#playwriting

[ancientsstudies]

[s-soulwriter]

How do we write characters authentically?

Hello, my dear writer! I assume we've all wondered at the beginning of our writing journey, "How do I find my own writing style? How do I stand out, and how do I make my characters sound authentic?" This post is dedicated precisely to the latter question. How do we write characters authentically?

Observe Different Personalities: Observe people of different age groups, from various cultural backgrounds, and with diverse life experiences. Pay attention to their language, gestures, and behaviors to develop a broad understanding of human diversity.

Take Time for Character Development: Invest time in developing your characters, including their background, motivations, goals, strengths, and weaknesses. The better you know your characters, the more authentically you can portray them.

Utilize Realistic Settings: Place your characters in realistic environments and situations that are recognizable to your readers. Describe the details of their surroundings, such as landscapes, buildings, clothing, and everyday items, to create a vibrant backdrop for your story.

Be Open to Change and Development: Allow your characters room for growth and change. People evolve over time based on their experiences and decisions. Permit your characters to learn from their mistakes, gain new insights, and undergo development.

Everyday SituationsAn additional tip is to place your character in various small situations, even if they are a fantasy figure. For instance, have your character order coffee. What happens if they encounter a ghost? What are their feelings about Christmas? Accompany them while shopping. How do they react when meeting their greatest hero? Describe everyday scenarios that aren't part of your official story but are meant for you to better understand your character.

[jacobtheloofah]

im doing normal and acceptable things in the world of playwriting. also im responding very well to reading "house of leaves" thanks very much why do you ask.

[soniaknox]

The Power of Silence in A Story

Harold Pinter believed that what isn't said in a play can be more important than what is said. He thought that when characters face intense emotions or experiences, they often struggle to express them, or choose to stay silent. This creates mystery, tension, and deeper meaning. Pinter’s famous use of pauses and silences lets the audience read between the lines, making the unspoken just as powerful as the dialogue itself.

[earlisgrey]

hey! i'm working on a play, and i'm trying to figure out how to start, like, officially writing it in a script format. any advice?

[davidhudson]

Tennessee Williams, March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983.

[typewriter-worries]

Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett

[dionysiaproductions]

Being a writer is so embarrassing. I'm going to a live production of a play I wrote (very cool) but I will spontaneously combust if anyone talks to me (ahhhhhh!)

Like they should invent a being known that doesn't make you feel so terribly vulnerable :/

[pyrotechnicarus]

What program do you write your scripts in?

Google Docs, haha. It's definitely not the preferred or industry-standard way of doing it; it gives older writers at my program hives when I drop a Docs link in the homework folder. But I was raised on it and it's a great collaboration tool, so I haven't made the switch yet (and maybe never will? Actually probably will once Google inevitably starts charging money for it. But not quite yet!).

Through my school I have a free Final Draft license, so I use that for screenwriting (which has a lot more pesky formatting rules and things), but I'm not planning on buying it once my license expires because A. I don't write films that much and B. I can probably hard-code it into Google Docs for free.

If you're insane like I am and wanna use Google Docs for scriptwriting, here's some formatting tips under the cut:

We're gonna be using a page of the Ghost Story script to demonstrate!

I use Times New Roman because Deborah Brevoort recommended it as a more readable (and slightly more condensed) font than Courier. Your font should adapt to your style; I tend to write short, snappy lines with a lot of back-and-forth, so I use Times which is a common font style for comedy writers (despite not writing comedies.) If you write a lot of long monologues, Courier New might give you a better sense of how your script flows on the page. Basically, you want to space your writing so it comes out to 1 minute of performance time = 1 page of writing.

Scene headings are centered and in bold.

Stage directions that start a scene are left-aligned and in italics; in NAMT-standard style, these are center-margin aligned, like this:

But it's kind of your personal preference.

4. All names are centered and underlined

5. Any stage directions that take place during a scene and cue a line of dialogue are centered, in italics, and in parenthesis. If they can start eating whenever while they're talking, I'd put They start eating left-aligned between two lines of dialogue. However, it is important to me that Hao and Józef start eating before Hao says his next line, so I put it center-aligned.

6. When you get to a song it looks like this:

Basically, songs should be numbered and come after a stage direction (even something basic, like "He stands up.") The enter after the stage directions isn't kosher, it's a Google Docs thing I'll get into later. Then you close the parenthesis on the stage direction and put a page break. Songs should always start on a new page. This is because when you integrate the book and score, you can just take those lyric sheets out and put sheets of music in. Nifty!

7. Lyrics are always capitalized. When two people sing the same thing at the same time, you can put both their names over it:

But if they're singing something different, I usually put it in two columns (there is some debate among musical theater writers on what the proper notation for this kind of thing is. But columns are easy on Google Docs, so I use those. When I have four or more people singing different things on top of one another, I use a 1x4 table and make the lines between the cells invisible, haha.)

Google Docs Specific Formatting Stuff

Ok, so, if you're lazy like me and don't want to be hitting 800 buttons while you're writing to format everything correctly (and please, god, format while you're writing -- going back and doing it later sucks) you can use the Google Docs headings to format your writing! And it will even make a nice little outline for you!

So, the default of these settings (on the left) is useless and ugly. But mine looks like this (on the right!)

If you want yours to look beautiful and be useful like mine, you can format some kind of text the way you want it to (for example, I want all my names in 12 pt Times New Roman, centered and underlined.)

Then I go to some random heading and I hit "Update heading to match"

Now, anytime I type a name, I can go back to this menu and hit "Apply Heading 5"... and it will automatically make it centered, underlined, and 12 pt Times New Roman! I make one of these for all my categories of text: stage directions, song titles, scene headers, etc.

But, ok, you still have to open all those menus while you're writing. Well! See this thing?

All of these have keyboard shortcuts (the Windows ones will show up on a Windows computer). You can really easily hit them after each name/stage direction you type instead of fiddling around with font settings. You're a formatting machine!

And here's the bonus: If you do all this correctly, you can get a really nice outline like this one embedded in your document on the left (this is where the song titles on a new line come in; I make a heading style for them so they show up on the outline, but headings only show the start of the phrase that they are part of in the outline. Ignore the numbers being wrong, lol. There's a secret song 3 that we haven't released yet.)

And it's clickable, too-- like I can jump right to Your Face from the outline without having to scroll down 20 pages.

Is this all needlessly complicated and doing manually something Final Draft will do for you? Yes. But I'm set in my ways, and it's free, so maybe it'll be helpful to another Musical Theater writer out there working with someone else on Google Docs.

That's it! Thanks for the question.

[nrivanwrites]

the kassandriad ; staged production

A non-chronological retelling of the Trojan War, from the perspective of Kassandra. A young woman who was cursed with foresight by Apollo, Kassandra struggles with navigating a world that was built to subdue her. Performed in Knox College Studio Theatre on Oct. 28th, 2023.

My script got a completely staged production this October! Holy shit! You can watch some incredibly talented actors tell the story of Kassandra. Please please please tell me what you think <3

[writer-actor-ranter]

Wanna live up to þe first part of my name and actually talk ab my playwriting

First of all, I won a one-act contest and just went þrough a weeklong workshop so whoop whoop. I also met some cool new fellow playwrights so an all around awesome experience.

But I have þis idea for a play and want to see what people þink so here is me running it by people

CW: SA & rape mentions

Basically, I got frustrated wiþ how Calypso is always portrayed as a sympaþetic, good character, raþer þan as þe rapist þat she is (text bc I don’t want to argue: “he [Odysseus] was forced to sleep with her [Calypso] in the cave by night, it was she, not he, that would have it so. As for the day time, he spent it on the rocks and on the sea shore, weeping, crying aloud for his despair (book 5)).

So I want to explore Odysseus’ trauma. So þe play would follow Odysseus after þe end of þe Odyssey, as his relationship wiþ his wife and son suffer sue to his trauma from Calypso and þe war, respectively. Þe Act I closer (if I make it a full-lengþ) would be þe arrival of Telegonus, son of Odysseus by Calypso.

What do we þink, chat

[quidam-sirenae]

What if we unpacked how Achilles first reaction to Patroclus’ death was to try to kill himself

[s-soulwriter]

Keep Writing

Hey fellow writers! 📝✨

Just a little reminder that it's totally okay to feel like your work isn't hitting the mark sometimes. We all have those moments where we question our writing skills and doubt our creations. But guess what? That's part of the journey!

Writing is a process of growth and self-discovery. Your "imperfect" work is just a stepping stone towards improvement. Embrace the messiness, the flaws, and the awkward sentences. They're all crucial parts of your unique writing journey.

Remember, every renowned author started somewhere, and the beauty of your craft lies in its evolution.

Your words have power, even on the days when they feel shaky. Share your stories, let your creativity flow, and most importantly, enjoy the ride. You've got this!

[goodluckclove]

There Aren't Enough Playwrights

I wonder why that is? Theater is one of the most intoxicating experiences I've ever had as a writer. I've produced four plays and directed a reading at a festival in Alaska. It can actually be a lot more accessible than something like a film and just super really genuinely fun.

Is there anyone with an interest in breaking into playwriting and indie theater as a whole? I could definitely write some sort of makeshift guide based on my own experiences both in writing and producing.

Not all theater is musicals and Shakespeare. You can actually do some really crazy, intense, powerful shit. Look up the work of Sarah Ruhl or Sarah Kane and get ready to wish you could've been in some of the wildest audiences I can imagine.

[soniaknox]

How Subtext Deepens Character Interactions

Subtext gives depth to characters and makes their interactions feel more realistic. In life, people often don’t say exactly what they mean. They may hide their true feelings out of fear, politeness, or manipulation. Characters do the same, and subtext allows the audience to experience these hidden emotions, creating a more immersive and engaging experience.

Consider this famous example from A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. In one scene, Blanche says to Mitch, “I guess it’s just that I have—old-fashioned ideals!” On the surface, she’s playing the role of a virtuous woman, but the subtext reveals her fear of being exposed as someone with a scandalous past. The audience understands the tension beneath her words, creating empathy for her character and adding layers to the theme of identity and deception.

[arabdoll]

“Why do you style yourself "your worthless and insignificant brother"? You recognize your insignificance? . . . Recognize it before God; perhaps, too, in the presence of beauty, intelligence, nature, but not before men. Among men you must be conscious of your dignity. Why, you are not a rascal, you are an honest man, aren't you?

Well, respect yourself as an honest man and know that an honest man is not something worthless. Don't confound "being humble" with "recognizing one's worthlessness."

Anton Chekhov, The Letters of Anton Chekhov