Cutting a Book/Play for an Interp 101
I love original cuttings of books and plays. They make for fantastic interps and have a lot more possibilities to be creative with. The only problem is that it can be difficult to figure out HOW to cut a longer work. If you get frustrated, that’s okay. I’m pretty sure I cried sometime while cutting a book for the first time. It’s a bit of a science that just requires a bit of practice. If middle schoolers can do it, you can too! Here goes…
Like actually read it. The entire thing. Not the sparknotes or any of that crap. To do this right, you have to read it all the way through without skipping anything.
grab one of those handy dandy plot organizer things that look like either a sideways weird lightning bolt if you squint or a pyramid. (example at the bottom) SHOUTOUT TO GAC-SSI AND MS. B FOR TEACHING ME THIS AGES AGO!
And use it. Write out the focal points of the lit.
Grab a pencil. DO NOT USE A PEN. ONLY USE PENCIL. WHEN CUTTING LIT PENS ARE A MORTAL SIN.
Go through the lit and [bracket] things that are important to the overall plot of the story.
Make sure you have the entire plot included. If not, go back through and try to find ways to put it back in
Read through it an a talking pace and time it. Just don’t spread it.
Save as “[title]_[abbreviated date]_[cutting number].*” Cut.** I can almost guarantee that it will be too long. I’ve done near to 10 interps and almost all of them were from long works like books or plays that I had to substantially cut.
Read through and time it again.
Keep doing that until you’re all done. Honestly, it will probably be the longest part but that’s how you have to do it.
Always read through OUT LOUD for every cutting to make sure it follows a logical flow and has all of the key events.
After it is at the right time, cut 30 sec to a minute (or more if you want to move a lot) to allow for blocking out and an intro
Add the characters and blocking
You now have a 100% original interp that was beautifully done. Congrats!
Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
**This way if you need to add stuff back later, you still have old copies and you can easily do this.
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