#acting exercises

They are both gorgeous but they also each have something that goes beyond beauty. They are each different and special in their own way. Cryptic is where I’ll stay because some things just can’t be shared in this fandom.

As for advice, greet them with appreciation, actors love the energy they receive from fans/admirers. Be grounded and appreciative. Share why they move you and how they inspire you. Ask them deep questions without invading their personal life. Stick to their performances and potential casting possibilities, stick to storytelling and catharsis through the arts. Help them expand their Universes. Be yourself and be vulnerable and most of all, have fun. Be lighthearted because this world needs more light!

Since that halfwit Danneel declared Ivana Chubbuck dead on the Drama Queens Podcast, I thought I might empower you with an exercise on how to create emotional chemistry. Go back to your childhood, visualize and viscerally relive the first moment you felt alone, heartbroken and powerless, then, if you can from a distance that’s fine, if not just close your eyes and imagine looking into the actor’s eyes and see that same pain experienced by them, they understand you because they’ve lived that same heartbreak, thank them in your mind for being a friend and for understanding, hug them in your mind while feeling that commonality of pain, then let go of everything you are feeling, let go and focus back on your experience, be it on set, stage, convention etc. Let me know how they respond! It’s magic, I know! Have fun! 😘

Here’s the exercise from the book Danneel claimed to have read but is clearly clueless about.

Felicity is portrayed as an awkward person....a nerd....someone who struggles with fashion (I noticed that there were some changes in season 2) but still manages to carry herself decently. What I’ve been noticing (I know it’s the writing as well)....was despite the awkward moments (I’m foggy on which one to mention)....she is a great conversationalist (and probably has no idea how good she is).

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(Hopefully by this point you’ve finished all 4 Seasons of ‘Felicity’, the kind of person who isn’t bothered by spoilers, or are just deciding if you still want to keep watching.)

I freaking LOVED writing this and I am so glad you beta'ed for me on this with all your biker knowledge.

Secret about this one.. hmm... okay, so, this whole story came from me brianstorming while I was putting my littlest to bed, one night.

I do this thing. It's kind of an acting exercise thing. It may be crazy but it's how I start..pretty much anything. I start by improvising a monologue. Sometimes I say it out loud, sometimes it's in my head. From there I figure out the before and after of whatever character is meant to say said monologue and such.

So, my little was having a particularly hard time falling asleep so I was stuck in her room for a while. I started this monologue about a single mom putting her baby to sleep while her new biker boyfriend watches in loving awe. She then reveals why shes a single mom: her husband was killed in a car accident. She tells him how it happened, how she felt about it and how guilty she feels for dating again.

So, I monologue this thing out and thought to myself "This is so sad. I must write it!"

If you watch any of the manifold streams of D&D and other role playing games, it may seem pretty easy to get into character.

They just do it and it looks so easy.

But as you play you find it’s a bit harder than it seems: scenes rarely play out as cinematically as they do in the podcasts, opportunities to roleplay come so suddenly and go so fast, the scenarios you find your character in are rarely the shining moments of triumph you expected, etc…

Let’s face it, getting into character can be tough, especially if you’re new to the genre. Video games and books provide you with characters with well defined personalities, often developed by an entire writing team. In comparison, most roleplay feels a little … flat. 

And that’s OK! It takes years to become good at roleplaying and improv and even veterans need practice sometimes.

One of the best ways to “warm up” is to try to get into character: imagine how your character would act in a variety of situations to get a good feel for their personality. That way, whenever an unexpected situation crops up during the session, you already know, intuitively, how your character would act.

Ask yourself the following questions:

A day in the life.

Your character is at an inn, waiting for someone: what do they do while they wait?

Your character is running an errand, it was supposed to take 20 minutes, but they’ve been in line for an hour now. Someone cuts in front of them in line. How do they react?

When arriving at the front of the line, the clerk is extremely bureaucratic and dispassionately informs your character that the paperwork has been filled out wrong and she will not be able to help. How does your character react?

Your character just failed a task given them by a friend or relative. You know the task was important to them: how does your character handle the failure? How do they break the news to their friends/relatives/lovers etc…?

  Your character has fallen gravely ill and is bed-ridden for weeks.

What do they do during this time? Visitors are scarce, how do they handle the long, lonely hours? Who comes to visit them the most?

How do they handle facing their own mortality, knowing that each day may be their last and they may die in bed?

  Your character comes into an enormous fortune that cannot be spent on magic items, potions, scrolls, or equipment.

What do they buy? Do they spend like there’s no tomorrow?

Do they try to start a business or invest the money? Do they write a will?

Are they ‘showy’ with their money? Are they generous or miserly?

  Your character is lost in the wilderness for weeks.

Suddenly they come upon a stranger only to discover that stranger is also lost and has no meaningful survival skills; they may even be a liability.

Does your character stick it out with the lost-soul? Do they try to rob them? Do they try strike out on their own to increase their chances of survival?

After some time with this lost-soul, your character begins to suspect that they are hiding a secret and that they came out into the wilderness with a purpose. How does your character react to their intuition? Do they interrogate the lost-soul? Do they mind their own business?

  What is your character’s biggest blind-spot?

All people have flaws that they cannot or choose not to perceive, what is your character’s biggest personality flaw? Can you think of two example scenarios that display this flaw?

What is the one thing your character desires most in the world: is it love, friends, money, redemption, power, or revenge?

At what point would they be willing to sacrifice their friends to get it? At what point would they be willing to sacrifice their money, love, power, or chance at redemption to gain the object of their desire?

    For additional warm-up exercises try to place your character into real life situations of disappointment, frustration, or awkwardness. How a person reacts to these situations speaks volumes about their general personality and will help you to get a holistic view of your character.

The better you know how your character reacts in these circumstances, the easier it will be for you roleplay them in the impromptu flow of the game session.

    0If you enjoyed this article, you may also like 5 D&D Character Ideas and the Paragon of Luck [D&D 5e Build].

I’d love to! Did you experiment with the one I shared recently? If so, please feel free to share any results you may have had.

Here’s another one:

Substitution is an acting technique, often associated with Method Acting, where an actor uses their own real-life experiences and emotions to inform and deepen their portrayal of a character’s emotional life. It helps actors make a scene feel more personal and truthful.

At its core, substitution means replacing the fictional circumstances of the character with a real event or person from your own life that evokes a similar emotional response. You're not pretending — you're remembering and re-experiencing something meaningful to bring authenticity to your performance.

Example:

Let’s say your character is grieving the death of a parent. If you've never lost a parent, but you’ve lost a beloved pet or experienced a painful breakup, you might substitute that experience to access genuine sadness or grief.

Fictional situation: Your character’s mother just died.

Real-life substitution: You remember the day you lost your childhood dog.

Result: The emotion you felt in your own life colors your performance, making it more real and immediate.

How to Practice Substitution:

Script analysis: Understand what the scene is about emotionally — what the character wants, feels, and fears.

Identify a similar real life emotion: Find an experience from your life that evokes a similar emotional response.

Make it specific: Recall concrete details — smells, sounds, faces, places. The more specific, the more powerful.

Use It in rehearsal: Bring that emotion into your performance — not by forcing it, but by letting it influence your internal life.

Stay grounded in the Scene: Don’t let the memory overpower the story. The goal is to channel, not relive.

Cautions:

Not all memories are safe to revisit. Use substitution carefully and with awareness. I’m serious, I’ve seen actors retraumatize themselves by using their past trauma.

Some actors find it effective; others prefer different techniques like imagination or physicality.

Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler had differing opinions on substitution. Strasberg emphasized it as central to Method Acting, while Adler believed the imagination was more powerful than personal memory.