How to Write

So you want to write a play. Depending on whether you have or have not ever written one or taken lessons about writing one before will affect your understanding of the importance of plotting, character development and readability in a play script. The fact is, they are very important.

Playwriting itself is a form of creative writing, so all elements of it will be necessary to incorporate, including plot elements, settings, characters and such. Aside from that, a play script is definitely intended to be read by more than just one people. It is important that you get your intended idea across efficiently, by ensuring readability and absence of vagueness.

You also need to make sure that your play is not too demanding in the term of props and special effects. Make certain of the limitations of a theater stage, and if applicable, adapt your script to financial limitations. A useful trick is to not include any special effects or props in your mind when writing the play.

Determine also the allotted duration of your play, it will be easier to estimate durations even down to the level of dialogues as you gain experience and write more plays. If you’re new to the trade, though, a good and easy way is to calculate durations per scene, then adding them up.

First things first, then, let us consult the general techniques and guidelines of creating a plot. Basically in every story there is a general pattern: the introduction of settings, situations and characters, which leads to conflict escalation, then consequently the climax, and finally the resolution. Fail to conform to these basic order, and you will find your story severely vague, with a plot that will be too hard to understand by other people, filled with the so-called “plotholes”.

A thing as important as the plot is, of course, the characters, and their development. At the beginning of this stage, when you are giving traits and roles for your character, keep the word “diversity” in mind. Give different virtues and vices for each character, depending on their ultimate role FOR the story (distinguish this from their role IN the story, e.g. a governor/leader does not always have to be wise and charismatic. A role FOR the story relates to how a character contributes into developing the plot).

Never make a perfectly good or perfectly evil character. It’s not plausible and it’s, well, boring. Your protagonists should have “character flaws”, that is, a certain bad trait that they have, such as stupidity, lack of trust, antisocialness, etc, and your antagonists, in contrast, should have a “redeeming factor”, a positive virtue that is distinguishable but just not enough to cover their general evil.

In inserting your characters into the plot, watch for their dialogues. Always have dialogues progress the plot or develop your characters. Use small talks only to make the scene realistic. Also, since a play is a visual form of art, do not use dialogues when action can explain your character’s ideas or reactions. In this case dialogues are useful for representing scenes that would otherwise require costly or even impossible special effects and props to show effectively.
Next, as you compose your play, comes the formatting. There is actually no confirmed standard format for a script, but for common sense and readability’s sake, use font size 12 for the minimum size of your text. Use general, readable fonts, and to make it easier for actors to distinguish their dialogues, write dialogues with the character’s name in capitals and on top of the dialogue, like this:

ANNE
I am hungry

Only the general tips and guidelines are explained here, and it’s very advisable that you attend lessons to hone your playwriting skills, but this should help you start up and get a good sense in your playwriting.

Popularity: 10% [?]