M7B: How to Write a Play?

• Drama


  Greek origin meaning "to do" or "to act"
• All drama springs from life: people - problems - particular time & place
• Writing a play

  An art as well as a craft
• Aristotle's "Parts of a Play"

  • Theme
  • Plot
  • Characters
  • Music
  • Dialogue
  • Spectacle
• Theme

  The central idea that emerges from the dramatic action of the play (not a message or statement imposed by the playwright)
• Plot


  The arrangement (structure) of the incidents in a story
• Elements of Plot

  • Point of attack
  • Exposition
  • Preparation
  • Conflict
  • Complications
  • Crisis
  • Dramatic question or problem
  • Climax
  • Resolution
• Central characters


  Characters around whom the dramatic action revolves or who have the dominant objective in the play
• Opposing characters


  Characters who provide the basic obstacles by blocking the central character's objective
• Contributing characters


  Characters who line up with other characters
• Dialogue


  What the character says and how they say it (street language, poetry, slang)
• Spectacle


  The embellishments of a play (scenery, costumes, lighting, movement, gestures)
• Aristotle's two major production styles


  • Stage as a picture (realistic illusion of life)
  • Stage as a platform (presents life on stage, no pretense of realism)
• Types of plays

  • Tragedy
  • Drama
  • Melodrama
  • Comedy (high, serious, satire, farce, situation, low)
  • Fantasy
  • Allegory
• One-act play


  One sitting - one setting - one sighting, should impress one basic idea/theme, have one dramatic action, few characters, no long speeches, one set
• Show vs tell

  A play shows what is actually taking place, a story tells what took place
• Dramatic clock


  The built-in urgency on stage that helps coalesce conflict, crisis, and suspense to heighten the emotional response
• Past vs present tense

  The action of the play takes place in a "perpetual present time"
• Unity of action, time and place


  The incidents of the play occur in a unifying way that will make sense to the audience
• Getting ideas for a play

  From personal experience and imagined experience
• Common mistakes when writing a play

  • Overloading the plot with incidents
  • Using a narrator or central character to tell events instead of dramatizing them
  • Cramming an idea down the audience's throat
• Tips and tricks for writing a play

  • Keep a journal for ideas and notes
  • Write a bunch at one time
  • Nothing is truly original, don't stress about copying or following another plot
  • Plot out first, then write dialogue
  • Voice it for particular people