Plot outlining--a scriptwriting key

The other day I walked back into the modest guest wing of our home that serves double-duty as my wife Kris's writing office.  Kris was not there and a part of me felt like I was intruding on her private world.  But I couldn't help but notice that on the quilt covering one of the single beds was an impressive array of 3 x 5 index cards with hand written notes on them.  The cards were arranged in three columns, each of which was identified with its own card at the top that read Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3.  What I was looking at, of course, was the beginnings of the plot invention for the novel she's working on.

An insightful book on playwriting...

There's a wonderful and rather unique little book that's been floating around for a number of years now that every writer should take a look at.  It's called Playwrights Teach Playwriting, edited and compiled by Joan Harrington and Crystal Brian.  It includes insightful essays by ten contemporary American playwrights including Chris Durang, Maria Irene Fornes, Tina Howe, Mead Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Donald Margulies, Marsha Norman, Jose Rivera, and Mac Wellman.  Quite a line up.

And don't let the title fool you.  Certainly, each of these successful writers talks at length about how they teach the art and craft of playwriting.  But what is really special about the book is that in every case, as they explain how they approach teaching the subject, they at the same time are revealing a great deal about their own writing process and the spirit in which they approach their own work.

Well worth the read.

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I'm the Program Director of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen being offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Our next residency runs January 3-11, 2016 and we are now considering applications for starting the program in January.  I'm also a playwright and screenwriter, producing partner in my production company Either/Or Films (The Sensation of Sight and Only Daughter), and a professional script consultant. 

My play SISTER CALLING MY NAME to open in Minneapolis...

Here's a little personal horn tooting...

My play Sister Calling My Name opens October 16th at the Open Window Theatre in Minneapolis.   I thought I'd announce the production in case there's some readers of this blog who are within striking distance and who might be interested in seeing it.

For a full description of the play and for reserving tickets go to the theatre's website.

The play won the National Play Award several years ago and has been produced all over the country and Canada in productions large and small.  What makes this staging special is that the play is set in Minnesota (my home state) and this will be the Minnesota premiere.

I also appreciate that the theatre has brought me in on early production meetings and are flying me out for rehearsals the week of the opening.  I'll be doing Q & A's with the audience opening weekend, October 16 and 17.  I would rate Open Window as definitely playwright friendly.  

If you manage to catch the production, I'd love to get your feedback.

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I'm the Program Director of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen being offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Our next residency runs January 3-11, 2016 and we are now considering applications for starting the program in January.  I'm also a playwright and screenwriter, producing partner in my production company Either/Or Films (The Sensation of Sight and Only Daughter), and a professional script consultant.

Your private scriptwriting world...the first draft

So you're ready to plunge into your first draft.  You've done your research and extensive character and other backstory exploratory work and have come up with a plot outline that you think has real shape and punch--a structure that delivers.  All you're lacking is the script itself and you're eager to start turning out actual pages.

My one caution as you start into your first draft is to KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!  Every writer naturally feels the urge to share work as it's being written.  Or at least talk about the discoveries and progress being made as work proceeds on the draft.  We're in this business because we want to communicate ideas to others, right?  However, this is not the time for that.  In fact, it is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.  Resist the urge.  Do not, under any circumstances, show your work or talk about it to anyone while you're working on your first draft.  Keep it totally to yourself.  This is your private world, your virgin soil.  It should be written as a personal and solo experience.

As Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman once told me, "Plays are not written by committee.  They are written by single voices.  They are products of a single vision."

At this phase in the writing process your job is to protect this private world from all outside influence, whether it's a play, screenplay, or teleplay.  Think of it as contamination, even if it comes from a trusted friend.  Nothing can destroy a first draft faster than to show pages to well-meaning people in your life.  They'll want to help you, even feel obligated to give you feedback.  As Norman added, "People love to get in and tell you what to do.  Isn't that true in life and of writing?  Everybody knows what you ought to do." 

And, of course, the moment someone gives you input, you won't be able to get it out of your head, whether it's positive or negative.  It's contamination either way. 

Resisting this urge to share your first draft-in-the-making can pay huge dividends by building an increasingly stronger and more intimate connection between you and your material.  What's happening in the developing script becomes yours and your characters' own secret and your unique source of strength.  This, in turn, produces an energy which helps propel you through to the end. Even when you're stuck on something and go through a few days or even weeks of feeling lost, the experience remains a private one, shared only between you and the people inside the play.

The time will come soon enough when it's necessary and useful to share your script with others and hear what they have to say. Now, however, it's just as critical that you don't.

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I'm the Program Director of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen being offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Our next residency runs January 3-11, 2016 and we are now considering applications for starting the program in January.  I'm also a playwright and screenwriter, producing partner in my production company Either/Or Films (The Sensation of Sight and Only Daughter), and a professional script consultant.