Playwriting Techniques That Can Transform Storytelling

Being a beginner in the playwriting industry can be intimidating, especially when you want to get your foot through the door. With thousands of other people trying to get their first gig as a playwright, it is easy for beginners to lose heart and give up. However, it is possible to write your first play and get noticed with the right guidance and the best book editing services.

Choose the Structure

To be a playwright, you must first choose the structure of the play you are about to write. For instance, a play is divided into three distinct structures: the subplot, rising action, and the climax. The subplot is the main part of the play, while the rising actions lead up to the climax of the play. While writing a play, it is important to keep this structure in mind, along with the overall theme of your play.

For instance, is your play going to be a comedy, drama, musical, or will historical events inspire it? Then there’s the one-act play, the ten-minute play, or the longer full-length play. You can succeed with all these genres if the story is worth telling and well told. This is where the script comes in.

Research

Now that you know the structure you will follow, it’s time to start with the idea for your play. The characters are important, so it’s best to figure out what characters are going to be in your play. Once you have a good idea of the characters in your play, you will have to orient yourself so that you think and even speak like the characters of a specific time.

For instance, maybe you want to write about a woman of color who struggled for her rights in the 1600s, or you like your play to cover the rise of the Black Power movement in the 60s and 70s. While both these stories are similar, the time period they took place in is very different. As a playwright, you need to be familiar with the era, dialogue, and other nuances. This is especially true when writing plays about historical events where you will need to create something that is believable on stage.

Develop Your Main Character

Now that you have an idea of the time your play is going to be set in, and its location, it’s time to focus on the characters and their surroundings. Fill your mind with all the information you can get about the characters’ world, specifically about the location where the characters live. Their activities, risks, and the overall demographic. Once you have a clear understanding of the characters and their surroundings, you can let your mind’s eye step in.

Write Subconsciously

When writing a play about a particular era, it is important to read about how the people lived at the time. Reading all the stories you can find will help you generate new ideas that you can use in your play. You never know when an interesting piece of information you read about could end up becoming a central point in your play. So, read and let your subconscious mind build a world around your central character.

Master Dialogue

While it is okay to make your characters large than life, it is important to keep in mind the subtext of your dialogue as well. One of the benefits of reading and researching about your character is that it helps remove the author’s voice. This will help your dialogue sound more like it came from the character in the play and less like how you would say it.

Also, don’t be hasty with the script, and let a dialogue or scene marinate in your mind until you can come up with something even better. Remember that people don’t always say what they want to, and the same goes for writing dialogue.

When it comes to writing dialogue, there’s a popular saying, “a play is all dialogue.” That being said, it is best to try to say more with less without bringing the story to a standstill. Avoid long speeches and grammatical errors, and typos by getting book editors for hire, and you should be fine. At Edit 911, professional editors are always ready to tweak your work to make it more appealing.