Writing your first play

the long version

The second edition of Writing Your First Play provides the beginning playwright with the tools and motivation to tell a story through dramatic form. Based on many years of teaching experience, this book breaks the action, dialogue, characters and conflict into separate exercises that lead naturally from one to another and become increasingly more sophisticated. Before the reader has realized it, simple ideas have taken on the shape of a play. Topics include understanding the role action plays in drama; developing action and conflict to reveal character; writing powerful and persuasive dialogue; writing from personal experience, and how it can be both enriching and dangerous; and knowing where to start the story and what details help to develop the storyline.