Oh Liar?

[Angeline]

Ah, I could have sent you a pm but maybe others can help with this, too.

I need your advice.

I'm starting to write my play. I know what it's about, what will happen, I know who the characters are and the intent of what they'll say (sorta), if not yet exactly how they'll say it. I've been to a bunch of playwriting and screenwriting sites, but I'm not sure what to do next. Do I just start writing dialogue and let the characters move the action along for me? Will the characters help direct me as a writer?

I've never written a play before. I've no idea if this approach makes sense. Does it make sense? Is there a better way?

If you (any of you) have written or read drama and have suggestions, I want to hear them.

Merci.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

All I know is that this is the only time that "show, don't tell" writing rule actually applies. You-Know-Who constantly reminds me of it whenever I take a stab at it.

 

[flyguy69]

Ah, I could have sent you a pm but maybe others can help with this, too.

I need your advice.

I'm starting to write my play. I know what it's about, what will happen, I know who the characters are and the intent of what they'll say (sorta), if not yet exactly how they'll say it. I've been to a bunch of playwriting and screenwriting sites, but I'm not sure what to do next. Do I just start writing dialogue and let the characters move the action along for me? Will the characters help direct me as a writer?

I've never written a play before. I've no idea if this approach makes sense. Does it make sense? Is there a better way?

If you (any of you) have written or read drama and have suggestions, I want to hear them.

Merci.

I have absolutely nothing to offer. But I'll buy a ticket when the time comes!

 

[Rex1960]

Ah, I could have sent you a pm but maybe others can help with this, too.

I need your advice.

I'm starting to write my play. I know what it's about, what will happen, I know who the characters are and the intent of what they'll say (sorta), if not yet exactly how they'll say it. I've been to a bunch of playwriting and screenwriting sites, but I'm not sure what to do next. Do I just start writing dialogue and let the characters move the action along for me? Will the characters help direct me as a writer?

I've never written a play before. I've no idea if this approach makes sense. Does it make sense? Is there a better way?

If you (any of you) have written or read drama and have suggestions, I want to hear them.

Merci.

A quick hello from the other end of the road

I'm just a consumer and have no experience with the process of writing, be it fiction stories or plays.

But I would think, that getting started is the biggest problem. Once you're at it it'll develop somehow and you can easily see if you like it or not. Reread and edit it again and again. Trust your own judgement. Go for it.

Pas de quoie

otc

 

[Angeline]

All I know is that this is the only time that "show, don't tell" writing rule actually applies. You-Know-Who constantly reminds me of it whenever I take a stab at it.

Thank you.

And don't think you're getting off easy with this advice, my editor. I know where to find you.

 

[Angeline]

A quick hello from the other end of the road

I'm just a consumer and have no experience with the process of writing, be it fiction stories or plays.

But I would think, that getting started is the biggest problem. Once you're at it it'll develop somehow and you can easily see if you like it or not. Reread and edit it again and again. Trust your own judgement. Go for it.

Pas de quoie

otc

Funny, someone else said that very thing to me yesterday.

Orange pecan today. Did you see?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Thank you.

And don't think you're getting off easy with this advice, my editor. I know where to find you.

You better.

 

[Angeline]

I have absolutely nothing to offer. But I'll buy a ticket when the time comes!

I'll comp you baby. I think I have a better chance of winning the powerball lottery tonight than making money off this venture.

 

[Angeline]

You better.

It's a date. I'm tracking you down after work.

Yes, I'm working!

Sort of...

 

[Rex1960]

Funny, someone else said that very thing to me yesterday.

Orange pecan today. Did you see?

Do I know that person ?


Nope. Doesn't sound like coffee to me though. I had the Columbian for me, the steamer for someone I had to p/u and a cinnamon roll for someone I had to d/o

 

[Angeline]

Do I know that person ?


Nope. Doesn't sound like coffee to me though. I had the Columbian for me, the steamer for someone I had to p/u and a cinnamon roll for someone I had to d/o

Um yes you do.

It was a muffin. I had the hazelnut decaf with a little Turkish roast. I would have though the steamer would be the d/o...well and the cinnamon roll, too, actually. Do you think I can work this into the play?

 

[flyguy69]

I'll comp you baby. I think I have a better chance of winning the powerball lottery tonight than making money off this venture.

Oooh, I must be in the front row!
Great seats, huh, buddy?

 

[Angeline]

Oooh, I must be in the front row!
Great seats, huh, buddy?

Yes. You'll love it. It's about jazz.

The front seats will probably be in my dining room...

 

[Rex1960]

Um yes you do.

It was a muffin. I had the hazelnut decaf with a little Turkish roast. I would have though the steamer would be the d/o...well and the cinnamon roll, too, actually. Do you think I can work this into the play?

That person must be right then

Missed that one. Too bad. Had an oatmeal cookie instead.
One of your characters should have a sweet tooth and problems losing weight. That's real life.

 

[Angeline]

That person must be right then

Missed that one. Too bad. Had an oatmeal cookie instead.
One of your characters should have a sweet tooth and problems losing weight. That's real life.

I'll call him Everyman.

 

[Rex1960]

I'll call him Everyman.

That's good. Rex would have been to obvious

 

[Liar]

Oh Ange?


You coudn't had caught me at a worse time. I shouldn't even be here replying, with all the work I have piled up. So I'll just say this, and get back to you next week when the adrenaline stops coming out of my ears:

It's like writing 3:rd person non omnipresent non omniscient prose. But with more dialouge than description. That's treally all there is to it. Wether you direct the characters like puppets or they take their own life depends on you. I write stageplay dialouge like I write poetry. I control the tempo and flow and sometimes that controls the content. Others do it their way.

So just do it, dammit, and see what happens.

 

[Angeline]

Oh Ange?


You coudn't had caught me at a worse time. I shouldn't even be here replying, with all the work I have piled up. So I'll just say this, and get back to you next week when the adrenaline stops coming out of my ears:

It's like writing 3:rd person non omnipresent non omniscient prose. But with more dialouge than description. That's treally all there is to it. Wether you direct the characters like puppets or they take their own life depends on you. I write stageplay dialouge like I write poetry. I control the tempo and flow and sometimes that controls the content. Others do it their way.

So just do it, dammit, and see what happens.

I'll await your return. I'll be nervous about a real playwright's reaction but I'll write darnit. And maybe I'll send you a little something to read, eh? Lauren, too. She'll be tough on me but it'll help.

Thanks.

Lauren, didn't I drag you into this skillfully?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Yes, the epitomy of suave.

 

[ishtat]

Have you written a synopsis ? My daughter has been a full time professional writer for 8 years and she usually does so before taking a project further. My role is as her first reader/editor or as she more bluntly puts it "to pick up the bleedin' obvious"

I don't think one could offer much effective support without having a rather better idea of your project and its objectives.

 

[Angeline]

Have you written a synopsis ? My daughter has been a full time professional writer for 8 years and she usually does so before taking a project further. My role is as her first reader/editor or as she more bluntly puts it "to pick up the bleedin' obvious"

I don't think one could offer much effective support without having a rather better idea of your project and its objectives.

I have the synopsis in my head. The play centers around the memories of Papa Jo Jones who is a jazz musician who came up in the 1930's with Count Basie's band and lived on busses and airplanes between gigs, traveled all over the back roads of America and experienced fame and racism simultaneously. He played with Billie Holiday and Lester Young, was drafted in the Second World War. He was a keen observer and there's a lot that he's recollected that I think lends itself to drama.

I see it as a metaphor for twentieth-century America, the tumult and pride and hypocrisy. I want to explore his relationship with Lester Young who was such a brilliant, tragic figure, but I don't want Lester as a character with lines, more a ghost remembered by Papa Jo and other voices.

I'm reading August Wilson and Langston Hughes to get the music of those voices and that time in my head.

Does that help?