PLAYWRITING TIPS
Getting Started: Be Specific
- Write about what interests you
- Write about what you know
- Have a reason for writing the play - something you want to say, think about or explore
Four Simple Steps
1. Decide what your play will be about.
2. Make an outline of the action.
3. Write short descriptions of your characters.
4. Think up a great ending - know where you're going.
Four Ways to Get Started
1. Start from a single great line.
2. Start from imagining a specific setting at a specific time.
3. Start from a particular relationship between characters.
4. Find inspiration in literature, stories of your friends, your own life, a song, a problem, something you read about in the newspaper.
Eight Things to Remember
1. Character speech should be interesting, not everyday ordinary speech. Make sure each character has a distinct voice - you should be able to "hear" each character.
2. Your characters all need interesting actions: plays are about action, not just people standing around talking.
3. There must be growth in your characters over the course of the play: what have they learned, how have they changed, how has the plot affected them?
4. Your play needs a conflict: is there a compelling problem?
5. Every single scene should add new information about the plot or characters, and each scene should build on the one that came before.
6. Keep ahead of the reader. Don't let them figure out your ending before you get there.
7. If the reader/audience can see it, don't say it.
8. Never use a stage direction when you should have a scene - your story needs to be told through the events and actions of the scenes.
A Note on Stage Directions:
Stage directions describe important actions, such as the actor spills coffee when he's about to lie. They don't tell the story - and they're not used for background info. Your story must be told through the events and actions of the scene. Be careful not to use a stage direction when you need a scene.
Save stage directions for changes of scene, entrances and exits, and to explain things that you see on stage during the real play that the reader wouldn't know from the dialogue, such as "she does a cartwheel."
Opening stage directions are placed in parentheses and come at the beginning of an act or new scene. They are used to “set the stage” by telling the director/actors the time of day, place, and general appearance of the setting :
(A living room. One door leading off to the kitchen, one staircase leading up to the second floor upstage left. Evening. Del is seated on the couch. John comes downstairs dressed in his pajamas.)
(Late morning Friday. The room is decorator "done" with cozy, comfy, but expensive chintz couches, chairs, and window treatments. There is a dining room upstage right and a staircase upstage left leading to the bedrooms. Tess, seventeen, in blue jeans and a flannel shirt, is listening to Sara's collegiate all-women's singing group doing an acappella version of "Shine On Harvest Moon." She speaks into a tape recorder.)
Character Stage Directions are placed in parentheses directly under the Character NAME or between the lines of dialogue of a single speech. Most playwrights use this kind of s.d. sparingly. If you're averaging more than one per page, you're probably cluttering up the dialogue with unnecessary noise.
Here's what they're good for . . .
•Physical action to be done as the line is being spoken:
(Filling the glass)
•Action implying the equivalent of a (Pause):
(Shaking her head)
•Tone of voice or emotional quality of the line:
(Distraught)
•Clarifying who the line is said to when more than two characters are on stage:
(To Joan)
Play Ideas
All in the Demographics: by Jay Rehak An unmarried Presidential candidate, told by his handlers that it would be in his political interest if he were married, is given the quick option of two politically correct fiancés.
Marinated Steaks and Socks: by Jay Rehak A husband and wife who cannot seem to communicate with each other, visit a marriage counselor with mixed results.
Once Upon an F'ing Island: by Jay Rehak Two people, married, but not to each other, stranded on a deserted island, must decide what to do now that it appears they will not be rescued.
Incident at Intake: by Lewis Gardner Social worker Wilma interviews a burnout addict, Rossetti, who long ago was a boyfriend of hers. He treated her badly and now he doesn't even recognize her. Instead of helping him, she drags him further into despair and breakdown. At the last minute she relents and pulls strings to get him into a rehab program.
Santa Tells a Story: by Tami Canaday This comedy involves a garrulous, repetitive Santa Claus and a hapless man, Rob, who becomes Santa's captive audience. The piece is set in a Laundromat, but for poor Rob, it might as well be Hell.
Such Good Neighbors by Susan Middaugh A noisy argument next door keeps Mavis and Walter awake. It also leads to an unexpected revelation.
Batteries by Donald Dewey A black comedy about the unpredictable impulses that draw people together and drive them apart while traveling on the subway through the caverns of New York City.
No Title Yet by Adam Harrell Holden is a playwright with a case of writer's block. Matt attempts to help him, but it is soon discovered that their collaboration exists only to break down.
God Dog by Ed Vela J. Paxton Cass is a failed screenwriter wishing to end it all by diving off the roof of his high rise, suburban Los Angeles apartment building. Looking over the edge while writing a last missive, full of desperation and self pity, he is beset by Roscoe, a talking dog who thinks he’s full of something else, and Nigel, a kid from the apartment building who happens to be the biggest fan of the screenplays that Cass keeps throwing away.
Big Wow by Dan Roth A father and his fourteen year old son are forced to confront and deal with life and their own relationship after they survive a major earthquake.
Waiting for the Delivery by Jay Rehak Seemingly oblivious to a war that rages around them, two men anxiously await a one hour, money back guaranteed pizza delivery.
'Til Death Do Us Part by Jay Rehak A dying husband offers his young wife 3 strange pieces of "critical" information.
Naughty Cats by Polychronis Koutsakis A lost cat provokes an interesting conversation between a man and a woman.
Beach Party Redux by Christine Emmert Three friends meet several years after a blowout party in the Hampton's. As they talk they find that they are just now learning what really happened that night that led them on their paths in life. Why they are here to celebrate the reunion, and no other members of the party came.
Out of the Mouths by Pamela Reeves Neurotic suburban housewife Monica and her adventurous sister Liz never did have much in common, and the death of their mother is doing nothing to change that.
Speed Mates by Erin Marie Chancer Lloyd decides to try speed dating in a desperate attempt to find his soul mate. Mayhem ensues.
He Shoots... He Scores by Dan Roth This sensitive, powerful drama brings together two strangers, from diverse backgrounds, at a high school basketball game,where one seeks redemption from the other.
Kodak Moments by Adam Harrell An estranged son attempts to connect with his father, whose idea of therapy is taking him out to a strip bar.