Playwriting Tips
Writing a good play can be a challenge. Here
are a few tips to help you with making your play good or better.
1) Start by reading and watching quality scripts and
plays. Published plays have been through the whole process of
writing, re-writing and editing. At least in theory, they have
worked out most of the bugs toward having a quality script (some published
scripts, admittedly, fall short). Reading acting editions of
published scripts can help a lot. You can find scripts at most
college and public libraries. Every branch of the St. Louis County
Library has a "Play File"...a large file cabinet full of acting
editions of published plays. Watching plays also helps (although you
aren't given the opportunity to see the written stage directions) in
creating good plays too.
2) Transcribing everyday conversations doesn't
typically make good drama. In real life, we use extra words,
sentences and paragraphs that don't really contribute to the
conversation. Pay attention next time you are talking with your
family around the dinner table...a five minute conversation may include 10
or 15 different topics...plays must be more "economical" with
their words.
3) Every character must NEED something. More
exactly, every character must NEED TO DO something. Once you've
decided what the character's OBJECTIVE is, make sure everything they do or
say is a TACTIC to achieve that objective. Furthermore, in addition
to each character's overall objective for the play. if they are in
multiple scenes, they also have an objective for each scene.
Finally, each character should have another character whose objective is
in DIRECT CONFLICT with theirs. For instance, the two characters in
one scene are Sam and Alex. Sam needs to leave the room. Alex
needs Sam to stay in the room. Notice that at least one character
will NOT achieve their objective...one will succeed, one will fail.
4) Remember that the action of the play should be shown,
not told. In other words, avoid the use of a narrator at ALL
costs. "But what about Our Town? Very successful
play, and it has a narrator." My response: learn why the rules
exist before you try to break them. By using action and dialogue to
show the action (even the PRIOR ACTION) it makes the action MUCH more
interesting to the audience.
5) One technical rule: In your stage
directions, refer to parts of the location rather than parts of the
stage. In other words, rather than saying "GEORGE moves to the
right door," say "GEORGE moves to the front door."
Why? Not every director will put the front door, fireplace, kitchen
table or couch in the same locations. Using left and right in
your directions will be confusing especially in productions that, for
whatever reason, don't use the same floor plan that you envision.
6) Don't expect your first draft to be your final
draft.
a) Have a group (preferably
people who haven't read your script before) read your script out
loud...things that don't read the way you hoped will start jumping off the
page.
b) Double and triple check for
spelling and grammatical errors. Grammatical errors that are a
result of how the character speaks are okay as long as they are
consistent. Stage directions should always use proper grammar.
c) Even professional playwrights,
go through several re-writes before they even submit the play to a
publisher.
d) If time allows, try putting
the script away for a week or two and then read it again...some mistakes
will become obvious to you when you pick it back up.
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