling like, socially, everyone else was playing a game i didn't know the rules to and so couldn't expect to participate and, furthermore, i ought to stay out of the way of whatever everyone else was doing, where i Did often choose to do stuff by myself, but it's like, you know, the way "autistic" is even used figuratively (which. i have a lot of disdain for) because it's like oh the defining thing really is that telltale "doesn't want to interact with other people or form relationships, probably because also they have no feelings / normal and intrinsic qualities of Humanity" but it's like, if you pay any attention or god forbid ask autistic people about their own experiences, sure everyone has their own varying social approach and anyone might not always be raring to be the center of the party or Not want to do their own thing, but it's not that oh all autistic people aren't interested in social connection, but that like even when you are a small child it's like, oh all these other kids are interacting in this way that isn't really my social style and that shuts me out, and/or attempting to interact with people results in this even subtle, quiet rejection / exclusion that can be picked up on. i wasn't making friends and was often keeping to myself / keeping my head down as it were, but it wasn't because i didn't want to have friends or socialize. my mom was insistent i was a Shy Child lmao and i'd always argue that i wasn't Really, without further explanation though lmao, but it's like, again that i felt that sort of emergent exclusion, and there wasn't any space to interact much on my terms at all, and like, yeah i often stayed quiet / didn't want to mingle with other kids / if i was in a Situation i wanted to know the How To of navigating it / what to expect

being friends with people at school was fine, except the drawbacks of stuff like "we're only interacting at school, rarely hanging out outside of that" & "someone in the same grade is in a diff class in elementary school so we just never see each other now" & "for some reason that 2nd grade teacher made a whole giant Example out of me and a friend, god forbid, not paying attention or whatever the fuck, so now i feel like we can't interact at all anymore" & "changing schools entirely between elementary / middle / college" & "not being in school" lmao similar to work friends too, we're At Work, might not see each other outside of that, might change jobs & stop seeing each other, & still overall rare, b/c the Preschool Experience never Really stopped imo, had different versions of it even into college and like, being at jobs with other adults lmao, socializing is still Like That, came up with the Je Ne Hate Quoi where like, people kind of just Know to exclude you / consider you an exception to whatever other social stuff is going on.

and then like, the difficulties even when socializing / interactions Are happening, where like, it's always funny like. i'm very Verbose / Chatty and very opinionated but like, this will surprise people, that i Talk actually and have a ton of takes, b/c i was keeping to myself / not sharing that with them and so it's like well, that must of course be the realest version of me, no way i was filtering myself, i just must have Not Wanted to talk, and/or had nothing to say & hence no thoughts or feelings i might wanna share lol, of course....and tbh like, it sure Can be true that i don't wanna talk lmao like. i wanna talk About Stuff that isn't really "personal" generally, which can be like, yeah i wanna talk about this book, or about birds, or about this trivia topic, or whatever, whereas idk so much how to do like small talk about your day or otherwise share Casual things about Yourself, like, idk, being aware my interests are things about Myself but also aware that it's Weird / wasn't the kind of stuff you were supposed to talk about, and i felt that things about my life were otherwise Not The Right Stuff, or too boring (never hanging out, not doing much except being at home reading / doing shit by myself or w/siblings) or too Unfun (able to pick up the sense that At Home Shittiness was a private matter lol......) and it'd be like, idk what to say, things about myself don't seem to fit..........but also it can be that i do not enjoy the Vibe of an interaction lmfaoooo like, i truly do not want to talk to you people. like that i can sometimes vibe with someone inebriated people better lmfao because then, idk, they have some sense of humor and can muster some enthusiasm for anything, but also i'm not really a fan of knowing that someone isn't sober lmfao like. ppl will be like "omg were you drunk" like no, that was just my personality, whereas i am not Heartened to know other ppl Will have to have been drunk to get on my level, for example, don't understand when people cannot muster being even a little silly. it's goofaround hours. but then you have like, being around a bunch of cishet people when they're drunk, and their humor is as nonexistent and boring as ever but they're even louder / more insistent about it, nightmare. and, yknow, just people talking and i'm like "i'm not interested in this at all, whether re: conversational Style or Subject, i would not want to participate" and times when it's like. i know if i was gonna chime in with what i Would say you would not be able to handle me here lmfaoooo so. i truly would prefer examining the wall and thinking about my own shit or texting with someone i do like talking with

but that yknow, in groups / conversations i would be at least someone interested in, i can still be like, idk, Hesitant To Talk b/c of all the instances you've been taught like oh you're socializing Wrong and everyone hated that, sorta like the post about making a comment about salsa that brings the gc to a halt and you're wondering how you fucked up and if salsa killed someone's parents and forgot or whatever, i've been Disheartened re: hanging out when it's like, well, nice to be included, but i'm a friendship third wheel here, not being included in the entire convo and nobody misses it, there's been instances where it's like, two people talking, i chime in, i am completely ignored multiple times, this is frustrating lmao. or there's been times i've tried to put myself out there in a way, like yeah sure i'll hang out with this group, but also i'm anxious and it's like, if people are doing homework i'm also bringing this thing i'm working on as this parallel task, only to find out down the line like people then regarded you as a joke or something b/c it was Rude or Wrong when you know, actually that was you reading some weird shit that didn't exist into the situation, and just like, idk it's wild how people will have like "graciously" declined to express something to your face, and you either can pick up on shit at the time but not be able to say anything which just reads to people like "oh they didn't notice this / that means you can push it a little further next time even" or like, figure out later that something that seemed positive or decent actually ft. people not liking you / not wanting to include you Yet Again, and as a bonus you're left with you know, having to always worry about if people Seemingly being amicable & accepting is actually them wishing you weren't there or solidifying some Interpretations of you that they're then gonna Talk About or Act On behind the scenes, like, beautiful thank you, always very touching, so glad you were so Considerate of someone's feelings and Nice about this where it just ends up being this whole letdown / feeling like even more of a rejection if there was this weird like stringing along lmao like. can allistic people be normal for five minutes

anyways and tied to that sort of, it's also like, simultaneously Cagey About Things and always worried about like, i could tell this person this thing and maybe it'd be Incorrect for the interaction and they won't care, whether because it's too mundane and boring a thing about you or because it's too #Real, i think i glimpsed something a month or so ago about like "do other autistic people have trouble where like, you can be friends with someone a long time but not get particular Close to them" or whatever lol, where like, well i have to hold everyone at arm's length and often Then Some because there's just matter of fact stuff about me that i nonetheless think i can't or shouldn't share, if i talked about something it might be out of the blue b/c i just was hardly confiding in people about it, or it's boring, or it's like, i don't actually feel like i'm close enough with this person that saying this isn't gonna be like "whoa overshare!! i just feel awkward & weird!" lmfao like. there were people i hung out with in person the year i lived out of my car and i did not mention this at all to them / kept it a secret b/c it's like, not out of like ohh this is a secret b/c No One Can Know, some people Could know lmao (shoutout to the person i Did confide in about these problems and who talked with me at what must've been like 3am in that timezone when i was like "well the rich people around here made sure to get cops to harass an unhoused person, e.g. me, would you believe it, it sucked" lmfao) it's that i knew idk, it would be pointless, they'd just feel weird about it and switch into that "for some reason, this is being Nice" where everyone will go into full Putting On A Front mode to be Polite like, that really sucks actually lmao could you Not. but it's like, idk, all this stuff where it's like "this thing about me / my life would be too Boring or too Awkward or Depressing or Etc Etc" turns out to be isolating / alienating b/c like, of course it would be. and idk nobody i ever made friends with in person i was Confiding in, not a ton of them re: me either, because you know. being cagey and wary, on top of like ohhh this person is Standoffish if they're hesitant to interact with people generally or do their own thing or i don't think they're socializing Right / have incorrectly inferred their feelings/motivations/intentions or whatever

and furthermore on that lmao it's also like, again, while i'm Verbose & Opinionated people will think i'm quiet & have no takes to provide because it's also like, even when it comes to stuff i sure feel i Could talk freely about, it's like, if i have a different opinion here will that just be a conversational Interruption ruining things for the real participants, probably nobody wants to hear me talk about this Subject, probably nobody wants to / would let me talk about it at much length without interrupting, even Online lmao i can be just going all out in terms of [how much i can talk about something] and while people can be Into that at that time it's like, people aren't into that beyond that one back and forth on one day, shoutout when people do enjoy the extensive discussing and/or have patience for it other times lol.

then supposing i Am talking to people lmao it's like, idk i'm an acquired taste or what have you, like, on top of the Talking A Ton it's like, the being opinionated and argumentative and sometimes pedantic or whatever on top of being irritable, could stand to be a bit more patient lmao, The Hater Friend to use the figure of speech lmao i have hardly been in a Group to be The [Any] Friend lol, also if my sense of humor doesn't fit it's like well how am i supposed to be silly, if being sometimes Enthused doesn't fit, again kinda an issue......have described myself as A Bit Much, humorously, but already not doing that as Much b/c it's like, i think i'm still too much like considering other people's opinions too "objective" here when like, first of all that's never accurate lmao, second of all i can easily forget that idk, i can at least in theory expect people to just regularly Like me and Enjoy interacting with me lol so. an acquired taste few can sample..........like hey even if other people don't vibe with me, it can just as much be the case that i'm not vibing with other people, don't worry lmao. and yknow, kinda parallel to Masking to seem acceptable in any casual social situation it's like, if i feel i'm suppressing my whole personality here / putting up a front / like i have to Get Through what should be a friendly interaction rather than be able to enjoy it myself, it's not exactly that rewarding. and plenty of times it's like, i like to be around people, but it can be strangers, i don't feel like "oh i wanna go out to eat / see a movie / go to this event, but if i can't get any friends to go, guess i can't!" like get out of the way i'm readily doing shit alone, it can even feel Better that way if otherwise it's like, now this occasion is about performing peak Agreeability for this other person/people, and like, not like i have ever been like "yes i have people i can readily ask to hang out and they'll be like Ya" anyways lol so. used to operating solo, where you can't be like "aha this is because this person has no Human Interest in Human Connection" when it's like. well it was never all up to me was it

well and so also it helped when i was 14 and able to be Online consistently, vs at home lmao. time for online friendship, which i don't think is like, oh that's not Real, like what sorry have you never known about people who have Remote friendships before, phones & letters & telegrams and also [nowadays when many ppl are Remote even if they usually lived near enough to hang out with] where it's like, you have this different format for socializing that can sure play out differently than Real Time, In Person interactions, and ever since i'll be posting mostly to myself lmfao but able to thusly talk about Interests and like, people will come along who want to talk more about it, then we do. i suppose also it can sure help that i'll draw (and Only draw, lol) for said interests, although tbh i think most of the time it's the extensive text posts that do it? really and great litmus test or whatever lmfao like, well already this person must not hate the verbosity. and then you can end up vibing with these people further, or not, but it's like, again, there's this chance for From The Start like, oh this person Likes that i have this niche interest, they like &/or don't mind talking A Lot about it lmao, vs in person introductions where that can sure happen but it's like, that's gonna be chance & spontaneous, whereas ppl might have the opportunity to Seek Out this interaction / content of yours......even online though, i'm still like, not as inclined to reach out or make the first interaction move or whatever lmao so. and then it's like, people make galaxy brain remarks like "ohh people who are very Online don't have friends, irl, they aren't Personable, irl," like yes congratulations i'm autistic and i don't have many In Person friends generally, sometimes maybe not any, don't really know where people think they'll land their argument here. like, follow it through, are you just calling people losers. is it "social media makes peopel Not social" like nobody is Doing Anything when they're online or everyone is embracing strangers and having heart to hearts every weekday morning with whoever is nearby if only they weren't on twitter? plus the fact that like, if i don't have access to people i interact with online, that doesn't like, force me to become neurotypical so that i then have a thriving in person social circle, it just means i'm more isolated? meanwhile, turns out it helps a lot if it's like, yeah i can Expect to interact with people

and then still like, all the time it might be like i still can feel Confused as it were about How To Talk To People lmfao like. there's not much "Just Be Yourself" when being yourself has meant filtering yourself, actually, and being v self conscious about trying (and often failing) to appeal to other people (which, then if you do succeed, it's like oops this person likes me but if i've been putting up a front the whole time, not super Validating) and not exactly a ton of practice getting to do Otherwise, and it can again be like. is this too boring to talk about, or just somewhat arbitrarily like "oh i'd better Not talk / say whatever" for no real reason lmfao, i Can just get like. Real Time Chatty as it were, but it's difficult actually lmfao like i need a lot of momentum, and it's easy for that to be Not the case.......and just like, again that it's easy to forget you don't have to be in "nobody wants to hear you talk" mode, or think like, okay, i can't just say anything, i have to say something Good, aka of interest or funny or whatever lmao but then it's like well i guess i Can just say anything. don't much know how to do that tho

(also, sidenote from "wtf is thinking being friends w/someone online is faker than when you're friends with someone sort of from being in the same building every weekday, what is the conclusion of 'what a loser geek whatever if you care about connecting Online who can't be popular Offline'" where it's always funny when someone is also like "wow even in person Fandom is, like social media, something that only people who suck at socializing Normally are into" lmfao like. not very relevant b/c nobody wants to really be in a broader fanbase rather than find particular kindred spirits through it, and who actually wants to go to comic con or whatever, sounds like a nightmare, but it's still such a faux analytical perspective lmfao like, again, first of all, what's the Conclusion to your argument here? and secondly honestly like. all versions of Small Talk are kinda gonna be bullshit, even amongst say, nt people, there's nothing Universal, and people can certainly be inconsiderate / preclude any genuine connection via what they might consider to be this neutral part of the ritual, and yknow, i find it kinda exhausting like it's peak Time To Mask and then i'm hardly in the mood to Really talk further, like yknow what. idk i'd be annoyed if someone demanded i Correctly Complete some sort of fandom reference by way of greeting, but i'm also annoyed when someone demands i Correctly Complete whatever maneuvers you're supposed to do with a rhetorical "how are you :)" lmfao like. you're a cringe nerd in the rigid social ritual of pleasantries fandom)

anyways and uhh yeah i also yknow, hashtag alana beck, it's like, glad to pretend Friendly Acquaintances makes sense, i guess it can, but it's great when it's like, oh i Don't have to only expect to be really peripheral in people's lives, or to only be friends with people i don't feel like i vibe with That much or also talk to that much about anything, when i can definitely feel like Yes this person is a Friend, no "are they actually closer to an acquaintance at this point" disclaimers needed, again, taking it back to the fact that friendship sure is Significant to me and when i have it that's v important thanks

so it's like uhhhh yeah difficult to make friends, don't have general appeal or whatever lol, ppl aren't on my wavelength or i'm not on theirs, hard to talk to people even though it's not because i don't/can't talk plenty lmfao.......and re: being Supportive it's like well, i don't really tell people In Person i'm autistic but naturally if you follow me Online here i am talking about it lol, and not like anyone who already knew me & was friends with me was like "oh nvm don't like interacting with you now" and i also gotta mention the like Handshake Lgbtq lifehack, where plenty of times it can be like, oh if we vibe on That wavelength it can be easier to befriend people, and/or that people will at least be more like, amicable / supportive based on Knowing you're handshake on that lol. b/c really it's like, i'd also like to just be allowed to talk and/or simply be around people even if we are not Personal Friends, aka that you can expect to be treated decently with some basic respect / consideration and like you're generally allowed to exist and be present and interact with people where you're not only guaranteed to Not be punished / excluded for it if someone's your individual friend and allows you to be here, so. once again it's like, can allistic ppl be normal for 5 min

I’m an INTJ Woman and I’m not cold

To those who don’t like verbosity, I apologize, but I make good points, so please read on.

I keep reading all these articles about INTJs and how cold and calculating they are. How they’re distant and private people. How they take a long time to open up to you...This pisses me off and I’m going to tumbl all over that nonsense.  First of all, I was raised by ENTPs. My family is full of NTs, and NPs in general. This made my J stand out like CRAZY. And it made me feel a lot of feelings as a teenager because NO ONE would hear me out (and by that I mean, listen to what I had to say and agree that my logic was irrefutable). They’d all tell me I was flying off the handle (and let’s be honest, y’all, any J is apt to fly off the handle when injustice slaps them in the face AND they’re hopped up on puberty hormones for a few acne-studded years). This was incredibly frustrating, but it did make me very aware of how my emotions would manifest themselves around issues of injustice and leadership. I became highly skilled in examining my emotions and sharing my thoughts and feelings in a detailed manner to help me argue my points on both rational and emotional levels. I learned to look for and ask for compassion so that people would listen to me long enough to see my side before shutting me down right away. I had to do this because a lot of people would just stop listening when I reacted to injustice in a passionate way. They didn’t like my passion or interest in leadership (often because I am a woman), so I had to show them my ability to empathize in order to be seen as a nurturing leader (the only type of leader women were allowed to be in an evangelical environment, for instance). And in many ways I am a great leader - I am great at showing people how to improve, giving them feedback on overarching patterns in their behavior, and recognizing systemic issues that affect all people involved in a process/system - but I had to learn how to do this in a tactful way for anyone to be able to give me leadership opportunities. I had to show that I could train new people well without expecting too much too fast for people to trust me to take on that kind of a role. There was a lot expected of me that wouldn’t have been expected of a man who was trying to do the same sort of thing.

And guys, it wasn’t that freakin’ hard to do. I just practiced talking out my thoughts and feelings to the people I trusted. I had a good inner circle, my whole life, because I needed people to talk to when I encountered obstacles that prevented me from taking on the leadership roles that I wanted. I also asked these friends to keep my ego in check, and they do. They tell me when I’m expecting too much of myself, when I’m beating myself up for not being good enough, and when I’m acting mightier or holier than thou. It’s good to have people you can trust to do that. And sometimes I react poorly to their feedback in the moment because I’m hurt, but I always say thank you and apologize soon after--I’m always immediately regretful of being mean about the feedback too, but sometimes my wounded ego takes a few days to heal before I apologize. I’m sick of reading INTJ profiles that act like INTJs are incapable of this. That’s BS. If I can do it, you can too, so stop your bellyaching, INTJs. If you want help, contact me. Or ask your favorite INP, they’ll give you a lowdown on how you hurt people and ask you questions until you figure your sh&t out.

I feel I’ve always been an open book with people, because I really have nothing to hide. I don’t like hypocrites, and I want people to call me out when I am one. If I expect people to be forthright about their issues with me, I’m going to be the same. If I have a problem, I’ll tell you and I am really not afraid of conflict. If we’re friends, I’ll share first about most aspects of my life. I know myself well, I reflect a lot, and I ask good questions that get both parties thinking and reflecting. I’m not at all a cold person. I’m blunt, but not cold. I’m serious, but I’m not cold. Nothing about me comes off as cold. Why does every INTJ profile say COLD!?!? I’ll get in a conflict with you and stay in it until we are both satisfied with the resolution - does that make me cold? I think it makes me stubborn as an ass, but not cold. Sure there are things I might be shy to open up about (they’re what most people keep private, like sex or money), but I push myself to share in those areas with a trustworthy person because I know that others will probably benefit from my story of pain/suffering/challenges/overcoming and I recognize that the shyness is mostly rooted in social norms and not logic/reason anyway.  But you all, I really don’t see my story showing up in other INTJ stories. And maybe it’s because I’ve tried to be more of a servant in order to become a leader and avoid some of the pushback that comes with just jumping right in, but I still feel like these other INTJ profiles, even other women INTJ profiles, leave out some of the skills and traits I’ve worked really hard to develop in order to adapt in the 21st century world. Maybe it’s being a millenial, who grew up within a very differently gendered society than the Gen Xers or baby boomers? But I’m definitely curious if other INTJ women (especially millenials) have felt similarly (please let me know!)

One reason I think I developed my F side so much was because in my most formative pre-teen and teenage years I was communicating mostly via instant messenger. For my Ni Te Fi functions, this was the perfect form of communication. I could intuit and feel alone, but think out loud with another person. I could turn my feelings into thoughts to share them and instantly read and interpret how others understood me. I was really comfortable interacting, because it was through a text medium and that was second nature to me. I was (and am) a very fast typer, and an even faster thinker. I could almost keep up with my thinking. And when I got bored, there were plenty of other interesting people or websites to interact with. Drama was always a few steps removed because I’d be able to walk away/sign off/block. It was great. But the people to whom I was loyal, of course, walked me through how to be a better friend. I was always drawn to NFPs (and a few NFJs, though they were hard for me to identify at age 12) who would teach me about being compassionate and get me to understand my hurtful behaviors. Sometimes it was them overreacting, and sometimes it was me not listening, but I worked hard to settle our scuffles because I loved them.  Over time, I think I managed to adapt an E like personality for internet relationships - I’m dynamic and funny and good at keeping in touch over email or messengers. I also feel like I managed to adapt my F to be a bit more of an empathetic and listening person. I also learned to love stories and center people’s voices and stories through everything. Being a sociology major in college helped immensely with this. Listening to the Moth podcast helped too. This trait has made me especially in tune to the idea that systems exist to serve people, and the moment a system stops serving people are starts serving itself, we need to work as swiftly as possible to change it. A wise INTJ will recognize that the way to investigate whether or not a system is in such a pickle is to actually listen to people’s stories about the system. Being a (Spanish) literature (and Sociology) major really helped me understand this as well. I recognized that bureaucracy and inefficiency were most easily recognized by listening to people’s stories about their interactions with systems. If an INTJ is so absorbed with making systems more efficient that she doesn’t listen to the stories of others about how they’ve been wronged by the system as it is, she won’t be a very effective leader, and she’ll fail to make any long-term changes that people actually buy into. It seems pretty obvious to me, since systems exist for people, that people need to buy into how the system will change in order for it to change, AND that systems need to benefit people (and not themselves) otherwise they’re ineffective/inefficient. OK? Great. Obviously there is a lot more to a person’s personality than just what the MBTI can tell you. Your gifts, skills, and adaptations are all developed and shaped by your experiences throughout your life, your relationships, and the environments in which you find yourself (where you’re most comfortable and least comfortable). For me, I was lucky enough to adapt feeling skills and masquerade as an I/ENFJ (who strangely never makes [big] decisions based on feelings). I’m definitely a passionate and strong personality, with enormous leadership potential and will rail against bad leaders until I’m blue in the face. This doesn’t make me a whole ton of friends. I’m easily frustrated by injustice, stupidity, unquestioning obedience, and inefficiency, which annoys the hell out of those around me when I actually express such feelings, because I can’t let go of how wrong things are. I also can’t stop examining and analyzing what could be better, and people who don’t see why these things matter to me can be easily hurt by it. But overall, I think I’m a lot wiser, a lot gentler, and a lot more feeling and willing to feel (I cry at least every three weeks, which is a TON for an INTJ, and I have no idea if it’s often for INTJ women, but I’d bet so) than the average INTJ, and certainly than the average INTJ depicted on most personality websites or even in articles written about INTJs by INTJs. So, tell me. Is anyone else out there like me? 

(1/3) Hello! Congratulations on joining the script fam! I have a show vs tell question. Specifically, I have a story which is best summarized as Inception meets Supernatural. In other words, there's complicated stuff with dreams-within-dreams AND monsters that exist unnoticed among us. Basically, there's a very complex world to be built, and the protagonist starts out being thrown into this mess completely clueless. She's the audience proxy for learning about this world. My problem is that...

(2/3) …I took a page out of Inception’s book and created a character whose primary purpose is to get the MC up to speed (in Inception, you might notice Arthur’s only purpose in the story is to explain what the hell’s going on to Ariadne). I’ve finished the first draft and gotten feedback from a couple people, and they all tell me that it’s too much “telling.” I don’t know how I can “show” how this world works, especially since the monsters are invisible, so it’s basically necessary that…

(3/3) …the monsters are described, instead of just shown. Final complication: it’s a stageplay, not a novel, which means I don’t get to narrate; everything has to be conveyed visually or by dialogue. Can you give me any advice for weaving in the necessary world-building info more naturally? Sorry if this is too general of a question, and if you’d like I could send you a copy of the script (it’s not long, ~20 pages manuscript format). But if not, I understand. Thanks for any help you can give!

First of all, I’m sorry it took me so long to get to this! I put it in my drafts and promptly forgot that I had drafts, so I’m not sure if this is going to be of any use to you at this point, but I hope someone finds it useful.

So there’s a lot going on in this ask, and a lot going on in this manuscript!

First of all, I’m going to direct you to read Elinor Fuchs’ “Visit to a small planet: Some Questions to Ask a Play” [Link to PDF HERE], which is one of my favourite texts about world building and is specifically about world building for the stage.

Now, I’m going to say, the play that you’ve described in this ask sounds incredibly complex and I’m not entirely sure that it would be practical to perform. And if you do manage to work out how to perform it, it may not go over well to the audience in terms of them being able to quickly grasp and understand the complexities of the narrative, setting, and elements you’ve got going on.

An important distinction between stage and screen (as you’ve mentioned both Supernatural and Inception as inspiration) is that on the stage you must be able to signal every element on the stage either through set and set dressing, or through the bodies of the actors, whereas on television or in film, you can show (through the wonders of technology) nearly anything you can imagine possibly happening.

I’m mentioning this specifically with regards to expressing the main elements of the story through physicality because while the dialogue of the characters is going to be important, of course, it’s not enough to carry the whole of the action. Yes, the audience can hear the words ‘invisible monsters’ and ‘dreams-within-dreams’, but how are they going to be shown in a tangible way that these things are impacting the ‘reality’ of the stage?

The issue of stageplays that rely to heavily on the audience learning all about the world through dialogue is that a lot of people miss a lot of dialogue. Have you ever gone to a play or a movie with someone and had them sit by you going ‘wait, what happened?’ every two minutes? There are a lot of people like that in audiences, just that most of them are more quiet about it, or work to figure out for themselves through context what just happened. Personally, I almost never know the names of characters in films I watch until the fourth or fifth viewing – unless it’s prominent on a name tag or displayed in some way. 

If all your audience has to rely on is spoken word, then a lot of them are going to miss a lot of what happens, and a lot of them are going to be bored. You hit a point, where you’ve missed a lot of what’s happening, and you disengage. You know this feeling, probably, from teachers who don’t explain things well, for example. An hour’s lecture goes by and you come out tired from struggling to pay attention and frustrated because you don’t know what you were supposed to learn from all that.

The other thing you’re going to have to deal with in creating a stage play, is actors. And funnily enough, in my experience, there’s nothing that most actors hate more than being the ‘exposition guy’. I know you say that Arthur was only in the film to tell Ariadne and, by extension, the audience what was happening, but he also acts as a know-it-all character, he’s an authority on the process that they’re using and the other characters in the team defer to his expertise. It’s a subtle distinction, perhaps, but I think that the interactions between Arthur and Eames particularly, gives more dimension to the character, he’s a technically-minded guy working in a realm of imagination, he lays out facts because those are what makes sense to him, whereas, for example, Eames, thinks more along the lines of possibility rather than limitation. But that’s a digression.

A lot of actors, looking at a script where they have to spout out a lot of expository dialogue without getting to do much will roll their eyes and pout. If they’re very polite, which in my personal experience, not a lot of them are, they won’t do it in front of you. I actually love that most actors I’ve worked with have been very outspoken about what does and doesn’t work for them in a script, after all, they’re the ones who are going to have to perform it!

Now, I’ll direct you to [THIS POST] about writing for the stage/ screen and script lengths. If your play is 20 pages, then it should be about 20 minutes long. All of what you’ve described is a lot to cram into twenty minutes. And in a stage play, cramming a lot of stuff in tends to make it more difficult and confusing to follow. When it’s a film, at least you can rewatch it several times, or rewind to stuff you missed, but with a stage play you get one shot to give the audience the clearest understanding of the story.

Something that a lot of beginning playwrights struggle with is cutting down the number of elements that they have in their works. Simplicity is one of the hardest things to master, but I believe it’s key to successful writing for the stage. I would suggest focusing on one of the big concepts that you’ve described. You could either do the dreams-within-dreams, OR the invisible monsters, but I think that having both of them in the same twenty minute play would probably be a little too much to handle.

So how do you naturally incorporate world building into a stage play?

Set design and structure can do a lot for a performance, and with technology and a lot of resources, you can do some incredible things, BUT, with amateur productions you’ll often have a bare stage and an assortment of chairs and tables to work with, so be creative with what you have

Be aware that you and the actors and director are working with bodies on the stage, the space on the stage, you’re working with sound, lighting, movement, etc. All of these things should be incorporated to assist in telling your story (though often it will be up to the director and technical teams to decide the final form that these elements will take)

Your character not only says that there are invisible monsters, they must also crawl by one as it sleeps, they must avoid a stampede, they must creep through a room full of distracted invisible monsters, they must be bitten by an invisible monster. The physicality of the actors is going to sell the conceit of the play, more than their dialogue is.

Most of your audience is not going to follow or process all of the dialogue. They will take in what they can and try to fill in the rest from context. Be sure to give them context. Long passages of exposition don’t really come across well on stage, because they take a lot of work to process and often are difficult to follow. Ensure that whatever the characters say is relevant, brief, and clear, and that it is supported contextually by the events and objects around them.

Now, I know that there are a lot of plays that are heavy on the dialogue, Waiting for Godot comes to mind, as do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and a lot of Chekhov’s plays. 

The thing is that these are plays where the action is boiled down to an extreme. The whole action of the play is that these people are stuck in this place, for whatever reason. Godot is never going to appear, and the whole narrative focus is fixated on the philosophical and social ramblings of the two characters. 

R&G are trapped in the interstitial reality between acts in a play, and the absurdity of their situation is illustrated by the flights of fantasy in their conversations. 

Chekhov’s whole school of writing focused on emulating the tedium of reality in meticulous detail. The characters spend a whole lot of time talking about going to Moscow and never getting there, and it starts to seem like Moscow is a metaphor for escapism, which this play won’t give you, because that’s not realistic. (The Three Sisters).

Even stuff that we sometimes think of as overly verbose, like Shakespeare, are structured in such a way that each segment of speech is punctuated by action. Sword fights and dancing and climbing and running. The form of Shakespeare’s dialogue is also significant in that the rhythm and pacing of it means that the focus can be more on the sound of it than the actual words, that the audience can follow along as the actors portray physically the contents of the poetic dialogue they speak.

There was a lot in your ask, and I hope this has been helpful, and I hope it’s not too late for your project, but please do send more specific asks if you need clarification on any point, or if you have clarifying questions. Thank you for your patience.