What's the Secret to Writing a Great Play?

by Troy M. HughesThe Internet Writing Journal, August 1997

Blanche DuBois says, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers." Linda Loman advises us that "Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person." As readers, theatre patrons, or moviegoers, we all know these lines. They seem so simple, yet their power and relevance have not diminished in hundreds of performances over the many years since Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller penned them. 

Why? What is it that makes a great play great? Characters? Plots? Wisdom? Honesty? 

It is all of these things and, of course, more. But when we sit down with a play in mind, how do we put it to paper effectively? How, when the last page is done, do we know if we have a viable piece of work? While ultimately, this is subjective, there are many ways to approach writing a play which will facilitate finding out whether or not you achieved your goal of writing a great play. 

First of all, as in all things, you must know your medium: the theatre. If you are a constant movie watcher, don't write plays. Even the largest stage cannot accommodate car chases and explosions. 

And, for Heaven's sake, actually go see a play! 

To write truly effective theatre, you must immerse yourself in the medium. Go to your local community theatre and volunteer to work backstage, or even just go to watch some rehearsals. Learn the limitations of space and live action; there are many. Learn that less is often more in the theatre. Learn that Johnny cannot turn into a werewolf in 5 minutes during a play; the make-up people will entertain murderous thoughts towards you, and it is highly unlikely that it can be done that quickly. Learn to give Johnny a good amount of time for his transformation. Use the intermission, or write plenty of good scenes in between. The more you know about theatre before you sit down to write your play, the better equipped you will be to begin. 

In playwriting, less truly is more. Take a look at the Plays section of The Writers Market. A high percentage of the guidelines listed in this useful resource call for plays with only four to six characters: a very small number. Many of the companies buying rights to original plays are ensemble groups with a small core of actors -- and small budgets. 

"Avoid idealizing characters. The ideal person does not exist. Hamlet was a great guy. But let's admit it, the man had a problem making decisions."

You will want to write small, as well. Think in terms of a singular setting. Consider some of the best plays of all time: Death of a Salesman, The Glass Menagerie, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? All of these plays take place in a single setting: one room, or one unchanging collection of rooms. Keep in mind the unities of Time, Place and Action. While theatrical aesthetics may change over time, you will find that people still love a play that begins at the beginning and proceeds in a linear fashion through to the end. Writing multiple scene changes, 10-year gaps in time and action will alienate your audience; they want to get to know and care about your characters. 

Imagine hearing of a friend's crisis when it happens, then hearing only of the aftermath at a much later date. You have been "left hanging", wondering whatever happened. What was the resolution of the tragedy? You move on and later find out the ending. You would have missed primary developmental moments in your friend's life. He/she would be a different person, and you might not feel comfortable with them or, at the least, it would take awhile to catch up on past events. The same thing happens to theatre audiences. You only have a couple of hours. Don't waste them by alienating your audience with flashbacks, large time gaps, and other devices that are better suited to film or novels. 

You now have characters, a setting, and an incredible idea for a plot. How do you start? Where do you start? Successful plays often start in the middle of something. In Tennessee Williams' short play The Lady of Larkspur Lotion we find our protagonist confronted by her landlady on the first page. The landlady is demanding the rent. This is an excellent device for introducing conflict and exposition. In the first moments of this play we learn about the landlady, the protagonist, and their relationship. The bonus is that we are immediately propelled into the action. People have to be interested in what is happening to really hear what you want to say. Get your audience into the action quickly and keep them there. 

Characterization is crucial. Always remember that motivation is the key to strong characterization. Your characters must have a strong want or need that will enable them to take risks to get what they desire. Profile your characters before writing, so that you know them intimately. Avoid "author intrusion": imposing your will as an author on your characters. As a writer, you are in essence creating a life. Just as you would with your own children, you must allow them to be themselves. Always ask yourself, "Would my character really speak or behave that way?" You must not interfere with your characters' pursuit of their goals. 

To test your dialogue, get to know some actors and ask them to read your work aloud. A good actor has a sense of character, and will tell you if what is on the page "feels right". You may not agree, however, the experience definitely will be useful. A play must be heard to really be understood. Hearing your words come to life will tell

you whether or not you achieved what you had in mind. 

In order to develop a character with a mind and a distinctive sense of self, you must know all there is to know about her/him. You must know where the character lives and why. What does he or she do for a living? Is the character educated? Age, religious beliefs, political leanings, and social behavior are all parts of a person. These items may not be revealed in the final work, but a strong character study enables you to create a round and dimensional character. Think of all the influences and experiences in your own life that brought you to where you are today. Every one affected you, and affects you still. This may require a great deal of research. You may need to write a character that is agoraphobic, while you intensely enjoy the outdoors and the company of others. You cannot be every character you write. While I believe that a piece of us resides in every character we develop, we are not effective if we write ourselves. 

Avoid idealizing characters. The ideal person does not exist. Hamlet was a great guy. But let's admit it, the man had a problem making decisions. Othello trusted the wrong man; he had bad judgment. Don't be afraid of giving your characters a flaw, or even two. After all, nobody is perfect. 

In my estimation, a good play says something to humanity about humanity. Family, love, death: these are things we all deal with and with which we identify. The pyrotechnics and helicopters of the large-scale musical theatre production have their place and are entertaining, but I still believe in the essential human desire to be touched and moved to catharsis. Read the play Night Mother, by Marsha Norman. It is a play with no intermission which takes us through a mother's struggle to convince her daughter not to commit suicide. It is cathartic in performance. People don't necessarily need to leave the theatre happy to have enjoyed the performance. 

Finally, never forget the effectiveness of action. Think of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker, the story of Helen Keller. There is a very long non-verbal scene in Act II that is well-worth reviewing. Non-verbal action can reveal much about a character, as well as be intriguing to an audience. Look for it in plays you see, and use it in your writing. 

As you know by now, writing is not easy. It can be a painful and trying experience, to say the least. But if you have the desire to be heard and a need to convey your vision, you will be successful. Remember to know your medium. Strive to write efficiently and from the heart. If a director can visualize your story and an actor wants to play the role, you will have an excellent chance of getting your play produced.

5 Scriptwriting Tips That Will Make Any Story Better

Whether it’s a work of fiction, a poem, or the narrative of a soul, good writing pulls

the reader into the reality of its words and imprints an experience in the mind’s eye

as real as any staged play.

After 30 years of scriptwriting, I’ve found a handful of  techniques that can help tell

any story.

Establish and maintain a clear voice

In a well-written play, each character has his own speech patterns.  Some ramble;

some utter grunts. Some use flowery language; others are coarse. If they all sound

alike, none feel genuine, and the audience senses a disconnect.

Likewise, our voice — our character, if you will — should not sound like everyone

else. We may admire the way another person writes, but if we emulate too closely,

we rob readers of diversity and run the risk of presenting only a stale copy.

If we are writing a work that requires more than one voice, we should be careful that

no given speaker flips back and forth between sounding like Dr. Spock and Anne of

Green Gables. That gets very distracting. Each voice should be distinct and

consistent to ensure fluidity and credibility.

This is not to say that a writer cannot be poetic and verbose in one essay, and

practical and concise in another. But within a given text or persona, we need tomake

the voice clear.

Speak in vernacular

Characters on a stage need to convey their personalities through the way they

speak, and the more natural the speech is, the more accessible the character. That

is partly why plays are not written to sound like chemistry text books.

Depending on the venue, grammar rules can and ought to be flexible. Avoiding split

infinitives, for instance, is a rule left over from Latin where infinitives are one word,

not two. Is it really going to thoroughly unravel the message if I say I need to quickly

run to the store for more eggs? Of course not. And half of you probably didn’t catch

the “mistake” anyway. 

In casual writing, following stuffy, prescriptive rules, with all those “to whoms” and

“with whiches” feels like legalese, not a blog post from a friend.

Intentional disregard for a rule can create a timing or mood effect that enhances the

writing. Conscious use of fragments, for example, can direct pacing or add

emphasis. And it’s how people talk. (Anyone who has ever had to transcribe candid

speech can tell you that. Some sentences contain more switchbacks and drop-offs

than a hike in the Gorge.)

A word of caution: “natural” is not the same thing as “sloppy.”

It is a mistake to think that grammatical conventions are unimportant. They provide

clarity. A communication world without proper punctuation gets messy and confused

very quickly. (You’ve all seen the “Let’s eat Grandma!” vs. “Let’s eat, Grandma!”

example, right?)

Thus we need to know the rules of grammar well enough to know when and how we

can break them.

Give stage directions

In a script, there are often cues given to the actors as to how they should say their

line:

[Sadly], [Hesitating], [While toppling off the desk].

Sometimes we need to tell our readers how to “hear” the lines we are delivering. In

casual writing, this usually involves things like bolds, italics, CAPS — em dashes —

or ellipses…

These tools, like the tweaks in grammar, aid in a sense of timing or emphasis, which

in turn help convey the intended mood.

That said, we can overuse these tools easily. We should write the first draft without

all the doodads, and then read it aloud to find out where the natural words of

emphasis are.

Are they obvious? Or could someone logically punch up a different word, and

thereby change the meaning? If so, add the cue.

But if it is 99% likely that the average reader will interpret the sentence the same way

you do, then leave out the markers. It gets too visually busy and pulls away from the

import of the words that do receive special font treatment.

Show, don’t tell

Although it is occasionally necessary to have a Narrator explain exposition in a play,

that’s usually deemed a cop-out for a script writer. Audiences should ideally be able

to pick up on the context from the dialog and action.

A well-placed line can give attentive listeners information about the past and clues

about the future. Likewise, we don’t need to say, “This is a story about a youth

coming of age blah blah blah…”

We need to paint the story of growth and self-realization through the events and

images in our writing. Our readers are smart enough. They’ll figure it out.

We can get our message across without stating and restating the obvious.

Leave ‘em hanging

No playwright wants that 15-minute intermission to turn into an opportunity to slip out

the back door.

Well-crafted scripts make sure that questions are left unanswered and conflicts left

unresolved at the end of each act so that the audience will keep coming back for

more.

When writing, we need to be aware of the adrenaline levels of our readers. Are they

up? Are they metaphorically on the edge of their seats, wanting more? Good. Time

to end the chapter.

Because then they have to start the next one… just to see what happens next, of

course. And then they’re hooked for the next umpteen pages because no one wants

to put the book down in the middle of a chapter. It isn’t right.

Every writer wants to hear,

It was a page-turner.  I couldn’t put it down!

So don’t let them put it down. Except sometimes you really ought to. One can have

too much of a good thing. There are times when you should grant a degree of

resolution, a glimmer of understanding, a moment of rest.

But always with the feeling that there is more to come. Even when there isn’t.

Tips on Writing a Good Script

Writing a Script for a Movie

Have you ever gone to a movie that had famous actors and a great director, but the movie was not good? Many believe the magic is in the script. If the characters aren’t developed well, if the story lags or doesn’t keep your interest, then million dollar stars can’t make it work.

Following are some points to ponder when preparing to write a script.

You need to watch movies, especially the classics. They are called classics for a reason, and they will thrill and inspire.

Keep the main plot simple. If there is too much going on, the general population won’t get it. Think accessibility, not complexity.

Have a strong start; to capture and hold the audience’s attention. The structure is usually beginning, middle, and end, but that doesn’t mean they

have to be revealed in that order. Flash backs and flash forwards can help to keep the audience engaged.

Make sure you have an overall goal or point to your story. There needs to be a reason for telling the story.

A movie should last at least 90 minutes. As a rule of thumb, a page of script equals one minute on the screen. It has to be very good to be longer. The reason for this is that if it is over 100 minutes, the theatres lose one showing of it every day.

Use must have a protagonist, a main character. It can be one or more people, a thing, or a place. He does not always have to be extremely likeable, but he does have to be interesting. In fact, character flaws can add a touch more reality and make audiences empathize.

A workable premise is important. Even if the whole idea is unbelievable, there are parts of the movie that will be logical and believable. With all the talking cars and toys of late, you can see this point. Toys don’t talk or move by themselves, but in these movies they behaved in a human way, which made the audience accept them and the premise.

Be true to yourself and don’t just mimic others. If you do something that has never been done, then that could really make your screenplay stand out.

Like so many other things, you need a talent for screenwriting and also lots of practice. Any aptitude will need refining and skills need to be strengthened. Keep at it and you may surprise yourself.

Writing a Script for a Play

Many of the same premises of writing a movie also exist when writing a play. The three big differences are:

A play is about desire, and we see the characters sometimes fail and sometimes succeed.

In a play, the story has to be visual as well as auditory. A lot can be said from the action on stage.  

The relationships between characters are critical to a play’s success. There are no car chases and special effects, so the people are what it is all about. If you, as the writer, care about the characters, then the audience will also care. Only have as many characters as you really need.

Remember that you are writing for a small stage, not a big screen. That is another reason why the development of the characters is so important. Also, do not have a lot of scene changes or jump around in time too much. Many great plays had only a few rooms on stage. If there are too many scenes and gaps in time, you may lose the attention of the audience.   

Writing a Script for Television

In addition to the tips on writing a good script mentioned earlier, here are some tips on writing a television show.

Watch a lot of different shows, especially award winning shows. Pay attention to your reactions, what you liked and didn’t like, and what happened right before a commercial. Get a script online and follow along, noticing how the script translates to the screen.

When you decide what kind of show you want to write, research it. If you want to write shows about the police, then study police procedures. Watch shows in the same genre and figure out a way for yours to be different. 

Outline the plot. Then outline the story and write down the basic action. Next, figure out where the commercial breaks will be and make sure you leave the audience wanting to keep watching.

Develop your characters as this is crucial to a good show. You will need main characters that are there most of the time and supporting characters that show up occasionally. Develop backgrounds for each character and keep track of mannerisms and catch phrases for each.

Write on a schedule. Most writers will write most days. If you get writer’s block, then go to another scene and come back to it later.  

You need to revise, revise, and revise. This is key to improving your show. Rewrite and proofread, making sure every word counts. You may want to join a writer’s group that proofreads and critiques each other’s' work.