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How to write a script for a play

How to write a script for a play

You have an idea for a play script, maybe a really good one. You want to expand it into a comic or dramatic plot, but how? Although you may want to throw yourself fully into writing, your play will be much stronger if you spend a lot of time planning your story before you start your first draft. Once you've brainstormed your story and sketched your structure, writing your skit will seem like a much less daunting task.

Create ideas for your story
Decide the kind of story you want to tell. Although every story is different, most plays fall into categories that help audiences understand how to interpret the relationships and events they see. Think about the characters you want to write about, and then consider how you want their stories to play out.[1]
  • Will they have to solve a mystery?
  • Will they go through a series of difficult events in order to achieve personal growth?
  • Will they mature, transitioning from childish innocence to sophisticated experience?
  • Will they embark on a journey, like the perilous journey of Odysseus in The Odyssey?
  • Will they bring order to chaos?
  • Will they overcome a series of obstacles to achieve a goal?
 

Brainstorm the basic parts of your story arc.

 
 The story arc is the progression of the play through the beginning, middle, and end. The technical terms for these three parts are exposition, rising dramatic tension, and resolution, and they always come in that order. Regardless of how long your play is or how many acts it has, a good play will unfold all three pieces of this puzzle. Take notes on how you want to flesh out each of them before you sit down to write your piece. How To Write A Play? All The Tips And Tricks

Decide what has to be included in the exhibit. 

 
The exposition begins the work by providing the basic information needed to follow the story: when and where does this story take place? Who is the main character? Who are the supporting characters, including the antagonist (the person who presents the central conflict for the main character), if you have one? What is the central conflict that these characters will face? What is the mood of this work (comedy, romantic drama, tragedy)?
 
Develop the story. You can't intensify the emotional resonance of the plot until you have a good story. Answer the following questions to brainstorm basic story elements before fleshing them out in your writing:
  • Where does the story take place?
  • Who is the protagonist (the main character) and who are the important supporting characters?
  • What is the central conflict that these characters will have to deal with?
  • What is the "inciting incident" that begins the main action of the play and leads to the central conflict?
  • What happens to the characters as they deal with this conflict?
  • Understand the difference between plot and story. The plot of your play is composed of the plot and the story; two discrete elements that must be developed together to create a play that will hold the audience's attention. The English novelist EM Forster defined history as what happens in the play; the chronological development of events. On the other hand, the plot can be thought of as the logic that links the events that unfold throughout the plot and that makes them emotionally powerful.This is an example of the difference between the two:
    • Story: the protagonist's girlfriend broke up with him. Then, the protagonist lost his job.
    • Plot: the protagonist's girlfriend broke up with him. Heartbroken, he had an emotional breakdown at work that resulted in his being fired.
    • Deepen the story with the development of the plot. Remember that the plot develops the relationship between all the story elements mentioned in the previous step. When thinking about the plot, you should try to answer the following questions:
      • What are the relationships between the characters?
      • How do the characters interact with the central conflict? Who is most impacted by this conflict and how does it affect them?
      • How can you structure the story (the events) to bring the necessary characters into contact with the central conflict?
      • What is the logical and causal progression that makes each event lead to the next, building a continuous flow toward the climax and resolution of the story? You need to develop a story that is captivating and moves the action of the play fast enough to hold the audience's attention. At the same time, you must show how the actions are causally linked throughout the development of the plot. This is how you make the audience care about the events that are happening on stage. How is the conflict resolved at the end of the story? How does this impact the characters?
        The transition from exposure to escalating dramatic tension. In the increasing dramatic tension, events unfold in a way that makes circumstances more difficult for the characters. The central conflict becomes clearer as events raise more and more public tension. This conflict can be with another character (the antagonist), with an external condition (war, poverty, separation from a loved one) or with himself (having to overcome his own insecurities, for example). The mounting dramatic tension culminates in the climax of the story; the moment of highest tension, when the conflict reaches a critical point.
         
        Decide how the conflict will be resolved. The resolution releases the tension of the climactic conflict to end the narrative arc. It can have a happy ending, where the main character gets what he wants; a tragic ending, where the audience learns something of the main character's failure from him; or a denouement, in which all questions are answered

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